My new mission is to learn more about wine. Nothing too obsessive; just enough to know about the basic different types of wine, which countries/regions produce the best wines and what I, myself, enjoy most. I recently read Andrea Immer’s “Great Wine Made Simple,” which I recommend, and now am reading “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course” by Kevin Zraly. Instead of wine comparison tastings, which can be heavy on the wallet, I have decided to incorporate wine education into my regular life (since I already drink wine regularly, this shouldn’t be too hard.) Each Wednesday, I will choose a new wine and plan a meal entirely around it. In addition to education, this will make planning meals more fun too! So, today marks my first ever “winesday” (that name is really cheesy, I know.)

Tonight’s wine of choice was Trimbach 2003 Alsatian Riesling. My meal to match was Riesling-Poached Trout with Thyme, Buttered Baby Potatoes and a Watercress, Endive and Apple Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette. First, the wine. I haven’t had too many rieslings in my lifetime so I was excited to try something different. All I know about them is that they are the lightest bodied of the whites and can sometimes be sweet (particularly Germain rieslings.) Alsatian rieslings are usually dry. This one was delicious: clean, crisp, and light! They say lemon, mineral and grapefruit (even cabbage) among other things online. As for the meal, it was OK. It matched well with the wine I guess but I usually find French food to be pretty boring and this was no exception. Thankfully the hatchet job I did on the trout didn’t ruin the meal. I should have just had the fish monger fillet it for me but, I was thinking that maybe one day I would like to learn how to fish and, if I did go fishing and actually caught one, I would have to learn how to do this myself. At least you couldn’t tell once it was cooked and covered in sauteed leeks. Also of note: for the salad dressing, I used the apple cider vinegar recommended by Cooks Illustrated magazine, Spectrum Naturals Organic Unfiltered. I actually sipped a little vinegar straight from the bottle and it was good. So much better than Heinz.

Overall, I would say the wine was far better than the meal but I’m going to stick with Winesdays for a while and hopefully will be able to produce a spectacular wine-meal combo. Do you have a favorite food and wine pairing that you would recommend?