Had dinner last night at a friend's place - there was Indian and Thai
food on the table, and he (not having any real knowledge of wine, but
knowing that I was fond of it) picked up a Beringer White Merlot 05 to
go with it.

Not usually too fond of rosés, but this wasn't bad at all, despite my
initial surprise/previous prejudices. Very quaffable and light with a
pale pinkish-red colour and a soft, fruity nose with light oak. Palate
was quite refreshing (label said 12.5% alcohol, and it didn't taste
anything like it), quite a sweet taste though - probably something a
lot of wine drinkers may turn their noses up at, but surprisingly this
went alright with the food (which was mostly vegetarian or had chicken,
and mildly spiced).

Not something I'd immediately go out and buy (although it was around
5-6 USD), but nothing to really avoid here. Thumbs in the middle,
leaning up.

Salil

Salil wrote:
> Had dinner last night at a friend's place - there was Indian and Thai
> food on the table, and he (not having any real knowledge of wine, but
> knowing that I was fond of it) picked up a Beringer White Merlot 05 to
> go with it.

I put White Merlot in the same catagory as White Zinfandel. A great
wine to get people started on wines in general. Most I know who start
drinking wines prefer something simple and lightly sweet and then
progress to more complex and/or drier wines.

However. My personal opinion is that White Zinfandel is a complete
waste of an otherwise superb grape! lol Sounds like you had a nice
evening and a nice dinner so the wine was the perfect choice.

miles wrote:
> Salil wrote:
>> Had dinner last night at a friend's place - there was Indian and Thai
>> food on the table, and he (not having any real knowledge of wine, but
>> knowing that I was fond of it) picked up a Beringer White Merlot 05 to
>> go with it.
>
> I put White Merlot in the same catagory as White Zinfandel. A great
> wine to get people started on wines in general. Most I know who start
> drinking wines prefer something simple and lightly sweet and then
> progress to more complex and/or drier wines.

I can't tell if you intend to, but I wouldn't dismiss all pink wines with
such a broad statement. Beringer's White Merlot is indeed a light, off-dry
quaff, and likely a *very* good match for Indian and Thai food, particularly
if the food is a bit spicy.

There are many other pink wines which are built in a dry, more
sophisticated style. Just to name a few 'local' examples...

St. Clement doesn't appear to make it any longer, but they used to
bottle a dry white Merlot of their own called La Vache that was an
outstanding as a summer sipper. I remember the hot afternoon when
I offered a glass of this to a wine-enthusiast neighbor, who turned
up his nose but went ahead and tried it at my urging - and positively
loved it.

Miner Family's Rosato is a dry rose of Sangiovese, again, a great wine
to chill and serve on a warm summer afternoon.

Boony Doon's Vin Gris de Cigare is pretty widely available and consistently
very good to great.

I'm woefully ignorant of French rosé but have had more than a few delicious
examples.

Dana

Dana H. Myers wrote:

> I can't tell if you intend to, but I wouldn't dismiss all pink wines with
> such a broad statement. Beringer's White Merlot is indeed a light, off-dry
> quaff, and likely a *very* good match for Indian and Thai food, particularly
> if the food is a bit spicy.

White Merlot and White Zinfandel to me are both very low end wines for
people that for the most part are not wine lovers. They are simple
non-complex wines for those that do not have an acquired pallet for
wines in general. They are wines that people usually start out with
when learning to enjoy wine. People don't often progress towards them
but rather away as their pallets develop. Don't get me wrong though.
Theres nothing wrong with these wines for the people that enjoy them.
But I have yet to see an outstanding 90+ rated White Merlot or White
Zinfandel. I did see a 'Reserve' White Zinfandel once and got a good laugh!

Salil wrote:
> Had dinner last night at a friend's place - there was Indian and Thai
> food on the table, and he (not having any real knowledge of wine, but
> knowing that I was fond of it) picked up a Beringer White Merlot 05 to
> go with it.
>
> Not usually too fond of rosés, but this wasn't bad at all, despite my
> initial surprise/previous prejudices. Very quaffable and light with a
> pale pinkish-red colour and a soft, fruity nose with light oak. Palate
> was quite refreshing (label said 12.5% alcohol, and it didn't taste
> anything like it), quite a sweet taste though - probably something a
> lot of wine drinkers may turn their noses up at, but surprisingly this
> went alright with the food (which was mostly vegetarian or had chicken,
> and mildly spiced).
>
> Not something I'd immediately go out and buy (although it was around
> 5-6 USD), but nothing to really avoid here. Thumbs in the middle,
> leaning up.
>
> Salil
>

Wow, that's funny, friends brought me a bottle last week for my
birthday. Me, a wine lover, my friends, not. My brother in law and I
(only two wine drinkers here that night) enjoyed it. I wouldn't buy it,
but if it's served with light food I wouldn't turn it down.

Only problem, we ripped through the 1.5L bottle in far too little
time...I slept pretty well that night :-)

-ben

Miles: Yes, the dinner/evening was excellent, so no complaints. As for
using Merlot though, think that Rosé is also a complete waste of a
great grape. I've tasted a few excellent Merlots (primarily from South
Australia), and otherwise think it's best in blends.

Dana: Will keep those in mind, although I'm not really a big fan of
rosé - but haven't given it much of a chance either, in all fairness.
Only time I've really found myself enjoying rosé was when I had Blanc
de Pinot Noir at the Gibbston Valley Winery in Central Otago during a
lovely summer there. Otherwise, give me a good aromatic white any day!

