Red-wine snobs pay attention; I would like to tell you: Get over it! This is why white wine is divine. 

My wife and I had dinner with some business acquaintances last month. Like most people, we didn't know much about one another beyond the fact of a business relationship. I didn't know, for example, if they liked red or white wine. So we brought along a bottle of each. While the red was warmly received, the white was quickly dispatched to the kitchen. "We're red wine drinkers," said the wife, in the sort of tone most people reserve for declaring their religion. Hence the aperitif of choice wasn't our soft fruity white but their rich and powerful Australian Shiraz--a great wine for lamb or roast beef but a not-so-great companion to spring rolls and fried wantons. Instead of having our appetites whetted by a lively Riesling or a juicy Sauv Blanc, we were struck by a high-alcohol Shiraz.

I love red wine--and that includes Shiraz--but I feel just as passionate about white. And unlike the people who start drinking white wine with seafood only to switch back to red for the meats, I love the brisk acidity of Sauvignon Blanc, the intense minerality of Puligny-Montrachet and the distinctive aroma of Riesling all the time. I love the way white wine can be rich and seductive, with layers of flavors and aromas that range from violets and honey to lime and wet stone, or simple, straightforward and refreshing--a beverage in the best sense of the word. But most of all, I love that thanks to better winemaking techniques and more serious winemakers, there's never been a better time to be a fan of white wine than now.

Unfortunately, it seems that the word hasn't spread as far as it should. In fact, a lot of wine drinkers feel like the couple I mentioned: They'd rather drink almost anything red. Even the popularity of that perennial favorite, Chardonnay, appears to be slipping. Not only are growers pulling up their Chardonnay vines at record rates (most often replacing them with Cab and Syrah), but restaurateurs polled by Wine & Spirits magazine this year reported that their sales of Chardonnay had declined while sales of Shiraz and Cabernet climbed steadily upward. 
My own, more casual, poll revealed pretty much the same thing. Even in a seeming white wine oasis like the seafood restaurants in Sabah, where my wife and I had a few dinners recently, most of the tables held bottles of red. The restaurant staff admits that reds outnumber to those of white. And not light, delicate, "fish-friendly" reds. But big chewy reds with a kick it seems.

The story is similar at a Chinese restaurant chain, in the Klang valley, where interest in red continues to rise. According to the wine buyer for all their seafood restaurants, Cabernet is a frequent best-seller. What's more, "I've seen plenty of people drinking Cab with grouper or snapper," he adds. Cabernet with grouper? I'm not closed-minded about red wine with fish, but coupling a tannic Cab to a steam grouper seems calculated to bring out the worst in each one. The fish will taste fishier, the wine more tannic. There are plenty more appropriate (read: white) wine partners--like the lush Pinot Grigio blend, semiliion chardonnay from Australia. It's on their list for under a RM100 a bottle. 

I believe such bad choices might be made for health-related reasons. Many people mention some article or television program detailing the benefits of drinking red wine. Personally, I'm not convinced that such Cabernet drinkers are driven by cholesterol fears. I think anyone who orders Cab with grouper (or Bordeaux with oysters, another cited favorite) is mainly interested in making a statement. They're probably the sort who boasts about their collections and how many points a particular wine has, two things you'll rarely find a white wine drinker doing. But to certain wine drinkers, color alone is synonymous with status. White wine is to them a drink for the ladies--or, worse, homosexuals.   

Still, I'm willing to grant that those Cab-and-tuna types simply might not realize how well white wine goes with food. In many ways, white wine can be more versatile than red. Most people underestimate how well white wine goes with food. Examples of great white-wine-and-food matches abound well beyond the traditional province of pasta and chicken. For example, the fresh, melon notes and full body of Viognier pair perfectly with roast pork or smoked ham, while crabs, prawns and Riesling are a match made in heaven. Any dish rich with egg or cheese is almost by definition Chardonnay material--in fact, white wine and cheese work brilliantly together. The connection between Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese is practically spiritual, while the relationship of Gewürztraminer to Gouda goes well beyond the phonetic. And I personally find that Roquefort and Sauternes work better than the more popular (and better publicized) Roquefort and port.

These wines have fresh, vibrant flavors and great natural acidity that goes well with food, and they cost less. Sometimes much less. Because white wine can be sold straight away--it doesn't need to age in bottle or in expensive oak barrels--a good white will almost always be less expensive than a corresponding red. This seems to hold true even at the highest levels.

I wonder if this crossed the minds of the couple when they spurned our white wine. Maybe they're not red wine lovers at all. Maybe they just thought we were cheap.