Cheeses and meats = red wine; Fish = white wine

Have you always been told that food and wine pairings work like that? Well, no. In reality, many cheeses don't pair well at all with red wine, whose tannins sometimes create a very unpleasant metallic aftertaste. Most cheeses should actually be accompanied by white wines (whose acidity nicely balances the richness of the cheese). Of course, a good red meat will always be a hit with a red wine, but many white meats (veal and poultry) and lamb pair perfectly with white wines! The same goes for fish: try serving a light and fruity red wine with your grilled salmon sometime; you won't be disappointed!

Champagne in the freezer and served in flutes

Surely the most dangerous misconception! NEVER put a bottle of Champagne in the freezer before serving it. The reason is simple: there's nothing worse for wine than sudden temperature changes. You must avoid subjecting a bottle to significant temperature fluctuations before opening it. If your Champagne isn't chilled enough, it's best to put it in the refrigerator an hour or two before serving (but please, no freezer!). As for flutes, despite their aesthetic appeal, they aren't suitable for fully appreciating the aromas of this type of wine. They don't allow the aromas to diffuse properly and limit the surface area of ​​contact between the wine and the air too much. To properly enjoy Champagne, we simply recommend tulip-shaped wine glasses , which are better suited than flutes or coupes (which are more often used for cocktails).

"White on red, nothing moves; red on white, everything falls apart."

Your awkward uncle has undoubtedly uttered this phrase during an interminable Sunday family lunch, between the appetizer and the main course, when he pours himself another glass of Côtes-du-Rhône for the seventh time. Unfortunately for him, this isn't always true. It's perfectly acceptable to switch back to a white wine after a red (for example, with the cheese course, see myth #1). It's all about balance, the sweetness of the wines, and especially the tannins: simply serve the more tannic wines after the lighter, drier ones, and finish with the sweetest.

Rosé is a mixture of red and white wine

As you might suspect, this somewhat naive idea is false (only 99% of the time!). Rosé wine is generally made – just like red wine – by macerating the grape skins (which contain the red pigments) with the pressed juice. The only difference between rosé and red is that maceration is stopped much earlier to make rosé: the wine has barely begun to take on its red color, hence it is “rosé.” QED.

PS: the remaining 1% are found exclusively in Champagne, where rosé Champagne can sometimes be made by directly mixing white and red wines (quite rarely).

Sweet white wines are perfect as an aperitif.

Oh dear! You're going to overwhelm your taste buds! No exaggeration, after a Sauternes, a Jurançon, or another intensely aromatic sweet wine with a long finish, you'll likely find it difficult to appreciate the next wine, especially if it's a subtle white or a light red. And with all that sugar, you risk spoiling your appetite for the rest of the meal… So quickly put away that Sauternes you were planning to serve with the foie gras as a starter, and bring it out again after dessert, for example!

The best time to enjoy it is in the afternoon.

As strange as it may seem, the best time to taste wine is in the morning, and on an empty stomach if possible! At this time, your nose and palate are neutral, your senses are awake, and hunger makes you particularly sensitive to aromas. However, if you taste wine on an empty stomach in the morning, don't forget to spit it out! The tasting will be all the more effective and enjoyable.

The older a wine is, the better it is.

This isn't always true, of course. While there are excellent, very old wines that have aged beautifully and improved with age, this isn't the case for all wines. Some wines are made to be cellared and opened after several years (these are called "cellar wines," including great red Bordeaux, for example), but some are meant to be drunk young (Beaujolais, to name just one). Wines in this second category won't be any better after 10 years of cellaring; in fact, they may have lost some of their splendor if you wait too long to open them!

Rosé is an easy wine for the beach.

Again, beware of generalizations. The real problem with rosé wine is that there are far more bad examples than good ones. But some estates produce truly great rosé wines (in Provence or Roussillon, for example), which can sometimes be very complex, age-worthy, very interesting, and delicious. Not all rosés are meant to be mixed with grapefruit and drowned in ice cubes on the beach… (and thankfully so!).

Screw cap = poor quality (or even bad) wine

Have you ever refused to buy a bottle of wine (often from abroad) simply because it had a screw cap instead of a traditional cork, because "it looks less premium" and you doubted the wine's quality? WRONG! In most New World wine-producing countries (Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa), screw caps are the predominant type of bottle used rather than our European corks, for two reasons:

– Cultural reason: these countries being quite young in wine production, they do not have this habit of cork, and prefer to favour easy export of their bottles (the screw cap allows the wine to travel without risk).

– Practical reason: cork comes mainly from Europe (Portugal, Spain), and is therefore very difficult for these countries to access. But some very fine wines also exist in these countries, and with this rather special type of cork.

A good wine is necessarily expensive

And no! That's precisely what makes this wonderful product so appealing! In every region, you can sometimes stumble upon real gems, small batches from unknown estates that are absolutely incredible (and often very reasonably priced). Conversely, price isn't always a guarantee of quality; sometimes you find wines that are far too expensive compared to their actual taste (thanks to brand image and reputation...). So head to a wine merchant to try and unearth that rare gem that will delight both your palate and your wallet!

Charles Henon (for Les Grappes )