On May 15, 8:21�pm, "Si Beer" > wrote:
> I question your statement "Alsatian Rieslings are getting more sweet by the
> year". I do not believe that it is more RS but more fruit you are tasting.
> For the past several years I spend some time in Alsace each October and have
> learned to distinguish fruit from RS.
>
> "Robert11" > wrote in message
>
> . ..
>
>
>
> > Hi Nils,
>
> > I live just outside of Boston, Mass.
>
> > Much thanks for help, reallyt appreciate it.
> > Sure is a lot to know !
>
> > A little confused over which are the relatively inexpensive cooking white
> > wines to try that you suggest ?
> > Could you perhaps just give me the brand names of a few reds, and a few
> > whites in a short list ?
> > That would make it a lot easier for a real beginner like me.
>
> > Regards, and thanks again,
> > Bob
>
> > -----------------
> > "Nils Gustaf Lindgren" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Hello
>
> >> Welcome to the wine group.
> >> I think it would help if you told us where you are posting from,
> >> geographically, in case you want some specifc ecommendations - it helps
> >> if the wines are available.
> >> For dry cooking wines I think a basic rule is that they should not be
> >> oaked, or at least, not obtrusively so.
> >> A Cote-du-Rhone might be useful. They tend to be cheapish, and not
> >> heavily oaked. Also they are as arule not tannic which is a bonus.
>
> >> And, yes, white wine is used in cooking - in sauces with fish, in
> >> risotto, in specific dishes like Coq au Riesling and Baeckoffe, mussle
> >> soup, spaghetthi sauce - a bottle of dry white comes in handy quite
> >> often. Here the frist rule also applies - do not use a very oaked wine.
> >> In the case of Coq au RIesling (rooster in RIesling) it stands to reason
> >> that the wine used should be a Riesling, of the Alsatian type, meaning,
> >> dry and fruity. For fish sauces e g an unoaked Chard might do, or a
> >> Muscadet, which is never unoaked.
>
> >> Please understand that I oversimplify, slightly - this is for didactic
> >> purposes, and many will no doubt point out that Alsatian Rieslings are
> >> getting more sweet by the year, and that it can be the done thing to use
> >> a very tannic wine indeed (like beef braised in Barolo) in cooking, but
> >> you have to start somewhere ...
>
> >> Good luck
>
> >> Nils
>
> >> "Robert11" > skrev i meddelandet
> ...
> >>> Hello,
>
> >>> Know nothing about wines, frankly.
>
> >>> Previously I got a friend a Merlot wine for cooking.
> >>> Loves it.
>
> >>> Would like to expand his horizons in cooking wines a bit.
>
> >>> Might anyone please suggest other, non-Merlot's, for under perhaps $12
> >>> or so for him to try also ?
>
> >>> Do they use white wines for cooking (much) ?
>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> Bob- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

While it is certainly possible that as vintages have tended towards
the riper/hotter, there is "more fruit" in Alsace Rieslings, it's hard
to deny that there is waaaay more RS than in the past. In early '90s
Olivier Humbrecht was an outlier as most of his Rieslings weren't
really dry. Now it is the Trimbachs who seem the non-conventional ones
as all there non-late designated wines are totally dry.
I do appreciate ZHs sweetness indice, it's the not knowing what is in
bottle that bothers me the most.