In which order should I drink my wines during a dinner?

November 10, 2016

There is a very famous saying in French, that says "Red after white, you're right; white after red, you're dead"

(In French "Blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge; rouge sur blanc, tout fout le camp")

This means that red wine should come after drinking white, and that drinking white after red can cause a disaster in your stomach.

Can we drink wines in whatever order we want?

There is a reason for the old saying. The basic principle is that the following wine should never make you regret the previous wine. As the whites are generally lighter, less full-bodied and, by definition, less tannic than red, if tasted immediately after a red, you may not be able to fully appreciate it.

Try not to make your tongue numb by tasting too tannic wines early on, or too much alcohol before going to any wine, let alone white. Common sense tells you that if you drank three straight Madiran, a younger wine will not have much taste taste for you afterwards.

Yet there are a few white wines which are very suitable for end of meals: sweet wines, white port wines, and champagnes are wines that can close the feast. Moreover, as we now know that the important thing is not to don hectoliters of wine, but enjoy each of those we drink, just do not choose wines too light in taste after too strong wines. You may want to rinse your mouth (eating some bread and drinking water) to be able to enjoy the white wine that will follow a red wine.

Also, don't drink a 15 degree ABV (Alcohol by volume) wine followed by an 8 degree wine. Do not follow a hyper tannic wine (Madiran kind) with a very light wine (unripe wine or Beaujolais kind). Finally, note that you should not get lost in these excesses. You can now take the opportunity to drink good wine you like and that suits the chosen dish in the order you prefer.

As a basic rule, you should drink your wines as follows: