Wines for Cooking & Drinking.
With my favorites added
Ciao!
Everyone has their favorite wine, beer, or cocktail to drink while cooking and eating.
It usually depends on the food you’re eating, like with fish it’s usually a white wine like a Chablis or Chardonnay, or one of the other white lines you maybe like.
With meat or pasta it’s usually a red wine like Cabernet, Pinot Noir or a Merlot, all fantastic wines that go great with meat and pasta.
My all time favorite red wine to use drink my pasta dishes is Chianti. I know it’s an inexpensive wine, although I have seen some Chianti’s get up there in price, but a simple Chianti, in the basket covered glass bottle, with a cork that becomes a candle stick holder for years to come is my favorite.
In college that was the go to wine since it was pretty inexpensive back then. Plus we had great candle holders for the table over the years that had so much color after having the candles drip wax onto the basket covering. True favorites among the college students back then. It probably still is, but what do I know?
Picking your favorite wine to drink is of course a personal decision, one that over the years may change depending on your taste buds and pocket book.
Lately, wine prices like everything else have climber through the roof. Wine you could buy some years back for under $20.00 has almost doubled if not tripled in price. I guess if you’re a collector from the past, and haven’t finished your collection you have some truly fantastic wine investments. Maybe it’s time to drink or sell those wines.
But, I could write an entire book about wines, their properties, the who, what, when, where, why and how of buying, drinking, and investing, but you can find those things out on your own without my help.
As for me right now, I’m sticking with a good Chianti and possibly a Cabernet that I not only enjoy drinking, but cooking with also.
Which leads me into the most important part about today’s post. What wines are best to cook with.
My entry into cooking with wine was while growing up with my Grandparents. They were believer in wine enhances everything. Wine makes the food your cooking 100% more tasty and gives a deeper flavor to the food.
Also my Grandfather was fond of saying, “if we give them enough wine in the food and we make a mistake, they may be too drunk to notice”. He was also fond of saying “give them enough wine in the food so they don’t want to drink my wine with dinner.“
Let’s get into the best cooking wine as I see them. We’ll start with the read ones.
Top of my list:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
Pinot Noir
Vermouth
Now for the white wines:
Sauvignon Blanc
Chablis (great for drinking while cooking also)
Pinot Grigio
Chardonnay (another great wine to drink while cooking)
Vermouth
I’ve listed vermouth last since it’s the cheapest and in my opinion has the least flavor enhancer among the list. Although there are many who will disagree with me on that, and again that’s a personal choice.
I’m not saying I don’t like cooking with vermouth with either a pasta or seafood dish, but it just doesn’t give the depth I’m looking for when cooking. Although it’;s a great substitute when you’re cash strapped and can’t afford a better choice.
I’m sure the are other wines on the market that should be on this list, but these are my go to wines.
I’d like to hear about your favorites in the comments section, so here’s the time to add to the list so I can write about those other choices in another post.
Thanks for reading. Patti and I greatly appreciate your support.
Buon Appetito!
Mark & Patti