+- WineBoard (https://www.wines.com/wineboard)
+-- Forum: GENERAL (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-100.html)
+--- Forum: Wine/Food Affinities (https://www.wines.com/wineboard/forum-4.html)
+--- Thread: HELP (/thread-1053.html)
- Red - 12-02-1999
I need a good wine that would go with linguini and white sauce or rigatoni al la vodka or maybe just an after dinner wine.
i am sort of a wine novice and i just need to know a good wine up to abut $20 that is good with any or all three of these little situations. I am going to either make either of these pasta dishes and serve a nice wine along with it, or i will take my special some one out and afterwards have a nice after dinner wine. plaese any in put would be much appreciated.
thank you
[Note: This message has been edited by Jackie]
- Innkeeper - 12-02-1999
Despite the white color of your dishes, the heft of them would incline me to go with a medium bodied red such as an Italian Merlot. Santa Margherita Merlot, Versato, 1997 would be fine. For $5 less there are good offerings from Trentino and Della Venezie that you can find anywhere.
- n144mann - 12-02-1999
As always, I would recommend a nice Port for an after dinner wine, especially this time of year. If you want to cook for your someone special, prepare a nice rich chocolate something, and serve it with the Port. I would recommend a 10 year old Tawny, but that might excede your $$ amount a bit, at least in my area. But don't let that stop you from serving port....there are good Ruby and Tawny ports out there that are in your price range. Find a reputable wine dealer in your area, and ask their advice. My favorites are as follows....Grahams, Taylor Fladgate, and Dows. Niepoort is great from what I hear, but can not find it here in my area of the great white north, so I can not give that as a recommend from my own experience. If you want to serve a California Port, I like Ficklins.
A similar but somewhat lighter wine that might also be nice, is a Black Muscat from Rosenblum Cellars.
Nancy
- Jerry D Mead - 12-04-1999
With the pasta dishes I think I'd go with a wood-aged Sauvignon or Fume Blanc.
I like Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc and Dry Creek Reserve Fume
- Randy Caparoso - 12-04-1999
Well, everyone has an opinion, especially when your dishes are a little sketchy. Rigatone alla "Vodka," I'm not sure about at all, since it doesn't sound like a classic that Marcella Hazan or Lorenza d'Medici would write about (if anything, Hazan would make a "Drunken" roast with Grappa, rather than something the Russians make).
I assume that your linguine's white sauce is a bechamel, which is basically butter and flour cooked into a roux, to which you add milk until it gets nice and creamy smooth, and maybe a little grated parmigiano to enrich it further. Although I'm not sure if you're adding any other tidbits (like mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, etc.), I'm going to assume that the predominant flavor component is the milky/creamy taste of the sauce. Therefore, I myself (with all due respect and adulation to Curmudgeon) wouldn't pick a Sauvignon/Fume Blanc to go with it, since that sort of white wine would be too sharp with acidity; and the combination of creamy/lactic sauce and sharp wine is not as pleasant as it could be (the wine would make the sauce taste floury and milky, and the sauce would make the wine taste sour). Does this make sense?
But I wouldn't really go for a red either -- even a light tannin style, since few reds really contribute a creamy quality that would gel with the taste of a white sauced linguine (unless, you use LOTS of cheese, which would deepen sauce's flavor and make it more red wine friendly).
Therefore, my suggestion would be for a softer, lighter acid/body white such as a Soave, Orvieto, or Est! Est! Est!. A lighter style Italian Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc -- which are creamy soft and moderate in acid -- would not be such a bad idea either. Stay away from Pinot Grigio, though, because those tend to be almost lemony sharp. So going back to my first choice, there are a lot of first class Soaves to choose from -- Anselmi and Zenato being two of my top choices. Among Orvietos, it's hard to go wrong with Falesco.
Anyway, if you can get back to me on the makeup of your Vodka sauce, maybe I can shed some light on that, too.
[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 12-04-1999).]
- Thomas - 12-05-1999
At the risk of seeming short-winded on this one: I'd go with Randy's suggestions--if his assumptions are correct.
- Red - 12-05-1999
Thanks a bunch for the ideas. I got this nice merlot, and i had a great dinner. Thank you for your inputs. it was greatly appreciated.
- Thomas - 12-06-1999
Randy, did you catch that: Merlot. I guess all us wine and food experts have no power to change the course of a nationwide fad or marketing blitz....
- Innkeeper - 12-06-1999
Ha! You white with white traditionalists are doomed.
- Red - 12-06-1999
im sorry guys, i had alot to do and i could read the message board that often. but next week when i have a nice dinner i will take in mind your worthwhile suggestions.
