04/07/08 Cooking with Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering a question from the email. Recently a listener wrote to ask "You always say if we don't think a wine is good enough to drink we shouldn't cook with it. Why? " I rarely get myself into a tizzy when I am discussing wine but the topic of cooking with a wine you won't drink is one that sort of puts me over the top. So let's chat about it on today's program. Okay so you open a bottle of wine it doesn't smell quite right and it sure doesn't taste very good  so you say "oh just leave it in the kitchen and you'll cook with it." What are you nuts or did you just have a moment of indiscretion? I mean when I take the time to cook I want it to taste good and to be the best it can be. So my question to you is why in the world would you cook with a wine that you do not want to drink? That just doesn't make sense. You make a conscious decision the wine is lousy and you won't drink it. I mean do you think it will suddenly get better when you heat it up? Or do you have so little respect for your own cooking that you think nothing could hurt it? Well let me tell you, a wine with a serious flaw can really go south when it is heated or combined with ingredients that might intensify the flaw. Why take a chance? If you think it truly has a flaw take it back to where you purchased it and get your money back  but please don't cook with it  I want you to like yourself more than that. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at Vine to Wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.