Food and Wine Pairing : A Sensory Experience

The Art and Science of Wine Evaluation 29

Table 2.1 Recommended Temperatures for Serving Wines with

Food or Drinking

Wine Type Temperature

Tannic red wines:Australian Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rhoˆne wines,

vintage Port, Bordeaux, Chaˆteauneuf-du-Pape

63–65!F/17–18!C

Medium-bodied red wines:southern French reds, southern Italian reds, Rioja,

Toro, Pinot Noir, Valpolicella, young Chianti

58–61!F/14–16!C

Red wines with light tannin:young Beaujolais, red Sancerre, Bardolino,

young Spanish and Portuguese reds

54–55!F/12–13!C

Fuller-bodied and aromatic white wines, sweet wines, rose ́ s, Sherry and

white Port:Chardonnay, Sauternes, Tokaji, white Rioja

48–50!F/9–10!C

Light, crisp and sparkling white wines:Alsace, Chablis, Riesling, good

Champagne and sparkling wine, Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc

45–46!F/7–8!C

Cheap sparkling wines 36–39!F/2–4!C

istics. The approach throughout this book is one of combining the art and science of wine
and food evaluation.
The wine literature is littered with a wide variety of evaluation sheets and processes
based on profiles, mathematical formulas, ranking systems, and descriptions. One attempt
at a universal classification of wine types is based on the work of Pierre Coste.^13 Coste
suggested four general categories of wine, based on the purpose of drinking as observed in
his home country of France. The first category is what he termed the ‘‘French national
drink.’’ This style of drinking is where no real tasting takes place—wine is drunk as a matter
of habit, used solely to moisten food and to quench one’s thirst. The wines in this category
are the simplest and most common in taste—generic table wines. The second category he
terms ‘‘false fine wine.’’ Drinkers in this category follow a blind faith in tradition and are
considered ‘‘label drinkers’’—the wine they consume has a significant history of origin but
the current quality is illusory. The third category up the ladder is termed ‘‘good wines,’’ and
wines in this group are well balanced, attractive, and easy to drink. Generally, these wines
are drunk young with a taste of fruit (in reds) and floral (in whites). The drinkers regard the
enjoyment of wine as a real and uncomplicated pleasure. The top-level category is termed
‘‘fine wines,’’ which can be thought of as works of art—unique and flawless. The drinking
of these wines becomes almost a religious ritual event, and the process is reserved for the
informed amateur and privileged gourmet.
While Coste’s classification system provides an interesting point of differentiation for
wines and those who drink them, his explanations have a ring of elitism to them. A more
down-to-earth approach might be Zraly’s classification of wines as either everyday wines,
once-a-week wines, once-a-month wines, or once-a-year or special-occasion wines.^14 In this
case, it acknowledges that those who drink wine may drink it for different purposes at
different times. Therefore, low-cost wines of good relative quality and higher-cost wines at
the higher end of the quality spectrum both have their place in our daily lives and routines.
In my view, good values in wine should not be looked down upon but instead provide nice
‘‘lubrication’’ for daily enjoyment (in moderation, of course).

Evaluation Sheets The wine evaluation process and systems that are used to eval-
uate wines vary from relatively simple to complex. I have provided two examples of wine
evaluation sheets at the end of this chapter. One is based on the Italian process (Figure 2.3,