Cooking wine

Despite its virtues being extolled in many an old French cookbook, don’t pour an expensive bottle of Bordeaux over a pot roast. True, a wine with bottle age gives wonderful flavor to anything braised, but unless you’re set up with a cellar that guarantees you mature wine, don’t buy aged wine for cooking unless you’re very wealthy and don’t care. In general, use white wine with a lot of acidity, which in general means French but not necessarily expensive; a generic sauvignon blanc is usually the right price and provides the requisite acidity and a bit of character you’ll need for beurre blanc or for meats braised in white wine. For red, go for a lot of body. Red wines from South America are often a good value and wines that might be too soft to drink, such as a generic merlot, are perfect for the pot. Zinfandel was once a great value but no longer, unless you happen onto a sale. Wine that you’ve had around too long and that is a bit madeirized (white) or has lost its color (red) is perfect for cooking, and in fact the defects of wine gone “bad" can turn delicious when simmered with vegetables, meat, and herbs. Sherry, provided it’s dry, is often delicious in place of “regular" white wine, and white vermouth is great to have around in a pinch when the only wine around is rare white Burgundy that friends brought to drink with dinner. When you are completely desperately out of wine, wine vinegar, especially your own homemade, will serve as a passable substitute.