LET’S MAKE IT ALL WHITE

Red alert! Forget the notion white wine is for summer. Mike Bennie explains how to make it the perfect winter companion.

IT’S A WELL-TRODDEN path that cooler weather means red-wine time. We are culturally programmed to think reds are for warming while whites are for cooling.

Wine, however, is more flexible than you think. There are no hard and fast rules around drinking it, and there have to be white options that work well with wintery times and heartier fare.

I’m one of the first to say “drink what you like with whatever you like eating”; an expression that works a treat during cooler months. Indeed, one of the best rules of food-and-wine matching at any time of year is to use the wine as a final condiment to the dish – think peppery shiraz and grilled meats; spicy, aromatic whites for hot Southeast Asian food; or savoury chardonnay with roast chicken. The other great tenet of food-and-wine matching is to use wine to cut through a dish’s richness and refresh the palate – white wines do this well.

A fuller-flavoured chardonnay is a good start. These more generous wines should be served around 10 minutes out of the fridge, so they feel more luscious on the palate. They’re great with rich, slowcooked dishes and sauced-up seafood.

Likewise, mature or maturing white wines. These develop delicious toasty, honeyed characters, giving an opulence that feels robust enough to comfort in winter – look to mature riesling, semillon, chardonnay or marsanne wines.

White wines with judicious oak handling, or that spend time on lees (yeast cells), are also worthy for winter. Oak gives white wines amplitude, spice and warmer woody characters, while time on lees often lends a savouriness like grilled nuts or oatmeal. The results are often broader and fit the bill for braises, soups and meatier fare.

So when it comes to winter whites, look to wines that are a little richer, more generous and full-figured. And enjoy the diversity they bring to your drinking and dining over the colder months.