The White or the Red Sir?

picture of a steak on a BBQ in Diamond CreekWhy you should use Promotional Red Wine Glasses

It’s that age old question isn’t it? A dilemma faced by millennia of diners as to whether they wash down their meal with either White or Red wine. And in the absence of food, which is the perfect accompaniment for a good night in front of the telly/fire/iPAD/partner? Red or White?

The answer of course is neither simple nor complex.

Confused? I was too so I conducted a little homespun research of my own to establish which,  if any, was the ultimate one-size-fits-all wine, whether one is dining posh or having a good old fashioned piss up. (I’m somewhat of an expert at each, so the stage was set for a mega night of testing under the loosest guidelines…)

I also like food, generally too much in quantity and calorific intake, though my Physio told me not to be caught up in a rudimentary Calorie War, per se. Yeehaaaa! But the problem with having an ambitious idea at 8pm on a Sunday night when the shops have shut, is a limited variety of food and wine. If like me, you live hand to mouth, forward planning may not be your forte. So, one steak “au poivre” with steamed veg and a rather nice bottle of Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz (retailing at Dan Murphies for $27.60) it was.

Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 ShirazHold on, what about a comparison with white wine and an accompanying dish? Bollocks to that, it was late and I needed results! Also, there was one and a half glasses of that red coursing through my Augustan veins, driving me incessantly towards that steak and the BBQ. It had become a mission possible, having abseiled down the hall, past the dog in its basket, out the back door and onto the deck. I’d a lump of marinated meat in one hand and a glass of Shiraz in the other, and was going to smash both.

Why did I have steak instead of fish or chicken? What propped up the fulcrum of this futile experiment?

It’s the quest for iron, zinc and B vitamins, and their rapid absorption into my body. Red meat does all that, better. Plus it pumps more protein and healthy fats rich in Amino acids into your system. That’s why I eat more red than white meat…and that’s possibly why I drink more red wine than white. Red just tastes better with fat.

Don’t get me wrong though and presume I’m an anally retentive, dyed-in-the-wool, change resisting luddite with a fixation for all things rouge – I’ll down a bottle Chard on a whim, along with a bucket of prawns if left to my own devices/vices.

custom glasswareAnd there, the lab test fell flat on it’s face. Washed to the wayside by the remainder of that Penfolds served up in the finest promotional custom glassware in my cabinet, 230ml – the optimum size for home-based experiments.

That steak was exceptional as a result.

Is there any shame in failing to be resolute and scientific on my Sunday night experiment? Not a bit, there’s always Monday night for a bottle of white and Blackened Chicken on the grill.

Oh hold on, it’s Lamb on Mondays…perhaps Tuesday night then…Duh! That’s Pork.