Why We Love Pinot Noir

If you love red wine but always lament that it is so hard to match the right red with many foods (say any white fish, most salads, anything spicy), then you need to be drinking Pinot Noir.

For years, when dining I would generally open two bottles of wine, a white and red, drink the white with the first course and the red with the entree. While this certainly works, truth be told, much of the time, I'd rather drink only red.

Fortunately, a few years ago I had a magical experience at a food and wine pairing at Beringer, which showed me how to have my cake and eat it too.

Our Beringer host placed in front of each of the eight of us, seven wines glasses, each filled with a different varietal: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet, Syrah, Zin and Pinot.

We were given common flavors to taste, with each wine, including salt, sugar, citrus (lemon), soft white cheese and a blue cheese. We were then asked to try each wine with each food item. For example, we tried each one of the seven wines with the salt, then each one with the citrus, and on and on through each food item.

What we discovered has dramatically changed the way I now pair food and wine. With the exception of the Pinot Noir, every wine tasted different with each food flavor.

As would be expected, the Cab, Merlot, Syrah and Zin tasted terrible with the citrus and the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc tasted just as bad with the salt. Some wines went better than others with the cheeses. The key was that every wine, except the Pinot, changed in taste with each food flavor.

Amazingly, regardless of the food flavor, the Pinot tasted the same. The Pinot tasted good with salt. The Pinot tasted good with citrus. The Pinot tasted good with sugar. This was shocking and a complete mystery, which I still have not unraveled.

Since this tasting, I have changed the way I pair food and wine. When I go to a seafood restaurant, rather than automatically opening a Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay, I now consider a Pinot Noir (doesn't matter whether from California, Oregon or Burgundy).

Unless I am in the mood for white wine, when the food would generally make me think white, I now drink Pinot. I have discovered that Pinot is wonderful with Chinese food (never thought I'd enjoy any red wine with Chinese or any Asian food).

Needless to say, I have been buying Pinot like crazy because it is so very versatile.

So if you want an alternative to white, drink Pinot. If you don't feel like drinking a heavy red wine, because it is a hot summer day or for any of a million other reasons, drink Pinot. If you are not sure what to drink, you can't go wrong with Pinot. If you are going to a party or dinner at a friend's house, where you don't know what is on the menu, you can't go wrong bringing a Pinot Noir.

I have become a convert. I wonder if Miles from Sideways had anything to do with this?

Miles