Appetizers & Entrees

I only realised what a problem we have in the before-dinner department when recently told that most people and I’m sorry, ladies, but you are the major offenders order sweet creamy cocktails as pre-dinner drinks in the bars of international hotels.

This practice flies against the rationale of having something to drink beforehand. Surely the purpose of a good aperitif is to whet the appetite and develop the hunger, in anticipation of what is due to follow. A clean, fresh, dry starter will even get the gastric juices moving, while not quite to the extent developed by Mr Pavlov and his dogs.

As I’ve suggested, dry is the way. Sugar only makes you feel full and kills the apetite. Cream cocktails are worse, and always leave me with the impression I will not have to eat for a week. A cheque will do nicely, Jenny Craig.

There are indeed some classic aperitifs. The best are dry flor fino sherries and delicate Champagnes, or other wines made with the Methode Champenoise. Sherries are grossly under-rated and under-consumed. As a result they provide extraordinarily good value for each dollar spent on them. Australian sherries also happen to be amongst the best in the world, and none I know will bust your budget.

Today there is a plethora of sparkling wine – some of it good, some over-rated. The aperitif styles are the lighter, more elegant and delicate chardonnay-based wines. These have less body and structure than those made with pinot noir, and their clean acidity leaves them fresh and dry.

Delicate white table wines made without residual sugar may be served as aperitifs, but usually they’re not as effective. But bone-dry rieslings, sauvignon blancs and chardonnays can be light and fresh. The only danger is that by serving them cold enough to make them ‘fresh’ enough, the flavour could be killed off.

Of course there are other traditional cocktail aperitifs and those aniseed liqueurs taken neat or on the rocks, like Pernod, Ricard and Ouzo. My only advice is to go easy on the gin in a good Dry Martini, and to do likewise with the ice for the Ouzo.

I think it’s very important to get into the good wine at a meal as quickly as possible, which means beginning with the entrees. I do not subscribe to the theory that the best should be left until last, and if anything recommend the complete opposite.

At a late stage of a meal the prospect of casting wonderful vinous pearls before an audience in somewhat less than pristine condition looms large and dangerous, especially if a number of lesser wines have gone before. So begin with something of comparable quality to the food, and take no compromise.

By and large the entree will be light, small and tasty. It’s role is clearly not to replenish a massive hunger, but possibly to provide the diner with a small morsel of something utterly desirable. Entrees are a patent indulgence.

So to choose a wine to match your entree take the same approach. Don’t make it too full and heavy, especially if red. White wines for entrees are generally fresh, crisp and clean, but that doesn’t mean they have to skimp on flavour. Let’s try some examples, beginning with seafood.

Seafood makes a popular starting point, but although several operators have tried to convince the wine media that seafood can be successfully be matched with red wines, I remain unconverted. I find that even the lighter carbonic maceration styles and pinot noirs still have that dreadfully metallic taste with les fruits de mer.

With salads and more delicate seafoods such as prawns, lobsters and scallops try dry and fresh young rhine rieslings, sauvignon blancs and semillons. And by the way, if you’re looking for a wine prediction, semillon could well be the white wine grape of the 1990’s. Delicate chardonnays and chablis styles could also be highly appropriate.

The more strongly-flavoured the seafood, the more generous the wine can be. Crabs, oysters and poached fish demand a little more depth, so try fuller-bodied dry whites, perhaps with a little bottle-age or else made with a more generous oak treatment. Possible candidates are rieslings, fuller chardonnays and semillons. Just be careful of vinaigrette dressings, which are to wine what Agent Orange was to palm trees.

The soup is also a popular beginning, and in these supposedly warmer months the cold soup can be quite spectacular. Frequently fruity, or else tasting strongly of a particular vegetable or combination, they present a wonderful opportunity with wine. Crisp fresh dry whites of the styles mentioned previously are quite perfect. Or else try a bone-dry fino sherry, served chilled.

Older, fuller sherries are a traditional accompaniment to hot soups, especially those in the hearty broth mould. With a seafood consomme lean towards more generous dry whites, and vegetable soups make a match for those more grassy white varieties such as sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc and semillon. Bon apetite! Please login to post comment