#44 Debunking Wine Myths (Part 1).

November 1, 2024

Everyone seems to have ideas about “Wine do’s and don’ts” (I certainly do) but simply because someone has said something (and it’s often repeated) it does not make it true.  I call those declarations “myths” and here’s a few of them I’ve heard folks state with certainty….

Myth: Red wine is for meat and white wine is for fish

That depends on the meat or the fish and there are many different choices in both.  Red wine does seem to pair better with heartier dishes while white wine seems to go better with lighter fare.   When I grill salmon (a savory full-bodied fish) my favorite wine is our Syrah (red) and it’s a wonderful match!  A “perfect pairing” is when the food enhances the wine and when the wine enhances the food.  If you are dining out at a fine restaurant, simply ask the waiter which wine he’d suggest to match your food choice.  Asking his opinion will produce a smile and you’ll end up with a good pairing!

Myth: Never put ice cubes in your wine

Suzy and I have found that putting ice cubes in our lighter wines on a hot, summer day (Rosé, Viognier and even Chardonnay and Sparkler) keeps the wine chilled, refreshing and keeps us hydrated.  We’ve found that if the wine has lower alcohol, an ice cube or two doesn’t seem to change the wine, but do your own trials.  Find a low alcohol white or Rosé and pour two glasses, one with ice and one without, then taste them both.  If the wine with ice tastes just as good, stick with the glass with ice.  (And you probably won’t get a headache.). There’s the classic story of an elder August Sebastiani in the late 1960’s at a wine event.  He was in his classic overalls holding a tumbler of dark red wine with an ice cube floating at the top.  One of the wine guests asked him why he was putting ice in his wine.  His reply was “I made this wine and I like it with ice.”  End of conversation.

Myth: Older wine is better than young wine

Experts say that only 1% of the world’s wine has “ageing potential”.  That means 99% of wine should be consumed within 5 years. Ever make the mistake of waiting too long to open that “special bottle” and discover you waiting too long?  Some red wines, Port, a smattering of white wines and a few Champagnes are intended to get better in bottle (if stored correctly) but not many.  As all wines age (some more quickly than others) they eventually become oxidized and lose the delightful fruit notes they once had.  My suggestion?  When you purchase that bottle, ask the proprietor or winery when it should be opened.  If you have doubt about a “special bottle” you’ve been saving, bring it over here and we’ll pull the cork!  Question answered.

Myth: The wine bottle must have a cork to be a good wine 

Not true. Don’t judge the quality of a wine by whether it has a cork (or whether it’s packaged in a box).  George Tabor (he chronicled the historic 1976 Judgement of Paris) penned a wonderful book “To Cork Or Not To Cork”.  If you want to know the everything about screw tops vs corks, synthetic closures or glass stoppers, get a copy!  It seems that more and more delightful wines are trading corks for screw-tops.  (Why do all our GlenLyon wine bottles have corks?  No other reason other than I like the tradition of using a corkscrew.)

Myth:  The heavier the bottle, the better the wine

Not true at all.  The tendency should be to deliver our products in the most environmentally-conscious packaging possible.  We have yet to start “bottling” our wines in a box, but that could be on the horizon for the next generation. The type of container doesn’t really affect the quality of the wine, but a bag-in-a-box (deflating as the wine is removed) does do a better job keeping oxygen away from the wine.  Logically, it’s a pretty good idea….  We still use glass bottles (I’m a bit of a traditionalist) but consciously order our glass bottles to be as lightweight as possible.  (We now use a “glass crusher” which reduces our empty bottles to glass crystals for recycling.)

Expensive wines are better

Maybe, but just because a wine costs an arm and a leg does not mean it’s a great wine.  Data from more than 6,000 wine tastings indicate that the correlation between price and overall rating is very small.  Pricing depends on many things but high scores and reviews by famous wine writers can drive a bottle price to astronomical levels.  It also then makes the wine harder to find and if a particular wine is scarce, more and more folks seem to want it.

Myth:  I get a headache from drinking wine with Sulfites  

Not likely.  Sulfites are inorganic salts that have been added to food for over three centuries to help preserve our foods.  The level of sulfites in a bottle of wine is usually less than 50ppm and most packaged foods, meats, cheeses, soups contain twice that amount!    Your “health-food” trail mix?  About five times the amount found in a bottle of wine!  Most likely your headache is simply because you drank too much.  We all have different alcohol tolerance levels. Your wife may feel light-headed after one glass of wine but you don’t feel anything.  It has a lot to do with body mass, but also your individual tolerance levels.  Also take note of the percentage of alcohol in the wine as some wines are low in alcohol, others are high.  I find that if I’m offered a glass of wine at an event, I’ll look at the bottle to note the alcohol percentage (all wine labels must list that info.). As I age, higher alcohol wines tend to affect me more than they used to, so if the alcohol is high, I’ll have a different wine.  Take note of your own tolerance level and adjust your intake accordingly.  Bianca Bosker, the author of “CORK DORK” (a hilarious book!) was at Reader’s Books in Sonoma a few years ago.  A (contrary) attendee firmly declared “I get headaches when I drink wine!”  Ms Bosker asked: “How many glasses of wine are you talking about?”  The woman replied: “Only two.”  Ms Bosker’s response? “I’d stop at one.”  (She also said something I’ve often repeated: “You know, wine is not a health food.”  Love it!)

 Once again, I am at my allotted word count, so look for more ”wine myths” in my December article for 2024!  With apologies to Transcendence Theatre: “It Was Our Best Harvest Ever!”

 “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest man”

Roald Dahl

-Squire Fridell