StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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When pairing wine with food, the new rule is, "There are No Rules." By Jack Robertiello Take, for example, the debate about wines with sky- rocketing alcohol levels. Traditional rules would push wines at 15% ABV and above off the charts as a poten- tial beverage to serve with appetizers or even many entrees, yet fine dining restaurants sell pallets full of these massive fruit and alcohol-intense bottles. Contemporary consumers sip similar wines as pre-din- ner aperitifs as well, a practice once deemed to deaden the palate for the forthcoming salad or appetizer course. Clearly, those old rules have little meaning today, and when they reigned, New World wines like muscular Argentinian malbecs, with their intense black pepper, balsamic and berry fruit intensity, and intense Chilean carmeneres were rarely found at the table. How we con- sume our wine is as diverse as the regions from which we source them, so consumers more than anything else today require reassurance at the point of sale. "The big thing I tell people is that it's important to go with what you like," says Kerrin Laz, wine director for Napa-based Dean & Deluca. We spoke around the end of November, when, she pointed out, plenty of Napa Valley drinkers had just served the big and fruity local style of cabernet sauvignon with their turkey, not a pairing you'll find on anyone's normal suggestion list. What's important for retailers, Laz points out, is steering customers in a direction they might not ordi- narily go but still within their comfort zone. "More WINEGOES WITH I f retailers had a dime for every time a customer asked, "Can you help me decide which wine to serve with my dinner party?" most of them could probably retire today. Despite all the evidence that American consumers increasingly turn to wine as the mealtime beverage of choice, most still seem gripped with insecurity about what foods and wines go together best, especially when serving friends or family. Whether or not this worry is a remainder from the days when a bit of affectation dic- tated specific dishes with wines, food matching should be simple, even pleasant, if not exactly fun. The good news for retailers is that the one impor- tant new rule in wine and food matching is "There are no rules." Demystified significantly more than 20 years ago in books like "Red Wine with Fish," making wine and food matches today is less about rigorous standards and more about personal taste, a willingness to experiment and current consumption trends. 28 GENERAL GUIDELINES I n general, the basic modern rules on wine and food com- patibility focus on a particular wine's overall body and the level of alcohol, sugar and tannin it contains. Think of wines running along the usual modern flavor spectrum (light white wines with no oak aging at one end, and intense, long aged red wines at the other) and do the same with food flavors – raw vegetables and plain cheeses like mozzarella on one end of the flavor spectrum, and spicy StateWays s www.stateways.com s January/February 2012 EVERYTHING often than not, they know that their beef dish will go with big reds or oysters with sparkling wines," she says, but might need a little help when it comes to matching varietals outside their mainstream. No matter the wine, the location or the shop, merchants will always be asked general food and wine questions, so it makes sense for any retailer to craft a set of loose guidelines to serve customers, and to help them make informed choices. PHOTO COURTESY OF VIBRANT RIOJA