Читать книгу The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season - Richard Olney - Страница 16

The myth that all red wines should be served at “room temperature” has ruined more great wines than any other single mistreatment. It dates from the nineteenth century, when, for venerable wines, it was a valid dictum, as central heating did not exist and room temperature was closer to 60° than to 80° Small red wines, drunk young, gain by being served slightly cooler than cellar temperature. Fairly young Burgundies are perfect drunk at cellar temperature. In general, Bordeaux should be served slightly warmer than Burgundies and older wines slightly warmer than young, but never should they be reduced to that horrible, tepid brew that wine stewards regularly blackmail their clients into accepting.

White wines should, of course, always be chilled, but never iced. They should be chilled as rapidly as possible; the classic ice bucket is still the best method. A couple of hours in the refrigerator or a half hour in the freezer (provided one does not forget it is there) will do the trick; but a prolonged stay in the refrigerator will rob a wine of all its qualities—it is cassé—broken.

Any old wine, white or red, should be uncorked a couple of hours before serving. If this is not feasible, it should be decanted before serving, for the aeration or “breathing” is essential to the development of the bouquet. Even in restaurants, if I know in advance what I want to drink, I always telephone several hours ahead to ask that the wine be uncorked in time, for I have too often known a great wine to begin to open out only as the bottle was being finished.

White wine rarely contains sediment other than an occasional deposit of tartar crystals, which, being relatively heavy, do not disturb the wine. A red wine that contains a certain amount of sediment must be handled very gently from the moment it leaves the cellar to the moment the last drop is poured. (Often, in restaurants, one sees bottles turned upside down, shaken, tossed around, before being thrown into their wicker cradles, then poured with the greatest of “loving” care and ceremony before the client; the liquid that comes out, of course, is mud.) If possible, the bottle should be stood upright for a couple of days before it is to be served; otherwise, a cradle into which it may be slipped sidewise without disturbing the sediment is the best solution. If it is not decanted, it should be poured slowly and regularly without ever returning to an upright position until all glasses have been filled. To decant a wine, a candle or a small light bulb should be placed behind the decanter and slightly to the right (for a right-handed person) so that, while pouring, the light is directly behind the neck of the bottle. Tilt the bottle slowly with a steady hand and pour steadily, watching the transparency through the neck of the bottle. The moment the wine becomes troubled, stop pouring. Properly poured, the wine in the decanter will be completely limpid and only one-third to one-half glass of liquid and residue will remain in the bottle.

The glass from which one drinks should be uncut, undecorated and uncolored, so that the color of the wine may be properly admired. It should be stemmed and large enough to hold approximately one-half cup when less than half filled. The form may be that of a tulip or a ballon; the essential thing is that the circumference of the lip be somewhat smaller than that of the rest of the glass, so that when the glass is from one-third to one-half full, the bouquet may develop in the space above. It is attractive, but not necessary, to serve white and red wines in differently shaped glasses. Traditionally, Burgundy and Bordeaux (as well as many other wine regions) have their own glasses, but, in practice, “claret” glasses are too small to serve for anything but water and Burgundy glasses are too large to avoid ostentation.

To taste a wine properly, I do not feel that it is too indiscreet to pucker one’s mouth (the French say that one forms one’s mouth in a cul de poule) and suck air through the wine before letting it spread to all corners of the mouth and tongue (although, admittedly, one’s table companions may be surprised at this performance).

In selecting wines for a meal, it is logical to begin with the lightest and driest of whites (they are also perfect as aperitifs and do not paralyze the palate as do, for instance, dry martinis), which may accompany hors d’oeuvre, light seafood dishes, etc., and work through richer, though still dry, white wines with hot sauced fish dishes and certain other white meats, vegetable gratins, cheese soufflés (fish cooked in red wine are, preferably, accompanied by red wine). In moving from a white to a red wine, neither should suffer by comparison (thus, it would be a pity to leap from a Muscadet into a Lafite or to serve a Beaujolais after a Corton-Charlemagne), and the red wine that follows another should be bigger of body and older. In short, work from white to red, small to large, and young to old. But one must not take all of this too seriously; and it is great fun to make up rules and then disprove them, or attempt to. In general it is easier to marry wines from the same region than those of disparate character, but it is often amusing, and sometimes exciting, to switch from Bordeaux to Burgundy, or from old to young, or from Burgundy to Bordeaux (which is severely disapproved!). Assuming the dessert to be of the right character, one’s pleasure is always enriched by finishing a meal with a great Sauternes. (The name Sauternes when referring to the region in France or wines from that region is always spelled with a final s. The s has been dropped in English when the name refers to American-made wines).