Filed under: Choosing the right wine for a dinner party or a romantic evening can be intimidating, but it shouldn’t be.This is wine, not rocket science, so make it easy to enjoy with these basic tips:
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Don’t go heavy and light. If you are planning on having finger foods like little puff pastries and crudités and dip, make sure you stock up on lighter wines. If you are having a hungry man’s feast of steak and potatoes, go with heavier bodied wines.
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Want to impress your hostess with a gift of wine? Don’t worry about what she is having for dinner, just bring a good wine, preferably one you have tried and enjoyed.
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Start light, end heavy. When you are pairing a different wine with each course, begin the dining experience with a lighter wine, and build up the intensity as the meal moves on. End with a nice sweet dessert wine, which is usually the heaviest.
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Don’t be shy: ask your guests what their favorite wine is in their invitations. There is nothing worse than having a bunch of red wine lovers and serving only white.
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The old standby - white with white, red with red - doesn’t always apply. There is nothing better than mixing stuff up. What’s wrong with pairing a nice chicken dish with a lighter red wine? Nothing. Go ahead be creative and daring.
So when you feel like going to your favorite winery to stock up on some of your favorite vintage for your guests (or yourself), nothing is better than having a place to store the wine correctly. Invest in a high-quality wine storage refrigerator. It keeps your wine at the perfect temp, and has pre-programmed temperature settings for different types of wine.