For many of us overgrown adolescent , confronting a heap wine lean at a mulct - dining restaurant is about as terrifying as looking down to chance upon you forgot your gasp . That ’s why we enlisted the corking James Beard prize - make headway sommelier and action wine myth - buster Belinda Chang to help us take in up what is and is n’t dead on target when we ’re talking vino . Belinda heads up the wine-coloured syllabus at Chicago ’s phenomenally classyMaple & Ash , and the woman undoubtedly know her stuff ( if you have n’t check out herbottled water ranking , please do so now ) .
You might need to impress out this list and tuck it in your wallet for reference , pal . I see a lot of white tablecloths in your future ( or at least a few red wine-coloured stains ) .
Myth: You should drink Champagne in flute glasses
When I worked for Moët Hennessy , we had a Champagne call " Smash the Flute . ” The point was to just throw them out the windowpane . Flutes are elegant and they palpate celebratory , but you ca n’t twirl in them . When you drink Champagne with famous Gallic vintner , it ’s always attend in a ginormous Riedel deoxyephedrine so you’re able to actually smell and try out the wine-coloured . At the eating house , we serve Champagne in white wine glasses all the time , just to showcase it .
I always like to quote the Chef de Cave from Dom Pérignon who said , " You buy a bottle of malbec for $ 5 and you pour it into this handsome , beautiful glass and I made you a nursing bottle of chardonnay grape and Pinot grape noir and I age it for ten to twenty twelvemonth and you ’re going to engorge it into this flute where you ca n’t smell it , you ca n’t really see it , you ca n’t aerate it – why are you doing that to my vino ? " It ’s like , why you doing that to my Bentley ? You ’re not letting it out of the salesroom .
Myth: The cheaper the bottle, the better the value
In 99.99 % of restaurants , the most set - up wine-colored are at the bottom end of the list and the least mark - up wines at the top end . So , if you ’re looking for a deal , it ’s usually the most expensive nursing bottle .
We care to say that we put together a vino tilt that ’s large for gem hunters – you know , those people who accumulate a sight of wine , they live a lot , and they ’re cash in one’s chips through a list to sample to find where the deal is that no one else will find oneself . When we have a super crazy expensive vino that we got at auction or something like that , sometimes we only set up on $ 50 . We desire somebody to drink it ! We bribe it because we call back it ’s delicious and it works with our culinary art . I do n’t require that bottleful to sit in our cellar until I ’m dead and go .
Myth: White wine with fish, red wine with meat
I work in a steakhouse , so everyone automatically asks what page the California cabernets are on . I imagine that ’s a ugly myth : You’re just limiting yourself to the pinkie of the wine world when you ’re adhere with a Napa taxi . At a place like this where we have a huge wood attack , everything ’s get char and bullet and all those grilled flavors , and those are delicious with big chardonnays .
A full rule of ovolo is , " What grows together , goes together , " so whenever I ’m thinking about wine pairings , I ’ll guess about what they ’re eat in that region . One of the places where they eat a deal of steak , which might be surprising , is Bordeaux in France . Of course , they have Cabernet Sauvignon and merlot - based bolshie , but they also have these lavishly textured , smoky whites made from sémillon and sauvignon blanc and that ’s exactly what you want with a bite of steak .
pairing can also count on the chef . I worked with this great chef in New York , Gabriel Kreuther , and his food for thought was so balanced that you could always find a majuscule rosé , whitened , or reddish to go with the dish . It was colorblind preparation , in a way – the coloring material did n’t matter , you just had to match the grain .
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And , lastly , it can be all about the sauce , not the protein . If you get a white wine sauce , even if it ’s a beef dish , then it ’s a white vino position . Or if you do a white Pisces the Fishes with an oxtail red wine ragu , then you ’re totally in red wine territory .
Myth: Sommeliers are just after your wallet
There ’s an idea that if you ask for the sommelier , you ’re going to end up expend more than you would have if you had selected the wine on your own , and that ’s just not straight . Here , for representative , we have 650 selections . They set off at $ 28 and they go up to $ 10,000 , and we would never recommend a $ 10,000 wine-colored unless the mortal was specifically telling us that ’s what they wanted . We really train our wine squad to down - sell because I think it ’s a passel more fun when someone consider they desire to spend $ 150 and then is shocked to see how much happier they are with a $ 50 feeding bottle . We do that all the time – we ’re take aim to love that challenge .
Myth: A grape is a grape, no matter where it’s from
There ’s the myth that riesling is always angelical , or pinot noir is always lite . In reality , there are people that make wakeful , pretty dash of Pinot grape noir that are all naughty tutti - frutti . And there are people that make style of Pinot grape noir that are meaty and fat and full bodied . I hate when someone comes to me and says , " I hate fill - in - the - blank because they ’re all a certain way . " I would say to them , " Oh my gosh , have you not had a pinot noir from Vosne Romanee in Burgundy or have you not had a adult , plentiful pinot noir from the Central Coast of California ? " These day , there is always someone somewhere in the world making a wine that ’s going to make you passing happy , which I reckon is really fun .
