Every Home Needs a House Wine

As a resident of Northern California I feel a responsibility to comment on wine for Daily Constitutionals. It helps that I drink a lot of wine... a lot of wine! It also helps that I love all wine: bubbly, white, and red. Clearly my college days of drinking lukewarm Busch Lite have long passed. And hopefully most of the readers here have moved on from drinking Busch Lite, even if it’s ice cold. I aim to make my comments practical and usable to both the occasional and experienced wine drinker, and I hope I never use the phrase “I’m getting a hint of sweet tobacco on the nose.” Here’s my first take on wine. If you are ready to be a fully functioning adult, then I recommend having house wines at your place of residence. Yes, I mean you should have a specific bubbly, white, and red wine that you always have at the ready. A dependable choice that you can drink alone while watching Netflix but also feel comfortable serving to friends during a weekend dinner. Do you really want to be the person who has friends come over on a random Thursday and the only wine you have is Sutter Home White Zin that you bought at the local convenience store at 2am while blasted? Quick answer: no, you don’t. You shouldn’t go crazy expensive with your house wines. I would recommend something in the $10 - $30 price range, depending on the type of wine. My current house red is a Pinot Noir: La Crema’s Sonoma Cost 2016. The Sonoma Coast area of California is known for great pinot – I’ll leave the California Pinot Noir vs. Red Burgundy (which is also just Pinot Noir!) conversation for another day – and La Crema is a large winery that distributes nationally. You should be able to pick up thisbottle at Costco, Total Wine, and most national grocery chains for $16 to $20.Why Pinot Noir? Pinot Noir is great because it can handle a wide range of situations and food pairings. Do you want to have an all-day bender on red wine? Do you wantto throw an outdoor dinner party when it’s 80 degrees and 70 percent humidity? Do you want to offer both fish and chicken at dinner but want to buy just one type of wine? Pinot Noir is your very versatile wine friend. My current favorite food pairing isroasted salmon with a side of roasted veggies. It’s a very healthy meal as long as you don’t get into more than one bottle of wine. ​Now go forth and choose your house wines! It’ll take time. The first bottle you try will probably be shit. It took me almost two years to find the right red. I’ve got a bin full of corks to prove it.