Hey oh
Well, my answer will be in more than two parts.
1. Welcome.
2. This is not the end all answer, it is only the way I do it (in reference to both questions)
3. Although I did go to cooking school, I am not a proffesional, I am a home cook.
So, in regards to wine, it is personal, and a matter of experimentation. Wine is a very personal thing. It is also something that people just don't do right, and wind up making a good dish unpleasant at worst to flavourless at the most disappointing. My great grand father was a master vintner. He always chuckled over people who believed the better the quality of wine for drinking, the better it was for cooking. Not true. Many fine wines are also delicate, and do not stand to heating, becoming flavourless. There are also fine wines that embody so much flavour the final product is muddied for taste.
This is what I do, and it works wonderfully. I always use 'House' wines. These are the simplest of reds and whites. They tend to not carry a significant flavour signature, and they tend to hold well in cooking. They are also reasonably priced.
Yes, the wine you like to drink is the wine to use in cooking. Very true. It works the absolute best at the final stage of cooking. By adding in 4 or 8 Oz of your favourite wine or port or sherry at the end of cooking, you then introduce that flavour signature to your food. That way you can buy a 5 dollar bottle of wine and at the end of cooking swirl in a 20 dollar a bottle of wines flavour.
Also, pay attention to the word 'oaked'. Oaked wines are aged in oak barrels, otherwise they are aged in stainless steel vats. Oak is a powerful flavour that can overpower simple flavoured meats like rabbit and doesn't go pleasantly in sauces like hollandaise.
As to stock, conquer your fear. I am serious. You will wonder how you ever did without it once you learn to make it.
I will say this. I have many times run out of home-made stock and used canned. Presidents choice Organics is a good line. There are others, like Campbell's, but I refuse to use MSG in my cooking. Be aware that they all also contain salt.
Really, making your own is the better way to go. And it is not that hard or time consuming (it works very well unattended).
For brown stock, you need bones that have been browned. In the oven at 450F for an hour or two is usually enough (sometimes longer for a darker stock or heavyer bone.)
For white, just don't brown the bones.
The basic veg flavour is
1 part onion
1/2 part carrot
1/2 part celery
The ratio is not as specific as a lot of books will say. It will easily work if your measurements are not exact. I do it by feel.
In my 7 litre pot, enough bones to come within 2 inches of the top I add one med/large onion and 1 carrot and 1 stalk of celery. Always taste the celery. If it is very sharp, use half a stalk instead.
As to the herbs to use, that is again personal. For chicken stock in my 7 litre pot I use 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves, 20 peppercorns, and 1 branch of star anise. There are many other combinations. Some with thyme and parsley stalks and leek leaves, etc.
To white stock, you can also add a half cup of white wine. Helps liberate some of the collagen in the bones. In brown stock you would add some well caramelised tomato past (this I omit as my daughter is rather allergic)
The only other difference is time. Chicken bones usually will have given their all in 3-4 hours (brown or white, not counting the browning time). When I do beef shank bones, that is on the stove 18 - 24 hours. Needless to say, I only use shank bones for brown stock, I only do this in the winter, I turn off the furnace while doing so, and make 20 or 30 litres and freeze it up in 16 Oz containers when done.
Now, a soup of a different kind is cock-a-leekie. Ahhh, but that is its own story..........
