Wine and Cooking

I am often asked where we keep our cheap cooking wine by customers who are preparing a meal or dish that calls for wine. Since we do not have a "cooking wine" section at the West Vail Liquor Mart this often leads to another statement from consumers, "I am just cooking with it so what is the cheapest or least expensive wine."

If you have not noticed there has been a proliferation of high end food and wine events occuring all over the place. Just try to pick up any lifestyle magazine, such as Wine Spectator, Food and Wine, Bon Apetit, etc, and not find an advertisement for the latest and greatest celebrity chefs pairing food with their favorite wines. The sponsors of these events also tend to be of the luxury set: Mercedes, BMW, fine kitchen gagets, high end stoves and refrigerators such as Sub-Zero to name a few. Sorry for this digression, but I think it pertains to the overall question of why certain consumers will pine for the latest and greates of ingredients, sponsor products and such to cook with, and then seemingly develop an aversion to using quality wine when they are cooking?

OK, let's be honest not everyone is going to dump a bottle of $100 Nuits St. George Burgundy wine into their beef borgogne (although I think it deserves consideration). After all how would your Electrolux, Vulcan or Thermador range feel about a $5.00 bottle of Hearty Burgundy used on its state of the art cook top?

If you are going to go to all the trouble searching for the best ingredients and best appliances to prepare a meal your friends will go ga-ga over, you should also consider upgrading your wine ingredient. One of the best ways to create a great food and wine pairing is to cook with the same wine you will be serving with each course. Of course, it will cost some extra money, but after all is said and done it is your goal to create an experience for the senses and not just a meal. Next time, try trading up a bit in the wine ingredient category and I think you will like the results!

Tom Mullen
West Vail Liquor Mart