Safe bet bottles to bring to a dinner party
Not a week goes by without someone asking for suggestions for a wine to bring to dinner or another social function. They don’t know much about wine, you see, and just want to know the names of some safe bets to buy and present to the host.
Not surprisingly, that answer has changed over the past 17 years of writing this column.
There was a time when the best rule of thumb for how much to spend on such a bottle was to double your age. Twentysomethings should invest $40 for their host/hostess gift. Thirtysomethings were expected to dig deeper. Fortysomethings deeper still.
But then the recession and the Fuzion phenomena hit. A Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina took the world by storm because it was the rare $8 bottle that was delicious and a great value. Suddenly requests from readers were for suggestions for good, cheap wines.
I heard of dinner parties where the person who spent the least on the bottle of wine that people enjoyed most would win the bragging rights.
But I also would hear from wine lovers whose fiscal restrained meant they no longer entertained by going out to dinner. They wanted to know about good premium wines. They figured if they used to spend $80 to $100 for a bottle of wine at a restaurant, factoring in mark-ups, spending $40 or $50 at the liquor store would fetch a wine of the same quality when they dined at home.
Today, it’s simply a matter of bringing something respectable. If you knowyourhostsarebigfansofFrench wines or are planning a trip to Italy then take your cue from that. After all, isn’t it the thought that counts?
Ifyoudon’tknowthehoststhatwell, consider bringing along this week’s white or red. Both are extremely wellmade and enjoyable selections that are suit to please a variety of palates.
The one caveat that hasn’t changed over all these years is that bringing a bottle of wine as a host/hostess gift is just that, a gift. There’s no certainty or obligation that it will be opened on that night. Email: chris.waters@sunmedia.ca
WATERS ON WINE