The Six Pack

Count this as another post where I try way too hard to suggest wine is more similar to beer than most people suspect. Although for today’s riff on the theme, my tongue is thrust a bit deeper into my cheek.

So before we talk about wine, lets talk about beer. And before we even talk about beer, I’m going to ask a question. How do you buy beer?

I could be wrong, but my suspicion is that most people buy six packs. There may be a beer that you love, and perhaps you’ll buy that by the 12-pack or save a few bucks and buy it by the case. If you like cheap beer in cans, you might even lug home a 30-pack of the stuff.

With so many different options, I find it unlikely that most people are buying beer by the individual bottle, on the day that you plan to drink it. Sure, with large form specialty bottles some of you may occasionally do this, and that’s fine. But for those of you who enjoy beer, even if it’s not a daily drink, I bet you keep at least a few bottles or cans of it around.

Now, here’s the funny part.

You do know that for the most part, the longer a beer sits around, the worse it gets. Fresh from the brewery it’s at its peak, and from there on it’s all downhill. At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe. The beer geeks will correct me if I’m wrong.

Most wine on the other hand works the exact opposite way. Sure, there are a few notable exceptions, and one must not forget that most wine these days is meant to be enjoyed upon its release to retailers.

But still, if I were to encounter any given two-year-old bottle of wine versus any given two-year-old bottle of beer, I’d suspect the wine would be the better of the two.

However, from what I’ve been able to gather most people buy their beer in quantity and their wine a bottle at a time. This is madness. Now a long time ago, I made a case for buying wine by the case. But a case is a lot of wine, and even if you are buying decent value wine for under $8 a bottle, twelve bottles adds up.

That’s why today I’m pushing the wine six-pack.

Do you think it will take you longer than two years to drink these six wines? It won’t. And you don’t need some kind of silly little refrigerator to store them either. Find a dark spot with relatively stable temperature. The bottom of a closet would do just fine.

Then you’ll have access to wine whenever you want without having to hop into the car and drive to the wine store. Because more often than not that will mean going without wine and depriving yourself of the pleasure wine brings.

My overall wine buying strategy doesn’t change. I’m still encouraging you to buy two or three bottles of any wine that looks promising. So that means your six-pack will consist of only two or three different wines.

Ideally, these should be based on your personal taste, the season, what you generally tend to eat. Wine tastes good with food. Food tastes good with wine. And it’s a lot more fun to wash down your food with a tasty and interesting wine than it is drinking seltzer or ice water.

But since I don’t know your tastes or what you eat, here are three ideas to get you thinking. They aren’t exactly recommendations, but they are all bottles I would buy.

Gewürztraminer is unpronounceable but a good white wine choice. Some are sweet, but not all of them. I prefer mine in a drier style that still has rich fruit and a bit of sweet spice (think clove). Chateau Ste. Michelle makes a good one that I’ve been able to find locally for about $8. It pairs well with fall foods like roasted squash, holds up to Asian foods, and is lovely even with a simple roast chicken. As opposed to some of the lightest white wines, if you do happen to forget about this wine in the closet for a couple years, it will be fine.

You like tomato sauce? Or maybe eat a lot of pizza? Well, hopefully you know about Zinfandel. Yes, this red grape is actually the thing they make White Zinfandel from. No, the two bear no resemblance in any way, shape, or form beyond that. California’s wine industry was really forged by Italians, and the story of this grape is long and complicated, but let’s just say it goes well with a lot of Italian-American foods. I’ve heard good things about the value brand Cellar No. 8, which should also be available for about $8 per bottle.

Fall and winter are a great time to enjoy big wines. Just recently I’ve stumbled upon another wine I’ve yet to try that looks very promising. You can check out both the listing from our local wine store for this under $10 single-vineyard French red, and this very enthusiastic review by a blogger down in Florida. This sounds like something that would go splendidly with a big hearty beef stew with bacon. But it’s not for the unadventurous.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter what you get. You buy two bottles of it, and then you drink it. If it’s good you may even find it again or perhaps you won’t. Thus is the fickle nature of wine. But the only way to learn more about the stuff is to drink it. And you can’t drink it, if there isn’t any in the house.

Maybe some of you need even additional hand-holding. I’m half considering taking one interested and committed reader, and scheduling some personal one-on-one wine tasting and wine buying tutorials over the winter. I think it would be a fun experiment. What do you say?