Etiquette of Different Light Wines

 

DEAR MISS VANDERBILT: What exactly is a “light wine?” Are they always white?- From G.F., Dallas, Texas.

Dear G.F., — Light wines have no bubbles, are low in alcohol content (anywhere from 9 per cent to 14 per cent). They may be red, white or rosé. The most popular light French wine is Pouilly Fuisse, a white Burgundy. All of the German Rhine and Moselle wines are light. Rosés, domestic and imported (the Anjou rosé from the Anjou region of France is considered a go-with-everything wine), are especially safe ladies’ choice, served chilled. Rosé should not, in my opinion, be served with strong-flavored foods like curries, which tend to overpower its delicacy.

A light red wine with which you are certainly familiar is sparkling Burgundy which, like rosé, is always served chilled and handled like champagne. Like champagne, it may be served throughout the meal. Many connoisseurs consider the American sparkling Burgundy from good houses superior to those from France.

The very wines that many women consider “light” are not that at all - they are fortified among them are port, Madeira, sherry, angelica. The first three are available in both dry and sweet varieties, the dry suitable as aperitifs with ice, or without ice, but their alcohol content is far higher than that of the light wines. Of course, the highly sugared ones have a higher caloric content. — BY Amy Vanderbilt, 1966

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