The Bride’s Guide To Wine

Compared to the other decisions you have to make for your many wedding-related events, choosing wine for the occasion should be easy. Your wine selection should contribute to a memorable event, but remember: Above all, personal taste is what produces the best food and wine marriages, so let your own preferences guide you.

The following are pairing and serving suggestions, along with some ideas on how to give your festivities a distinctive touch, all courtesy Forest Glen Winery of Sonoma, Calif.

Pairing Wine With Food

Sparkling Wine: hors d’oeuvres, smoked fish, Asian dishes, the wedding cake

Sauvignon Blanc: shellfish, grilled fish, seafood salads and vegetables

Chardonnay: rich seafood dishes, pasta in cream sauce, salmon, veal

Merlot: leg of lamb, roast duck, pork, roast chicken, osso buco

Cabernet Sauvignon: rack of lamb, game meats, prime rib, veal chops, hard cheeses

Shiraz/Syrah: bbq beef, pepper steak, Mediterranean dishes, lamb shanks

Sangiovese: sausage, quail, risotto with meat, venison, lasagna

Pinot Noir: duck breast, squab, pork chops, mushrooms, soft cheeses

Zinfandel: grilled chicken, ribs, pasta with meat or tomato sauce

Serving Wine

A few pointers:

1) Whites before reds.

2) Light wines before richer wines.

3) Young before old.

4) Dry before sweet.

5) Serve the wine before the food so guests can savor the wine on its own.

Wine Tasting Bar

Your wedding is an opportunity to take part in time-honored traditions and to express your own unique style. Try giving your festivities a distinctive touch with a wine-tasting bar.

At your rehearsal dinner or wedding reception, a tasting bar will encourage your guests to mingle while also allowing them the pleasure of sampling several wines.

Station the wine bar away from the main bar so guests can leisurely taste, talk and compare. If your wine bar will be self-service, make it accessible from all sides.

The wine selection does not have to be extravagant. Offer three different reds (a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and a Shiraz, for example) and three different whites. Choose the wines you love or ask your catering director for advice. If you like, print a wine menu that describes your selections.

Dress up your wine-tasting bar by tying the stemware with a thin ribbon or add style with attractive ice buckets. A copper roasting pan or a handsome plastic-lined basket can be filled with ice and used as a white wine chiller. (Remember: A light chill is enough for white wines. If they are too cold, you can’t properly taste them.)

Most red wines should be served at a cool 58 to 64 degrees F. At an outdoor summer wedding, chilling the red wines briefly — ten minutes in ice water is enough — will make them more refreshing.

For a wine-only tasting bar, figure one bartender per 100 guests. To help you decide how much to buy, remember that one case of wine yields 76 four-ounce glasses.

Wine Cocktails

You may also wish to consider offering a signature wine drink to set your event apart. Have waiters circulate with the drink on trays, or present it as an option at an open bar. A few favorites:

Kir: A glass of Chardonnay with a few drops of créme de cassis, just enough to tinge the wine pale pink. For a Kir Royale, use sparkling wine.

Sparkling Wine Cocktail: Put a sugar cube in each glass. Add a dish of Angostura bitters, 1 oz. Brandy and 5 oz. chilled sparkling wine.

Red Wine Spritzer: In a wine glass, dissolve 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Fill with 3 oz. red wine, and 3 oz. chilled sparkling water.