Do you have a Wine Mantra for 2010?

The food mantra has taken on tones of Commandment-like proportions this past year. The basic one goes like this:

THOU SHALL EAT LOCALLY

THOUGH SHALL EAT SEASONALLY

THOU SHALT NOT EAT ANYTHING WITH A FACE

And so on.

I have long had my own series of Wine Mantras (maybe the plural should be mantrae?), which I am pleased to share with Poetry of Food readers. Learn them and repeat often as you head to your wine cellar - for these Mantras may help you become more appreciative of wine.

THOU SHALL CHANGE WINE TASTES SEASONALLY

THOU SHALL SERVE SIMPLE WINES WITH COMPLEX FOODS AND COMPLEX WINES WITH SIMPLE FOODS

THOU SHALT NOT SERVE CHEESE BEFORE DINNER AND WHEN THOU DOESTETH, THOU SHALT NOT SERVE HEAVILY OAKED WINES

And so on.

Thou shall change wine tastes seasonally

As seasons change, so do my tastes in wine and single-malt Scotch, one of my favorite spirits.

In the cooler months, I lean toward heavier weighted wines, the Syrahs of the southern Rhone, the killer Cabernets of Napa Valley, and the rich, earthy wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

For one thing, these wines tend to best complement the types of food we prepare in our home in the winter: slow roasted chicken, braised beef, or hearty stews.

For another thing, these wines tend to have more gravitas, than, say, a delicate Pinot Noir from Burgundy, or a medium-bodied Malbec from Argentina. Rich in texture, they warm the palate the way a goose-down comforter, pulled up around your ears, warms your body.

In terms of single-malt Scotch, I prefer peatier, heavier Scotches in the winter; as the thermometer plummets, I seek heavier malts, smokier Scotches. They naturally seem to warm my soul faster. But come the spring, or summer, I back out of the peat bog, and seek slimmer Scotches, redolent of salt water, iodine or sea mist.

Thou shall serve simple wines with complex foods and complex wines with simple foods

The most important mantra to keep I mind when selecting a wine is NOT that old cliché, “Red wine with meat, White wine with fish,” because that went out of style with the Chevy Corvair.

No, the mantra to repeat and remember is this:

“Simple wine with complex food, complex wine with simple food.”

Say you are serving a pot au feu this month; the flavors of meat are reasonably simple, the broth has a bead of focus; your palate is not distracted by a hundred different spices, or herbs. I would call this a Simple Food.

Time to hunt through your cellar for a complex wine – a properly aged Bordeaux, offering up loads of blackcurrant and ripe black fruit flavors, along with notes of minerals and maybe, if you are lucky, graphite or chocolate.

Or maybe reach for a fully aged Syrah from France, filled with complexity and hints of well-ridden saddle leather, violets and crème de cassis.

Or maybe open a gushy, young Napa Valley Zinfandel, with top-heavy fruit, loads of jam, “rusty” middle notes and a berry-filled finish. What a refreshing, complex beverage to serve with a simple, one-note dish.

On the other hand, if you opt to prepare a complex dish, filled with spices and different textures – something like a paella, or cioppino, or bouillabaisse – it is time to select a Simple Wine: a straight-forward Riesling from New Zealand or Austria comes to mind, or a medium-bodied Pinot Noir from Oregon. Something that will not fight the many flavors and textures of your main dish.

Thou shalt not serve cheese before dinner and when thou doesteth, thou shalt not serve heavily oaked wines

The whole idea of an “appetizer,” or what the French call the “Entrée” course at dinner, is that this course is meant to give you an “appetite,” help build your hunger for what is to follow. Eating a huge quantity of rich cheese as an appetizer does NOT set one up for the next course; if anything, it depresses one’s appetite and fills you up.

I prefer to serve cheese selections AFTER the main course. And when I do opt to serve cheese, I make sure that I am not serving a heavily oaked (usually American or Australian) red or white wine, whose tannins fight the dairy notes of cheese. Instead, I prefer to serve under-oaked, or at the very least, properly oaked, wines with cheese.

As for the type of wine to serve: I eschew all those old rules which suggest you pull out a well-aged Bordeaux or Burgundy to serve with cheese; my favorite “red” wine to serve with cheese is probably Port.

In terms of whites, which is often my choice with cheese, I like a sweet “sticky,” or Sauternes. But best of all, a low-alcohol white, refreshes the heavy cheese flavors on your palate; consider serving a chilled Sancerre, a glass of Champagne, or turn to a low-alcohol, slightly effervescent, Moscato d’Asti.

In other words let the cheese do the talking. (And the only words coming from your lips should be the Wine Mantra above, which you must keep muttering to yourself…)