wine suggestions

[phoebe]

In the description of your book on your web site, I saw that most recipes come with suggestions for wine pairing. That's so great! We're lucky enough to have a good wine shop nearby with very knowledgeable people who like to talk food/wine pairing with us. But not everyone does.
How specific are your suggestions? Do you name wineries and years? Grapes? Alcohol level? Countries (Chilean Merlot vs Californian)?

[Denise Landis]

As it says on my website (www.TheCooksCook.com), most dishes in DINNER FOR EIGHT come with three wine suggestions, arranged in ascending order of probable cost. To allow cooks and shoppers the most latitude, these wine suggestions do not call specifically for one particular bottle of wine (by maker or, heaven forbid, vintage). But because there are generally three suggestions for each dish, a wide range of appropriate choice is available. For example, for a Spring polenta recipe, the wines suggested are Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Amontillado (i.e., white, red, or sherry).

Occasionally a particular country's or region's varietal may be suggested (eg., a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for Peruvian-Style Pork or an Oregon Pinot Noir for Pistachio-Crusted Steelhead Trout). And there is, in fact, a single specific wine, Lebanon's Chateau Musar (for Sweet Crusted Leg of Lamb, though if that particular wine is not desired or available, the other suggestions for that dish are Chianti or Rosé).

Desserts generally have one wine suggested. By that time in the meal, you might appreciate having little choice after so much pleasure.

The wine pairings were written by my husband, J.D. Landis. He has been a serious wine collector for many years and is the former publisher of many books on wine and cooking. He is now a novelist, the author of Longing, about the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann, and most recently, Artist of The Beautiful, set in the towns that were flooded to create the Quabbin reservoir in western Massachusetts.

[phoebe]

How great that your book offers a range of possibilities. I especially like the example you gave that had a red, a white, and a sherry. My husband and I tend to prefer reds (whites, no matter how good, tend to give me a headache after one glass )and often come up against recommendations for certain dishes that restrict themselves by color (when, at least in our experience, that doesn't have to be the case).