White or Red, Which Would You Jettison ?

[Delucacheesemonger]

If the horror of horrors came to pass and either red wine or white wine needed to be eliminated from your drinking. Which would you keep and which would you regretfully have to pass by ?
After much thinking, l would keep whites and leave reds.

[Bigos]

No question about it, red wine would have to hit the road. I currently live in Alsace and can't imagine all those glorious whites being yanked from my cellar. But I would keep my fingers crossed that Alsatian reds would be left unnoticed by the Elimination Forces unaware of the existence of reds in Alsace ;)

[Julian Teoh]

Seconded! I love my Alsatians way too much to give up whites, and they are so incredibly versatile by style as well.

Speaking of Alsace pinot noir (woops, sorry Bigos), they definitely have been picking up in quality over the last few years. 2009 was a very good vintage, and I recall with much fondness both Hugel's standard classic bottling, as well as its meatier, more masculine single-vineyard cousin "Les Neveux".

[Bob Brooks]

The best wine I've ever drunk was a 1977 Le Montrachet (an off year, btw). That said, unless it was Le Montrachet, red, red red.

[Fowler]

While I love whites, our cooking is more aligned with reds so I would have to cast off the whites if forced to make the choice.

[ChefJune]

And of course, the beauty of this discussion is that it is hypothetical. None of us need give up any of our favorites! ;)

[sunshine842]

I think I'll drink to that.

[Klunco]

I'll keep the reds, although what I will miss even more than my favorite German Rieslings would be Provencal Rosés which we tend to drink a lot of in the summer. Oh well, chilled Beaujolais is just as refreshing when it's hot, or even some Sangria.

The hardest part of no white wine though would be cooking without white wine/ dry Vermouth.

[sunshine842]

No,Klunco -- I'm lobbying to keep the roses with the reds -- they're made from red grapes, after all....

[Klunco]

Cheers to that!

[Maximilien]

I'd keep the whites.

[freia]

Keep the reds. Will miss the bubblies, although there are a fair number of vino rosso frizzantes out there. Having said that, I did partake of a particularly horrible vino rosso frizzante in Firenze last time I was there (friend decided she didn't want to spend more than 3 Euros on a bottle of wine that night to have with dinner in the apartment, I protested, she insisted, I went shopping. Rule went out the window immediately, and set off to get a decent bottle with some reasonable funds LOLOLOL). Kind of turned me off of rosso frizzantes, to be honest...

[Chinon00]

Which category do roses fall into?

[jock]

Roses are white wine with attitude! I get to keep them too!

[Delucacheesemonger]

As the OP, and thus King, l concur roses go with white, as do sherries.

[JAB]

Can we sneak Port in as well?

[budnball]

Hmm. I think if sherries are whites, then ports must be reds.

[JAB]

I was just trying to sneak them in having given up the Red non-fortified wines. In fact, I'll give up both non-sparkling White and non-fortified Red and be pretty content.

[PolarBear]

Sadly, from diabetics everywhere...... FTP

[jock]

No Brainer. Whites have more variety, more complexity and can mate well with any food inculding and hearty grilled slab of meat. Whites also match better with cheese. They also match better with asian, spicy and sweet. Far more versatile.

Give up cabernet, syrah, grenache, merlot reluctantly. Give up nebbiolo, pinot noir and mourvedre really really really really hard. Give up chardonnay, sauv blanc, pinot grigio again reluctantly. Give up riesling, alsace pinot gris, savennieres, arnais, friulano and gruner -- NEVER! Give up quarts de chaume, reisling BA, TBA, SGN, moscato d'Asti NEVER!

[tim irvine]

I drink reds 95% of the time but prefer white from other peoples' bottles for most cooking because it is usually so much more bright. However, truly good Champagne is my favorite beverage ever. So, if one had to go it would be red and I would lie awake and fantasize about 1970 Ridge Montebello. It all comes down to whether it is better to live for good Oregon Pinot noir or Napa or LP cab now and then or to re-create Krug 1966 once. Krug wins. It was that good. So white wins.

[Bill Hunt]

Wow, that is not a FAIR question. Though I love my reds, probably more than my whites, I do drink more whites, as I start the evening with them, most often. Nine out of 10 times, my first glass of the night, will be a white.

OK, you asked, and as painful as it is, I would give up whites, and even my white Burgs, if push-came-to-shove, but not without asking for a second, a third and a fourth opinion!

Hunt

BTW - I personally find that whites go better with more cheeses, than do reds, and I love my cheese. Hope I don't have to give that up too...

[Delucacheesemonger]

As cheese has been brought up, l might make this hypothetical discussion real. l drink a lot of very varied chenin blancs from the Loire and an equal amount of pinot gris and riesling from Alsace. Many of them along with a few Raveneau and Meursault with your eyes closed are 'red' in intensity and depth. Do not have to give up anything and would be hard put to part with my big stash of Amarone, Recioto, and Port anyway.

[Bill Hunt]

Ah, you make mention of PG.Not trying to get too far OT here, but with cheeses, what would be some PG recs.? That is a varietal, that I keep trying with, but with poor results, and from different countries and regions.

TIA, and I promise to not deviate from this thread again.

Hunt

[Delucacheesemonger]

Zind-Humbrecht in rich years the Winsbuhl or Jebsal. If cheeses are delightfully nasty try a V.T. Other rich makers, which l crave are Mann, Barmes-Buecher, Dirler-Cade, Ostertag A360p, and Deiss. Also if you can find Chasselas from Alsace, not Switzerland, try it. Geting very difficult to source as vignerons are pulling it out for more popular varietals.