- Thomas - 12-06-1999
Innkeeper, never have I been associated with the white on white philosophy; you should see some of the ways I shake up the status-quo here in NY State. In fact, whenever I mention the many wonders of Gewurztraminer with certain white meats like turkey or with tomato sauce, I get chastised, even by Randy.
But I did think Randy's suggestions, if his assumptions were right, would have given a much better taste experience than a Merlot.
- Innkeeper - 12-06-1999
Sorry Foodie, maybe Jackie should post a tongue in cheek icon. Was just sitting back smugly on the outcome until you posted your "My God Merlot" response. Relax. I appreciate you inputs. New Yorkers, and I'm a born and ex one, need your sage advice.
- Randy Caparoso - 12-07-1999
I, for one, am glad Foodie is getting used to me. But if you follow along with some of my missives, Innkeeper, you'll notice that I'm quite color blind when it comes to food and wine matching. To borrow something David Rosengarten once said, I'm for matches that make sense -- not for traditional ones, nor for the de rigeur. For instance, I actually thought your suggestion for Merlot was the conservative, not mine.
This reminds me of an occasion, once, when I was tasting, for the first time, a very light, easy drinking (but interestingly flinty and licoricy) white wine made on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples (where they like to serenade you with stuff like Strangers in the Night, in Italian, while you eat). The winery owner was showing me how delicious it was with freshly made spinach noodles in a light, fruity tomato sauce (and it was!), and then he had me crush some itty bitty dried chile peppers onto the plate. The dish became firey hot, but the wine was still delicious (proving that a white can go with red sauced pasta quite well) -- that is, until I happened to give one of my eyelids a little scratch... with the finger I just used to crush the peppers. I think I immediately started to look like Quasimodo, as I had to immediately rush from the table in tears of agony.
Never forgot that food and wine lesson.
Think I'll put it all in a book someday. I'll call it Red Eye with Fish.
- Thomas - 12-07-1999
Innkeeper, you are right, we need a tongue-in-cheek icon; I was being as cheeky as you, and it appears we each failed in that department....
As for getting used to you, Randy: hey, if you beat yourself over the head with a hammer long enough, it can be difficult to stop, and you can grow to like it too....love the description of Strangers in the Night serenading in Italian. The last time I visited Friuli, a restaurant in Aqueleia, of all places, played songs of the nineteen fifties (alas, they were not in Italian and the fun was taken out of the experience, but the wine and seafood were, as usual, and as we used to say in Brooklyn, supoib).
I know the red hot feeling on the eye; happens to me everytime I cook with hot peppers and forget not to scratch my eyes, which is a nervous habit of mine....
And I still think the Merlot for linguini in "white" sauce was a bad idea, Rosengarten notwithstanding.
- n144mann - 12-07-1999
You can solve that problem by wearing gloves when you work with the peppers, Foodie. (assuming you remember to take off the glove before rubbing your eyes) When I was making salsa last time, and I was needing to work with a LOT of peppers,(it was a really HOT salsa) I didn't have the gloves....BUMMER!!! The oil got under my finger nails, and it burned like crazy!!! No matter how much I scrubbed with the hand brush, and I did it immediately upon noticing that it was starting to burn, it brought only temporary relief....soon it would be burning again. Lasted for about 24 hours. That is last time I worked with that many peppers without gloves!!
Nancy
- Red - 12-07-1999
actually i had the merlot with rigatoni and a red sauce....fresh tomatoes, the works!
- Thomas - 12-08-1999
Red, you've been holding out on us. Likely you have been enjoying the banter.
Which Merlot was it, and how did you make the sauce? (If you use the word "can" as in food packaging, you shall never hear the end of it.)
- Red - 12-09-1999
well i got trentino merlot. With the sauce i must admit that i love my mother and she graciously cooked it from scratch. and there was no can/bottle...i swear...
- Thomas - 12-09-1999
The best way to make the sauce, and stop relying on your mom; learn how to do it too.
I cook the following sauce when I am in a hurry.
Take two tbl. olive oil and saute two cloves chopped garlic for no more than two minutes (one is even enough). Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup red wine, then add chopped plum tomatoes, a couple of bay, fresh basil and oregano leaves, chopped. Throw in a tbl. of honey and one tiny Thai red pepper. Let the tomatoes cook down until there is but a little liquid left. When you serve the sauce over your pasta sprinkle the dish with freshly chopped parsley and basil leaves.
The Merlot sounds like it was a good choice. Next time, though, try a southern Italian wine like Salice Salentino or a Primitivo; reasonably priced and so delicious.