Best cooking wine type for...

[theplayingmantis]

Coq au vin
Chicken Chasseur
Beef bourguignon (burgundy yes but spefic)

what do you use?

i stick to the adage if you wouldn't drink it don't cook with it but others disagree (slightly moot on me as i dont really like wine...although i can tell what i think is nasty and what is more agreeable despite that generally)

[Bowside]

I can never bring myself to pour decent wine into a cooking pot, but perhaps it will taste slightly better. I use the cheapest stuff I can find, as boiling it isn't going to help it's flavour in my view - then eat the perfectly tasty food with a fabulous bottle of wine, as it'll taste better overall!

[brownspeed]

hand to hand combat; Lidl every time

[theplayingmantis]

Bowside said:

I can never bring myself to pour decent wine into a cooking pot, but perhaps it will taste slightly better. I use the cheapest stuff I can find, as boiling it isn't going to help it's flavour in my view - then eat the perfectly tasty food with a fabulous bottle of wine, as it'll taste better overall!

Have done this but consistently inconsistent coq au vins in particular I think it makes a big difference

vans...

Edited by theplayingmantis on Monday 4th December 17:23

[Snoggledog]

I tend to use either of the following when cooking with red wine:

Waitrose Mellow and Fruity Spanish Red
Waitrose Rich and Intense Italian Red

Both are of a standard and give a good flavour without costing the earth.

When it comes to using white wine I tend to use Vineyard Pinot Grigio from Lidl

I'm sure a fan of Escoffier will be along momentarily with a shotgun

[Lotobear]

I'd use an inexpensive Cote Du Rhone for any one of those.

[arfur]

Generally quite simple

Red : Chianti generally where needed but for Boeuf Bourguignon or suchlike then a strong burgundy

White : Just Chardonnay

hth

[arfur]

theplayingmantis said:

Bowside said:

I can never bring myself to pour decent wine into a cooking pot, but perhaps it will taste slightly better. I use the cheapest stuff I can find, as boiling it isn't going to help it's flavour in my view - then eat the perfectly tasty food with a fabulous bottle of wine, as it'll taste better overall!

Have done this but consistently inconsistent coq au vans in particular I think it makes a big differnce

Was told many years ago to always cook with a wine you'd be happy to serve to guests (assuming you want them to come back)

[nikaiyo2]

Whatever is open…

[Mr Penguin]

I have never done this with wine, but a friend used to make two Christmas cakes - one for family, friends, and colleagues with own brand, three year old brandy at £15 a bottle and one for himself with a £40 bottle. When I asked him if he could tell the difference, he said no.

I did try something similar with sloe gin - going from own brand up to the low £20s does make a much smoother drink but there was no difference beyond that.

Back to the original question, I buy whatever is cheapest unless I only need a tiny amount or it will have a big impact on the flavour.

[21TonyK]

Lotobear said:

I'd use an inexpensive Cote Du Rhone for any one of those.

Same, Lidl CDR for about £5 is more than adequate.

Edited by 21TonyK on Monday 4th December 19:15

[595Heaven]

I just buy those single glass bottles (187ml for some reason) - usually Merlot and either Chardonnay or Sauv Blanc.

[Bowside]

arfur said:

theplayingmantis said:

Bowside said:

I can never bring myself to pour decent wine into a cooking pot, but perhaps it will taste slightly better. I use the cheapest stuff I can find, as boiling it isn't going to help it's flavour in my view - then eat the perfectly tasty food with a fabulous bottle of wine, as it'll taste better overall!

Have done this but consistently inconsistent coq au vans in particular I think it makes a big differnce

Was told many years ago to always cook with a wine you'd be happy to serve to guests (assuming you want them to come back)

I watched one of those celebrity 'dinner at my house' programmes once and watched Christopher Biggins pour at least £100 bottle of Chateau Lascombes into a boiling casserole pot - I could have cried, but perhaps it tasted amazing.

[RustyMX5]

Bowside said:

arfur said:

theplayingmantis said:

Bowside said:

I can never bring myself to pour decent wine into a cooking pot, but perhaps it will taste slightly better. I use the cheapest stuff I can find, as boiling it isn't going to help it's flavour in my view - then eat the perfectly tasty food with a fabulous bottle of wine, as it'll taste better overall!

Have done this but consistently inconsistent coq au vans in particular I think it makes a big differnce

Was told many years ago to always cook with a wine you'd be happy to serve to guests (assuming you want them to come back)

I watched one of those celebrity 'dinner at my house' programmes once and watched Christopher Biggins pour at least £100 bottle of Chateau Lascombes into a boiling casserole pot - I could have cried, but perhaps it tasted amazing.

I've never understood this either. Using this extreme and over the top example, why would anyone cook with Dagueneau 'Asteroide' at £1400+ per bottle? You're pouring something that's designed to taste amazing at 10 - 15 C into a pan that's bubbling at a minimum of 60 C. All of those amazing flavours will be destroyed in seconds. It's just insane before you even consider the cost *

Does anyone really think that Le Manoir Aux Quat'saisons uses a bottle of Chateau Petrus when they're knocking up a Boeuf Bourguignon?

As a vinter friend once pointed out:

Supermarket stuff at £5 - £15 per bottle is perfectly drinkable. His view was that Lidl has some of the best bang for buck wines out there.
The £15 - £50 wines are a waste because they're usually not much better than the cheap stuff. **
It's only when you get above £50 that you start getting some really amazing stuff.

