Wine or Lemon with Dinner
Holly Howell of the recently jumped up on a soapbox in favor of the benefits of wine with dinner. We already know about the health benefits from both white and red wine, but did you know that wine can actually make your food taste better?
Howell compared the effects of drinking wine while with the effects of adding lemon juice or zest to a dish. Both can bring out the flavors of a dish and make it more than it was on its own. The common denominator that causes this effect is acidity.
The parallel to wine couldn’t be better. Lemons represent acidity. Acidity is the stuff that makes your mouth water (think lemonade). When your mouth waters, you taste food better. To get the most out of food, people should just keep a lemon in their pocket at all times. Really.
Wine can do same thing. Wines that are high in acidity make the best wines at the dinner table. They enhance and bring out the flavor of most foods.
Howell notes that certain wines are more acidic that others, with colder climates leading the pack. So, you can look for wines from “Germany (Mosel and Rhein), northern France (Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire Valley), Italy (Veneto, Piemonte) and, of course, New York state.” For those of us that aren’t quite as familiar with wine as others, Howell also provides some key words to look for when searching for an acidic wine (since putting acidic on the bottle is usually avoided): “bright, refreshing, bracing, mouth-watering, crisp, tart, tangy, etc.” Howell points to a few reds that meet these requirements, including Pinot Noir, Barbera and Cabernet Franc.
When I read that list of reds, I thought to myself: “Hey, those are all reds I like!” So, today I added to my wine knowledge by learning that I like acidic bright and refreshing wines. Are there any others you recommend I try?
