Originally Posted by
T8191
1.
2. Pre-plan your wine requirements [white with fish, red with red meat]. Ensure they are in place before food service begins ... the CC do not have time to keep rushing off to get you a bottle of what you fancy.
4. The Wine list presented on board will appear charming and potentially really quite interesting. Ask the CC what they have actually had delivered to the aircraft, and ensure you check the white is actually chilled/cold.
However, as you are flying from LGW instead of LHR, most of the above may be irrelevant, and just a case of deeply-disappointed-too-often me having another rant! Your CC will be excellent. ^
With respect, as a trained sommelier, I would take issue with one or two of these. You can drink red wine with fish very happily and indeed, white wine with red meat. It's more about the body of the wine matching the meat. With tuna for example, I would have no hesitation picking a fairly robust red wine. A delicate white would be lost on a rich fish dish. A good splash of white is also very good with pork, and a more full bodied chardonnay would work very well with beef.
Also over chilling wines absolutely kills the flavour. Too often I am served a white or rose wine that is below 5 degrees. White wine should not be below 10 degrees and champagne not below 5. Having them too cold (or red wine too warm) can damage the molecular structure of the wine. Not only that, if the wine is too cold it will have very little flavour.
Likewise certain red wines can be
lightly chilled. Beaujolais is the most famous of these (made from the thinly skinned Gamay grape, called Tarrango in Australia), but this applies to other thin-skinned grapes like pinot noir - not that I would advocate doing it with a good bottle of Gevrey - Chambertain. More powerful, tannic reds based on Cabernet Sauvignon should be room temperature (17 - 19 degrees) to allow the tannins to soften
Most of the so called rules in wine aren't true. It's all about personal taste and experience.
Oh and try a good glass of Argentinian malbec with a chocolate dessert. A match made in heaven. People have looked at me in horror when I have suggested this but thanked me afterwords. A good Malbec (particularly Argentinian) has real chocolate overtones and a silky smoothness that will go well with a chocolate mousse or fondent