wine or not to wine

[stevebody]

I actually prefer, when tasting a wine for the first time - and many times when having it again - to drink wine without food. When you eat while drinking wine, you're tasting the combination of the two and not, distinctly, either one. What I've done for my own convenience (and because I'm an incurable wine weenie) is make a list of wines that I've tried that go well with food but not so well without it. OR, wines that may be wonderful as an aperitif but are enhanced by food. I keep those wines around just for meals and save the really glorious stuff for sippin'.

I was a devoted beer drinker for many, many years and still love a great brew but wine is just so interesting, so complex (a good one, anyway) and so steeped in wonderful culture that it's replaced beer as my beverage of choice. I don't like to just drink anything, anymore. I love to sit and really TASTE every glass; swirl, sniff, aspirate, analyze, with the final consummation of the finish. Ahhh! It's really NOT just for breakfast anymore.