* Not everyone on PH is a powerfully built director with a bottomless pit of cash
** However, he did caveat that somewhat by saying that some of the stuff around £30 is superb but it's not easy to find.

eta.. Apologies if that comes across as all NP&E - Ranty. I really shouldn't spend some much time there

Edited by RustyMX5 on Friday 8th December 12:33

[LooneyTunes]

RustyMX5 said:

As a vinter friend once pointed out:

Supermarket stuff at £5 - £15 per bottle is perfectly drinkable. His view was that Lidl has some of the best bang for buck wines out there.
The £15 - £50 wines are a waste because they're usually not much better than the cheap stuff. **
It's only when you get above £50 that you start getting some really amazing stuff.

* Not everyone on PH is a powerfully built director with a bottomless pit of cash
** However, he did caveat that somewhat by saying that some of the stuff around £30 is superb but it's not easy to find.

That’s the sweet spot for a good independent wine merchant!

For cooking, the question is always “how much do you need?” If it’s a splash, then it’ll be whatever is being opened or anything frozen (ice cube trays of leftovers). If it’s more then we usually have some of the Wine Society own label wines around. Their Cotes du Rhône and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo work well.

As for Dagueneau, not a name I’d really expect to see appear on PH, but (2012) Les Jardins de Babylon was one of my favourite wines of the year, and it’s nowhere near the price of Asteroide! Was fortunate to be offered a bottle at the end of a meal by a sommelier who had a few wines that he didn’t want to openly list. Highly recommend to anyone who likes interesting stuff from the sweet end of the spectrum, if you can find it.

[RustyMX5]

LooneyTunes said:

<snip>

As for Dagueneau, not a name I’d really expect to see appear on PH, but (2012) Les Jardins de Babylon was one of my favourite wines of the year, and it’s nowhere near the price of Asteroide! Was fortunate to be offered a bottle at the end of a meal by a sommelier who had a few wines that he didn’t want to openly list. Highly recommend to anyone who likes interesting stuff from the sweet end of the spectrum, if you can find it.

My vintner friend suggested I try Dagueneau as I like dry white wines. At the time I was a contractor and had some disposable cash so I was rich enough to get bottles of :

Blanc Fume de Pouilly
Pouilly-Fume Silex
Buisson-Renard
Pur Sang
Les Jardins de Babylon

In all honesty, I'm not refined enough as a drinker to be able to easily distinguish between all of the Loire wines. I could tell that the Silex was drier / harder and the Pur Sang was more rounded but beyond that, nope. My overall favourite was the Blanc Fume de Pouilly because that just delivers every single time. I bought a bottle of Les Jardins de Babylon for a laugh and had no idea what to expect. Sweeter than I would normally go for but oh so smooth and boy did the flavours pop in the mouth.

These days I only buy anything above £20 if I can really afford it or it's a very special occasion. Bloody mortgage!

I rather miss going to BBR and picking up unusual dry whites. Maybe I should dig up the list that I kept all those years ago

[sherman]

Most restaurants use Brakes wine in a 20 litre box. With a plastic tap on the front. The box is usually left on a shelf in the hot kitchen or dry store and used as required so may be sat there all week stewing in its bag.

It doesnt have to be expensive just drinkable.

[LooneyTunes]

RustyMX5 said:

LooneyTunes said:

<snip>

As for Dagueneau, not a name I’d really expect to see appear on PH, but (2012) Les Jardins de Babylon was one of my favourite wines of the year, and it’s nowhere near the price of Asteroide! Was fortunate to be offered a bottle at the end of a meal by a sommelier who had a few wines that he didn’t want to openly list. Highly recommend to anyone who likes interesting stuff from the sweet end of the spectrum, if you can find it.

My vintner friend suggested I try Dagueneau as I like dry white wines. At the time I was a contractor and had some disposable cash so I was rich enough to get bottles of :

Blanc Fume de Pouilly
Pouilly-Fume Silex
Buisson-Renard
Pur Sang
Les Jardins de Babylon

In all honesty, I'm not refined enough as a drinker to be able to easily distinguish between all of the Loire wines. I could tell that the Silex was drier / harder and the Pur Sang was more rounded but beyond that, nope. My overall favourite was the Blanc Fume de Pouilly because that just delivers every single time. I bought a bottle of Les Jardins de Babylon for a laugh and had no idea what to expect. Sweeter than I would normally go for but oh so smooth and boy did the flavours pop in the mouth.

These days I only buy anything above £20 if I can really afford it or it's a very special occasion. Bloody mortgage!

I rather miss going to BBR and picking up unusual dry whites. Maybe I should dig up the list that I kept all those years ago

Big fan of Silex, but the JdB is something really quite unusual (I think it’s the only Petit Manseng I’ve ever consumed). Most of the still whites I drink are off-dry/sweet so trying it was a done deal as soon as it was offered. A most agreeable end to a good dinner.

Not been in to BBR for ages. Probably should next time I’m in town.

[RustyMX5]

Maybe try an Albarino from Rias Baixas. They tend to be slightly softer and more mellow than the Pouilly Fumee wines. It's more than a few years ago but I thought that Louis-Benjamin was the only person making a wine with the Petit Manseng grape. I've got to admit it was a 'wow'! moment though.

[QJumper]

Whatever bottle's open and unfinished.