Myth: Always drink white wine cold and red wine warm
Truthfully , most restaurants attend to white wines a little too cold and red vino a lilliputian too warm . If we ’re drinking a twinkle , bright reddish wine , and it ’s summer in Chicago , and it ’s a little humid , I want all my red wines with a little scrap of chill . In ecumenical , reds with really brilliant acidity , reds made from lean - skinned grapes like pinot noir and dolcetto that have more tart cherry than cherry tree jam notes – all those taste advantageously when they ’re cool . And then you get the joy of watching it unfold and shift in the glass as it come to temperature – I stand for , if you do n’t chug it .
With Caucasian , they need way less frisson than you might think . Unless you have it at the right temperature , you ca n’t smell it and you do n’t really nibble up on the grain . If you have a gorgeous bottle of white bordeaux or livid Bourgogne or cured Australian chardonnay and you ca n’t taste it or it feels like you ’re pledge a glass of water system , it ’s because it ’s too dusty . Do n’t ever feel eldritch about asking your server to pour your bottle of white . The fair refrigerator is , what , 30 , 40 degree ? If you let the vino come up to 50 or 60 degrees , you ’re going to get a wholly different experience . You hump when you smell a wine and you could only pick out one scent ? Give it a second to warm up and you ’ll be able to reek a million things – it ’s like the integral rainbow is possible , not just one colour .
Myth: Corks are better than screw-tops
This comes down to aging – if it ’s a prissy bottle that you ’re bribe because your son was born and you want to keep it for year and twelvemonth , I do n’t remember a gaoler - top is going to be the best option . You ’ll want to get something one-time - school and then find out it evolve like it ’s evolved for century of years with a normal , holey cork . But usually , we ’re go to the foodstuff store or the corner store or our best-loved boutique wine-colored storage and grease one’s palms a feeding bottle and drinking it that night or within the next couple solar day , so who cares what the fuck kind of block equipment you ’re using . It ’s all good .
Myth: Glass shapes are only for aesthetics
This is my favorite subject . Having worked in restaurants that serve anywhere from 80 people to 1000 people a dark , I give a lot of thought process to glassware and how much should be spent on it . Even harbour at home , I ’m like , “ Does it count if I have the expensive glassware ? Do I need to have lots of different shapes ? ” But I ’ve learn in the commercial enterprise that the shape does count – it changes how you perceive and taste the wine-coloured . And yes , a better glass can make a wine-colored predilection better , that ’s for sure .
In general , there are a mates standard shapes that work with everything . There ’s a shabu called an AP glass , or an all purpose glass . It looks kind of like a white vino glass and there are studies that show that this build makes just about everything taste really good . It ’s got a small bit of a curve and it goes convex to concave , so as we twirl it , it traps all the esters and speck that involve the aroma and keeps them from blowing off . If you only get one form for your family prevention , this is great flair .
Myth: And stemless wine glasses are the pinnacle of cool
I hate stemless . I detest it for so many reasons . For one , in a restaurant , we pay someone to smoothen it and now we ’re going to get fingerprints all over it – it drive me nuts . But also , a wine-colored glass was built a sure way on purpose – the theme keeps your hand aside from the vino and the wine at temperature . I really jazz a foresightful stem and a proper bowlful . But stemless ? Never .
Myth: When it comes to American wine, it’s Napa or bust
There ’s wine-colored being made in all 50 states in the US , so it ’s really fun to figure out who ’s doing something interesting nearby . A deal of them are buying grapes from California and land them home , but the grape vine is hearty and there ’s a million places where you could develop them . New York res publica , obviously , and the Ithaca - Finger Lakes part – they ’re making reality class Rieslings that rival what ’s going on in Germany . Also , Virginia – there ’s a wine maker there diagnose Horton doing viognier , which is a wine I have it off . There ’s also a lot going on in Michigan . We’re just a really young wine-coloured - make refinement compared to the original gangsters– everybody ’s still finding their way of life , and California just happened to be first . It ’s going to be fun to see who comes next .
Myth: All sweet wines suck
masses will shy out from order sweet wines because they think they ’ll all taste like clean zinfandel . But there are absolutely not bad wines that are on the sweeter side . Look , we were all battered by lily-white zinfandel . But , arguably the most collectable wine-coloured in the entire world is Château d’Yquem , which is a Sauterne , a sweet wine-colored from the north of France . It ’s made from grapes that are affected by botrytis , also roll in the hay as baronial rot , which makes it really rare but also very sweet . That just goes to show that some honeyed wines are amongst the most august in being . And hey , I get no hate for somebody that eff to chug a glass of Moscato d’Asti – if that ’s the vino you get it on , I ’m all for it .
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