Wine in recipes?

Here's just a few simple ideas: (I'm an expert in my own mind anyway, LOL.)

~ Don't ever use "cooking wine". Completely fictitious, no such real thing. Only use a wine that you would drink. It doesn't have to be expensive, just good enough that you would drink it on it's own. 

~ Use the same wine (same varietal) that you are drinking with the meal. If you will be drinking a pinot noir, use a pinot noir. That's not too tough. However, it doesn't have to be the same pinot noir. As an example, I'm not going to cook with a $98 bottle of juice; I will though, no questions asked, drink that bottle. 

~ Pick wines that will go with the profile you are looking for; smooth/creamy : chardonnay, clean/crisp : viognier; bold/full : cab-sauv, fruit/fresh : carménère.

~ Pick and drink what you like. Don't get into any ideal relationships because someone or some book tells you to. You're buying with your money, eating/drinking with your palate.

~ Find a local wine store (LWS) that has regular tastings (preferably free). Try as many wines as you like. Learn things about what you like. Remember what sucks. 

*~ Vocabulary: Quality Price Ratio (QPR): Wines that are inexpensive, but drink like they cost a lot. One of my current favorites is an $8 juice that drinks like $40. I buy it at a grocery store. 

Sometimes wines labeled "Table Wines" are good, middle-of-the-road choices for cooking.  If you live in an area that has a Trader Joe's, I will often use their Two Buck Chuck (a whopping $3 here in Nevada) to cook with and not feel guilty in the least.  More than once I have used nicer wines to cook with, once for a recipe that insisted getting a nice French red would make a difference in the slow-cooked beef dish, but no more.  Really, once wine is cooked all of the nuances are lost.  

If the recipe doesn't specify - if it just says white or red - then don't get sweet.  A basic Cabernet Sauvignon for red or Sauvignon Blanc for white is fine.

AHHHHHHH two buck chuck!!!!!!

Depending on where you reside, I would find a good wine shop and enquire when they hold tastings as they are usually gratis. Good suggestion mentioned by one of the Chefs online ... Totally agree, do NOT purchase " cooking wine " ...

Another point, a Latin American neighborhood Grocer, always has Miguel Torres reds or whites and these are fine cooking wines ... A dry wine is usually what is called for and thus, the options should be reasonably priced and young in age. You do not need an oak aged wine to cook with ... Usually whites are used for fish and seafood and reds for red meats. Poultry also for whites ...  Semi sweet or sweet wines are used in desserts predominately ...

A Cup Measurement is just that, use an excellent quality Measuring Cup, not a coffee mug ...

***   2 / 3 cup is equal to 180ML

There is only one(1) place acceptable for using 2-$-Chuck. That would be as a "holy wine" for church services, so that the clergy members don't become winos. 2-$-Chuck is not suitable for any discussion in any professional level food/wine conversation. I wouldn't use 2-$-Chuck as a gag grab-bag gift for the winos at the shelter. 

Chef Iceman,

Excellent advice. You are wine savvy ...

I too, cook with a specific appellation wine, and have a bottle of same grape variety or varieties ...

Chef Ross,

Have you had your lovely menu yet ? What are you wine pairing with those scrumptuous dishes ?

Ah, yes....my previous suggestion was deemed unfit for a professional-level food conversation.  Funny, because in the various restaurants I have worked in, the wine purchased in bulk expressly for cooking is truly no better than just what I recommended.

But Jellly, the "sin" was not in using it, it was in letting everyone else know that you use it!

IceMan, ok, you are among friends here, tell us what you REALLY think about inexpensive wine, don't hold back now...

LOL. Hey ... I'm happy for you, Jelly. Use whatever you like. 

re: previous comment of mine ... 

I gave "MY" opinion. Nobody has to follow it. Just because I feel that 2-$-Chuck is the most over-manipulated conglomeration of all the left-over unacceptable garbage wine-grapes of every other winery on the entire west coast of America; grapes turned down by every other wine maker including Gallo, Franzia and Delicato; that doesn't mean that You can't be very happy drinking and using 2-$-Chuck. 

I'm a big fan of inexpensive wines, both for drinking and cooking with. A wine I often suggest, that gets a beating just like the one I gave to 2$C, is YellowTail, from Australia. You can almost always find it on sale for $4-$5. I've made of number of posts about wines that I recommend. Please, go look if you like. Here though, are two(2) that I have in my rack right now:

Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover $7

Pascual Toso Malbec $10

Pete ... I have NO PROBLEMMO w/ "inexpensive wine".

Wine and food pairing is profoundly subjective, as we all are aware.

Iceman's Argentian Malbec is a lovely choice. I had also suggested a few in an earlier post called Malbecs

from Argentina however, unfortunately I only visit the USA once a year and so, I am not sure of exact cost at moment.

I am all for a fair price or on sale item or discounted wines, however, I do not drink nor cook with plonk ... I believe plonk is what you are calling chuck. Am I correct ?  

There are numerous fine wines from all over the globe at just prices, that one does not have to resort to plonk. Chile, for example has $10.00 Sauvignon Blancs, Spain has an array of above average whites that are sold in the U.S.A. for similar price points * www.winesandfoodsfromspain.com  as well as Washington State and Oregon, and California. Reds from Spain have been receiving the grade of excellence in harvest for years, and are wonderful to cook with and sip through meals with.  

Yellow Tail is quite a popular white in The States, and last spring I had taste tested it. Nice. Australian wines are quite pricey in Europe however.

I think it is totally a matter of opinion, think less about what food you like and what kind of wine you like, the 2 together will be a perfect combination! Of course it does take a bit of thought and a lot of experimenting, but dont be too tentative, you really want those wine flavours to come through. I once travelled to Marget River wine region in west australian and brought back some fasntastic wines which I often cook with because the flavours are so subtle. My partner  and I recently went to a wine tasting course with something we found on groupon.co.za (the above information is definitely only an exact copy of what we found out on the course, I had no idea about food and wine pairing before!) but apart from being a fun day (obviously near the end we werent sampling the wine but just drinking a lot of it!) I did learn a lot.

I have heard that an Argentinian Malbec is a lovely wine, will definitely have to give it a taste soon.

Like song, art, men, women, beauty, taste, aromas; wine is subjective ... I normally cook with the wine, I am going to sip with what I am cooking ... If the product is of good quality, therefore the wine too, should be a quality brand. 

Thanks for post.

Margaux Cintrano.