Winophilia

For a decadent (i.e., buttery) preparation of lobster, langoustine or crab, what wine from your list would you recommend as a complementary pairing, and what wine would you recommend as a contrasting pairing? And for each recommendation, please explain your reasoning—i.e., what are the principles at work, and why should the combination prove satisfying?

Steven Grubbs, Wine Director, Five and Ten Restaurant (Athens, GA), Empire State South (Atlanta, GA). I’m going to go with two very different wines, both made from the same grape, grown less than a hundred miles apart.

The easier pairing is always the complementary one. You don’t run the risk of blowing it in quite such an obvious way. The idea here is you match like flavors with like. So if you’re eating something slightly sweet (like lobster) that’s bathed in clarified butter, you’ll choose a wine that shares similar traits. READ MORE »

The ocean of mostly bad white zinfandel that washed over American wine drinkers during the 1980s did incalculable damage to the reputation of all pink wines, even to outstanding versions from Provence. But time, it appears, heals all wounds. It’s hard to imagine a category of the wine world that’s hotter or more fashionable than rosé right now. A great number of these wines are actually better than drinkable, and some of them are flat-out superb. READ MORE »

I enjoyed one of the perks of being a traveling wine critic last week: I beat the heat and humidity of the Northeast by tasting new Washington State wines in cool Seattle and bone-dry Walla Walla, as I’ve been doing every July since forever. Although Washington’s wines sell briskly in the home market, the better limited-production bottlings from the state’s best producers are still largely vino incognito for most consumers. READ MORE »

Wine lovers often refer to wines as “Old World” or “New World” in style, sometimes without even being able to explain what they mean. What do these two terms mean to you? What are the characteristics that would make YOU call a wine New World or Old World?”

Rupert Symington, Symington Family Estates (Portugal). To me, “Old World” evokes leaner, more elegant wines with distinct flavours of their respective terroirs even within the same region, also wines that tend to carry a bit more seasoned barrel or bottle age. “New World” to me evokes fuller-bodied, fruit-forward, frequently varietally focused wines which are homogeneous within their region, showing freshness and little aging character, and often a touch of new oak. READ MORE »