Ben: Share the same sentiments re. sleep. In fact, had about 3 glasses
of this - remained fairly clear headed for the evening, and then ended
up getting 10 hours of sleep that night. :-)

Salil

miles wrote:
> Dana H. Myers wrote:
>
>> I can't tell if you intend to, but I wouldn't dismiss all pink wines with
>> such a broad statement. Beringer's White Merlot is indeed a light,
>> off-dry
>> quaff, and likely a *very* good match for Indian and Thai food,
>> particularly
>> if the food is a bit spicy.
>
> White Merlot and White Zinfandel to me are both very low end wines for
> people that for the most part are not wine lovers. They are simple
> non-complex wines for those that do not have an acquired pallet for
> wines in general. They are wines that people usually start out with
> when learning to enjoy wine. People don't often progress towards them
> but rather away as their pallets develop. Don't get me wrong though.
> Theres nothing wrong with these wines for the people that enjoy them.
> But I have yet to see an outstanding 90+ rated White Merlot or White
> Zinfandel. I did see a 'Reserve' White Zinfandel once and got a good
> laugh!

Hmmph. I don't think I have anything close to a novice palate, and
I still think White Zin generally pairs well with spicy Thai and Indian
food. Note that I favor more complex, dry pink wines, but not to the
exclusion of appreciating a good food match, regardless of what is
fashionable.

Dana

Dana H. Myers wrote:

> Hmmph. I don't think I have anything close to a novice palate, and
> I still think White Zin generally pairs well with spicy Thai and Indian
> food. Note that I favor more complex, dry pink wines, but not to the
> exclusion of appreciating a good food match, regardless of what is
> fashionable.

White Zin has always been a cheap mass production jug wine to me.
Theres no such thing as a high end well defined White Zin. I believe
the wine serves the purpose it was invented for very well but is still a
waste of an otherwise very good grape!!

For any spicy food I prefer a full bodied dry red. I'm not much for any
off-dry wines really.

miles wrote:

> White Zin has always been a cheap mass production jug wine to me. Theres
> no such thing as a high end well defined White Zin.

Sure. So what?

> For any spicy food I prefer a full bodied dry red. I'm not much for any
> off-dry wines really.

Oof. There's all kind of tastes, but I wouldn't consider a dry, full-bodied
red a particularly good pairing with spicy/picante food.

Cheers,
Dana

Dana H. Myers wrote:

> Oof. There's all kind of tastes, but I wouldn't consider a dry, full-bodied
> red a particularly good pairing with spicy/picante food.

A full bodied Zin is very commonly served with spicy foods. Far more
than a White Zin. I just can't imagine serving a light rose style wine
with a strong spicy dish. But yes, everyone has their own tastes.
There is no perfect wine. What works for an individual is the perfect
wine for them.

miles wrote:
> Dana H. Myers wrote:
>
>> Oof. There's all kind of tastes, but I wouldn't consider a dry,
>> full-bodied
>> red a particularly good pairing with spicy/picante food.
>
> A full bodied Zin is very commonly served with spicy foods. Far more
> than a White Zin. I just can't imagine serving a light rose style wine
> with a strong spicy dish. But yes, everyone has their own tastes. There
> is no perfect wine. What works for an individual is the perfect wine
> for them.

Perhaps we're differing on the definition of "spicy"; I'm referring to
"heat", was thinking of Thai, Mexican or Southwestern food, with heat
to blow away the nuances of even a big red. A simple, fruit-driven wine
with a bit of residual sugar works much better in that case.

Of course I agree that something like a fruit-forward Zin, Barbera, Syrah,
etc., work well with something that's spicy but not overtly "hot".

Dana

Dana H. Myers wrote:
> Of course I agree that something like a fruit-forward Zin, Barbera, Syrah,
> etc., work well with something that's spicy but not overtly "hot".

Yep. As an Indian (family of South Indian origin), I'm used to some
phenomenally incendiary foods, and there've been a lot of meals in the
past that would be almost impossible to pair with Shiraz. We're not big
Zin fans (my dad likes it, but prefers Shiraz or Rieslings), so we
haven't really tried pairing too much of it with that sort of food.

Whites tend to work much better. Rieslings and Gewurz stand up to a
number of dishes quite well, and NZ Sauvignon Blanc also works very
well most of the time (with Singaporean, Malay and Indonesian food, it
tends to click brilliantly).

For other dishes with more moderate levels of spice, Shiraz does often
go well and pairs beautifully with a lot of tandoori dishes,
particularly the kebabs. Very little beats good seekh kebab and Barossa
Shiraz in tandem.

Salil

Dana H. Myers wrote:

> Perhaps we're differing on the definition of "spicy"; I'm referring to
> "heat", was thinking of Thai, Mexican or Southwestern food, with heat
> to blow away the nuances of even a big red. A simple, fruit-driven wine
> with a bit of residual sugar works much better in that case.

Thats true to an extent if you like sweet or off-dry wines. I don't at
all! For me spicy foods go well with a fruit forward potent dry red.
Not just any full bodied red will do. I enjoy Zins and Syrahs but
again, not just any Zin or Syrah. For spicy foods I like reds that many
would call fruit bombs. They're also kinda loaded at around 17% alcohol
and no appreciable residual sugar.

miles wrote:

> For spicy foods I like reds that many
> would call fruit bombs. They're also kinda loaded at around 17% alcohol
> and no appreciable residual sugar.

You don't think these huge dry reds typically have a bit of residual sugar?
Dry is defined as < 0.5% RS - and just a touch of sugar makes a difference
with spicy food.

Dana

Dana H. Myers wrote:
> miles wrote:

> You don't think these huge dry reds typically have a bit of residual sugar?
> Dry is defined as < 0.5% RS - and just a touch of sugar makes a difference
> with spicy food.

Pretty much all dry reds have just a bit of residual sugar. Never heard
of a wine with 0% RS.