POLL : At home which do you choose first, the wine or the food?

[Jenise]

A looooong time ago when this poll question was first asked on this board, I know I chose the 50/50 option and best as I recall, so did most of the respondents. But I also remember thinking that at our house if the scale tipped 55/45 slightly more toward one or the other, then it was tipped toward wine.

Well, I've changed, as I realized this morning when I saw Bob Parsons' question about what plans we have for wine this weekend. Unless I'm entertaining or there's an Open Mike I plan to participate in, it's safe to say that I don't think of it until the day of, and that's after I plan my meal. I am now firmly in the food-first camp.

And it's not that the wine is any less important or that my attitude toward food has changed, because neither is the case. I guess I'm just no longer the kid in the candy store that I once was where having a well cellar is concerned. For one, my cellar more than doubled in size--there really is a wine match for every possible type of food on hand. And for another, my cellar has matured: there are many, many more wines ready to drink. It's also true that my learning curve has flattened out: I'm no longer driven in the way I once was to open wine X tonight because I just have to find out what's in that bottle and know more tomorrow than I did today. Now, even with a wine I've not had before, my understanding of what I'm likely to find there is much improved and I can patiently wait until the right meal to showcase it.

I choose food first because, frankly I don't drink wine at most meals. Usually just on weekends, and even then it's usually food first, but with consideration for the wines in my cellar (most of which are home made). However, when I'm in the mood to open a sepcial bottle of that store-bought stuff, I select foods to match.

Today, for example, it will be the food deciding the wine. I made a vegetarian green curry yesterday and will be serving it over basmati rice with some baked sausages on the side. A real fusion of a dish, I know. The curry is medium-hot, so a tannic red was out of the question. The wine? Puddicombe Estate's Seyval Blanc, slightly off-dry.

[James Roscoe]

It's food first here. Even if it's a wine dinner, We ussually do the food first and plan the wines on that. There are exceptions to every rule, but I rarely go the other way.

[Robin Garr]

A looooong time ago when this poll question was first asked on this board, I know I chose the 50/50 option and best as I recall, so did most of the respondents.

Good topic, Jenise! Ideally, I'd probably say 70/30 food, but given the choices I'll pick "food first" because that choice certainly dominates here, for all the reasons you've stated so well.

I wouldn't say "food always," though, because there's still a fair number of cases when I have a bottle of something I'm just aching to try, in which case I'll make a dinner decision based on it.

In this house it's always food first, even when I barbeque what I barbeque has been chosen by my wife. Until I'm in charge of meals in the house that's the way it's going to be. It works, so no complaints.

I concur. My wife does most of the cooking so I match the wine to the dish. When I cook, I will sometimes go to the Wine Lover Cooks and pick out the wine variety I am in the mood for, and then choose a recipe to match it, but that is no more than about 5% of the time. The beauty of a cellar is that I have wines to match just about any food. Bubbly wine is about the only major class of wine that I don't always have in cellar. I find it is the best match with Mexican.

[Robin Garr]

Inspired by Jenise's question, I've set up a poll to match (subject to the space constraints) on the CompuServe/Netscape WineLovers Community, and will list it in Monday's Wine Advisor. If you'd like to add your opinion to that poll (remember that no registration or login is required), click to vote:

Do you usually choose ...

[Jenise]

Robin, you know what makes this a good poll? Not one person has come back and said, "You didn't list my option!". Yet.

A tough question. The wine selection here is abysmal. If I had the selection of any major city in Europe, I would say that I would choose the food first and match the wine with it - because, apart from formal tastings, I only drink at the table. Food and wine are pretty much inseperable for me. Sadly the state here is that there are only a limited amount of wines worth trying so I usually choose the wine first and make up a dinner around it.

On second thought, this might be better, because I suck as a cook!

We've got a smallish (but I'd like to think) well-formed cellar - and maybe 2-3 possibilities for meal every evening.

Just by weight of numbers it's easier to match the wine to the food, rather than the other way round.

Of course some evenings we don't even try to match it. Eat the food, then open the wine.

regards

Ian

Food first here. I will often get a craving for a particular dish or cuisine and just have to make it. Then I figure out what wine we have that will pair nicely.

The reason why we're 50-50 here is because dear wife is off of wine for a while due to reflux. So I only drink a half bottle a night. Therefore there is a second half that I need to drink up the next night, and need to find food to go with it. From what I've heard, I'm not the only one in this situation.

I am finishing a 1999 Opitz Pinot Noir (grapes are from Melissa Moravec at Casa Carneros). It is versatile enough to go with a number of dishes but I was pairing it with an organic portobello mushroom soup. Lately I've been picking out the wine first. I want to try some 1999 Volnays so I am choosing dishes that I think will work with those. I also want to open a Ridge Geyserville (I have limited experience with Lytton Springs and Ridge Paso Robles "Dusi" Zin but none with Geyserville). I purchased tri tip meat to have with the Geyserville. I'm not sure what wine will be up next after two Volnays and the Geyserville so may select the food first the week before Christmas. I'm tempted to do something with lamb or veal.