10/05/06 Cruising

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today is food and wine pairing day. I just returned from a family cruise to Alaska and it was very nice to be with everyone for a whole week and not have to cook or clean or entertain anyone. It was great! So today let's talk about dining with a large group and picking wines that will suit most everyone's tastes. I found that we didn't have to spend a fortune, even on a cruise, in order to have some decent wines. The trick was that everyone had different preferences and it wasn't always easy to match everyone's food selections with the wine. I elected to stick with some basics. We started with light semi-dry white wines then moved into light reds and then on to the big reds. I made my selection in the $36 and under range and it was great fun! The favorite white was Hogue Cellars Fume Blanc, which was being served as a glass pour on the boat, for good reason it was a crowd pleaser. There were some decent California Central Coast Pinot Noir being offered and a few Rhone wines from Chapoutier a fabulous producer from France. Although I never saw the wine steward or sommelier at any of the venues in which we dined I thought the wine list was very well thought out. There was something there for everyone and a good time was had by all. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.