[Pagan]

I don't know that gender, climate, or food selection really does make that much of a difference. I'm a woman, live in the middle of New Mexico, eat a lot of different cuisines (obviously a *lot* of chile), but I'd keep the reds. Can't make a decent sangria without them. Besides, I'd still have my tequila, Guinness, Scotch, Dos Equis....

Yes, I'd miss my sparkling wines, but I could manage.

[Bill Hunt]

For the SW seasonings, I might tend to agree. But, then there are those wonderful GR Rieslings, that do so well with heat... [Grin]

Hunt

[CanadaGirl]

I'd give up the red. I currently drink about 80% red anyway.

[ChefJune]

I would miss red wine especially in winter, but I'd have to go white. Especially when sparkling wine is factored into that equation! And besides, we eat a LOT of fish and seafood.

[JAB]

I would regrettably have to give up Red because I couldn't give up my sparklers.

[budnball]

Yep. It was about 50-50 till you brought up the bubbles.

[JAB]

I was actually leaning towards Red but, the bubbles...

[Bill Hunt]

Ah yes, the bubbles. Now would a Brut Rosé count as red, or white, as far as this thread goes?

Hunt

[budnball]

There are those strange Aussie Shiraz sparlkers, but they take some getting use to.

[Tripeler]

Glad you mentioned those. I have had Australian sparkling red wine, and it really pinned the "weird meter" for me. Still can't understand them.

[kagemusha49]

I think women mostly say keep whites and men say keep reds. I definitely a red man.

[caseyjo]

I say climate is predictive as well. I'd expect those in warmer climates would prefer white, while those in cooler climates would prefer red (this based on my experience from living in both warm and cool places).

[JuniorBalloon]

They drink a lot of red wine in Italy and it gets pretty hot there. I keep the reds. I already drink it with fish and chicken and, well, everything. White wine has no character, no depth and so do the people how drink it. (Just kidding)

OP, why do you have to give up one or the other?

jb

[Bill Hunt]

Junior,

Am I correct that your joke was about just the "drinkers," and not white wines in general? Hoping that it is, and I did laugh.

However, if you were referring to the wines, I suggest that you try some of the Montrachets, the Cortons (white), and many of the Meursaults. They have mucho character, provided that they are not served too cold.

I am squarely in your corner, about WHY would we need to give up any, red, white or Rosé. I assume that this drill is just for discussion, and that someone will not show up at my home to impound my whites.

Hunt

[kagemusha49]

I grant you that white burgundies like Puligny Montrachet would be hard to give up. But then I remember some truly great wines that I have had the good fortune to drink - a bottle of Vosne- Romanee La Tache all the way back in 1980 and I still remember it's velvety caress. Away from burgundy there's your St Estephes like Chateau Pez. And in 1999 a friend and I polished off my last bottle of Graham 1955 porto - a bottle that I had owned and carefully kept since 1973. Such wines as these are enough to make me forego the Montrachets and the bubblies. This is without even mentioning the growing legion of Malbecs, the zinfandels and the riojas (among others) that all deserve exploring and savoring.

[Bill Hunt]

Oh, I would never diss a great red Burg, but feel that too many never experience the whites from the Region.

Again, hope that the "Wine Police" will not hold me to my answer in this thread.

Hunt

[Bill Hunt]

Veggo had a similar observation, and for me, I sort of seconded that, living in AZ, which is experiencing great "Red Weather" right now, but I know that will soon change.

Hunt

[sunshine842]

Nope. Gimme my reds.
And roses when it's hot.

[zin1953]

More to do with climate, and less with gender . . . at least among the acquaintances of mine I've polled since this was posted.

[goldangl95]

From my experience, among wine lovers there is no gender division - you just love what you love, and there is a realization that this changes with the weather, the setting, etc.

For others, types are short cuts. White wine is known as light and fruity. Red wine as strong and "serious". As a result, white wine gets a more feminine rep. and red wine a more authoritative rep (also white wine for light weights, not serious drinkers etc.) This ends, as many gender issues and over-generalizations do, with women spanning a gamut of white to red drinkers - but most men sticking to red wine.

[Veggo]

zin, it would be interesting to know the ratio of white to red wine consumption within, say, 35 degrees of latitude, vs. the rest of the world, and maybe also in coastal & island areas where the diet may be more fish-centric, say, within 50 miles of a coast, vs. the red meat-eating interiors? I'm sure the stats have been compiled. Anybody have 'em?

[sunshine842]

versus, say, the cheese-eating mountain ranges....mentally, I'm flying over the wine-producing regions of Europe by climate and landscape....

That would be interesting, indeed.

[Veggo]

I would keep whites because: 1) I tend to live in tropical climates, and 2) whites overall are less costly. I would surely miss the occasional extraordinary red, though.

[Bill Hunt]

That might be a reason, that I start the evenings off with whites.

Something about a big Zin, or Cab, when it's 115 F outside, and cringe - still, I made my choice, in what I hope is a rhetorical question. It it, isn't it????

Hunt

[Veggo]

They will have to pry the porto bottles out of our cold dead hands, Bill.

[Bill Hunt]

Yeah, that DID figure into my final choice, though I live in a very, very warm region. Now, if it's really warm, I can always chill a lighter Tawny, like a Cockburns.

Hunt

[caseyjo]

I would absolutely keep the reds. I'd be sad about the whites, but the reds would help me get over it.

Where do roses fit into this picture? Can we all keep our roses?

[dinwiddie]

Just the opposite, whites would go, regretfully, and I'd keep the reds.