Fish/oysters is usually accompanied by white wine. But I only drink red?!
After all am paying the bill
Answers: so is it OK to order red wine and fish/oysters in a restaurant.
After all am paying the bill
It is not about snobbery when it comes to wine and food pairing. If you drink something very flavorful like a full bodied red wine with something light and delicate like fish or shellfish, the taste and tannins in the wine will kill the flavor of the food. There are lighter bodied reds that work with seafoods like Pinot Noir, Gamay, Beaujolais and some others. Chardonnay is a grape that some red wine drinkers can handle and will work better than Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot with fish/shellfish. My question wouldn't be "what will others think if I'm drinking the wrong wine?" it would be "what is the point of buying pricey nice food and wine when their flavors will cancel each other out?"
Also just to throw out there to you, there are really good roses available now, as they are becoming more popular here in the States. I'm not talking sweet white Zinfandel, but dry excellent ones that combine the worlds of red and white. This is one of the major wines of the south of France where they eat so much good seafood.
Edit: I must let this one go...all the thumbs down! I must not be worth my salt...
Answers is not the place to discuss food and wine...
Emma, you sound as clueless as your brother in law, go to wine country and see what it is all about...
Order what ever wine you like the only person drinking it is you so the hell with anyone else's opinion on what you should drink with what meal
Why care what old-fashioned wine snobs think? You're paying the bill so drink whatever you like. I do believe it was French gastronomes who made up the "wine rules," but things are changing. More and more often, people are ordering what they like to drink rather than what is "proper." If the sommelier looks down his/her nose at you, don't bother tipping him/her.
Having said that...oysters are very rich...you might want to consider a lighter red as opposed to something full and rich. Otherwise, you might find yourself suffering heartburn later.
I drink whatever I want in restaurants, I don't give a hoot about wine snobs.
Most of them talk crap anyway.
Chef
You sound like my French Brother-in-law he spouts all that nonsense but when we let him order he usually ruins our meals.
We go to France a couple of times a month and they are not snobs with regards to wine, they laugh at people who are.
Edit
Chef
You are a snob, you are an American, what do you know about European etiquette?.
I have been to wine country many many times and they don't look down their noses in expensive restaurants if you don't chose the perfect wine.
How things have changed over wine, it was considered common to chill red wine now that has all changed round and the so called experts now say it should be chilled.
It's all a load of hogwash.
Are you kidding? Until we have official food police, the right wine to have with something is the one YOU like with it. End of story!
Some rules of thumb makes sense-- for instance whites tend to be better lightly chilled while reds give more flavor at room temp, but don't adhere to the silly food/wine rules.