Choosing wine for reception…advice?
I am getting married in Mexico and need to choose wine for the reception. We can buy a decent selection of wine down there, and I have an opportunity to take some down from here.
Okay, so how to choose the wine? Our reception meal will likely be a choice of fish or chicken. While it won’t be American-style “Mexican food” it will certainly be influenced by Mexican flavors – maybe Snapper Vera Cruz. So, it will be a little spicier and bolder than a typical chicken or fish dish. I won’t know exactly what the meal selection will be until after I can get the wine sent down there.
Please don’t offer the “Red with meat, white with chicken & fish” formula. I know sometimes a Chardonnay can overpower a meal, so I was thinking a Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc, but haven’t hit on a winner. For red, maybe a Pinot Noir or Red Zin?
I have asked at a couple wine stores, but thought I’d see if I could get any good tips here. I’ve looked online, but it’s not as easy as I thought. Any ideas?
ps: one of the problems is that I’m pregnant and can’t exactly taste wine, except for an occasional sip. My fiance likes wine but just looks at me like a deer in the headlights when I try to talk about "wine pairing."
Tagged with: chardonnay • decent selection • deer in the headlights • fiance • fish dish • fish formula • flavors • getting married in mexico • meal selection • mexican food • pinot gris • ps one • sauvignon blanc • sip • snapper • taste wine • vera cruz • wine pairing • wine stores • zin
Filed under: All Things Wine
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Maybe try a Gewurztraminer.
suggestions from http://www.sunset.com/sunset/food/wine/article/0,20633,697650,00.html
1. The most successful wines are fresh, sleek, and crisp with acidity. Good white choices include Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio (also known as Pinot Gris), dry Riesling, and Albariño, a crisp, citrusy knockout from northwestern Spain that’s phenomenal with green tomatillo-chili sauces. Acidity, however, isn’t the exclusive domain of white wines. High-acid reds include Spanish Riojas (based on the Tempranillo grape), Italian Chiantis (based on Sangiovese), and Pinot Noir.
2. A second group includes wines with a plush, thick, jammy mouth-feel. Soft, juicy Zinfandels with massive fruit flavors can be sensational with earthy red chile adobo sauces, and supersupple Shirazes and Shiraz blends from Australia, with deep berry flavors, can cushion robust seasonings. If you’re not a lover of such powerhouses, try a simple, overtly fruity beaujolais (made from the red grape Gamay); since it’s often served chilled, it’s refreshing with highly seasoned dishes.
3. Avoid Chardonnay. Its typical oaky, toasty character fights with bold, complex Mexican flavors, and the wine ends up tasting coarse and bitter. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot don’t fare much better. Both have a lot of tannin, and when tannin hits the flavor of chilies, it sets your mouth on fire and you miss all the complexities of the food.
I don’t know much about wine but I would go with a nice simple white wine. Red wine stains things, teeth, lips, clothing. You dont want your guest or worse you to spill wine on their clothing. Or for all the pictures to have people with purple lips and teeth from the wine!
Cost Plus has a huge wine selection and in the description of the wines they have it tells you what food to serve with it so that could be helpful!
AM gettinga married in Mexico too… in fact last Saturday I bought wine, since mexican food is rich in flavor you dont need a strong wine, so I had 2 choices a mexican white wine Diamante wich is great or German wine wich is not strong. So I bought 12 bottles of openhaimer in Costco.
In Mexico you can buy wine in Sam’s Club and what you dont use you can take it back, same thing in El Palacio de Hierro.
We had both chicken and beef served at our wedding and bought the cases of "Two Buck Chuck" at Trader Joes, in White, and two different Reds. We set a bottle of each three on each table and let the people sitting at the table decide what they wanted when they were served their meals. It was a big hit because people didn’t have to wait for the waiter to bring it to them.
I hope this helps. Its pretty general, but this wine is great and really inexpensive. Buy a couple of bottles and try it.
This is what we did: We went to Cost Plus and got a couple of reds and whites from the clearance rack. Took them home and drank them. That’s the best way to make sure you are getting a good wine. Anyone can recommend a variety but that doesn’t help you when you’re picking a great wine. We’re also serving fish and chicken, so we ended up choosing a Italian Pinot Grigio and a French red table wine that we loved. And because it was on the clearance rack we got a few cases for a low price!
Definitely go for the Red Zin - great flavor without overpowering you palatte! For our wedding, my husband’s uncle (who owns a local vinyard) made strawberry wine (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) enough for all 300 plus guests! It was aaaaaaaaaamaing! Good luck and congrats!
I recommend the taste and spit wine tasting method for pregnant ladies. A really good white at a really good price is Folie a Deux white table wine. It’s a blend from California and quite tasty. I’m not good with reds so I don’t have a good one to recommend.