Pick Red For Roasts

• Always cook with wine you would drink. The quality of the wine will be evident in the finished product, so you want to make sure it tastes good to begin with. Being familiar with a wine’s flavor will also help you to decide if the sweet red wine you have on hand is appropriate for your roast. Red wine varietals provide flavors that are well-suited for beef and pork roasts. Although flavors vary between red varietals, reds tend to display flavors that compare to nuts, smoke or red berries. In contrast, many white wines are described as having flavors of apple, citrus, oak or vanilla. These flavors make whites better for seafood and shellfish dishes.

Food-Friendly Fortified Wines

• When selecting a sweet wine for your roast, consider a sweet fortified wine, such as port from Portugal or sherry from Spain. Although there are many sherry and port bottlings available from California, these tend to have a weaker flavor than European-produced versions. Fortified wines, such as brandy, are crafted by adding extra alcohol to the wine. These sweeter wines have a stronger taste and higher alcohol content than other wines. Fortified wines not only give roasts added flavor, they also store for long periods of time without going bad. Many home chefs keep a bottle available for recipes for this reason.

Selecting Sweet Wines

• Consider the type of roast you are making before selecting a wine. Sherry pairs well with sweet sauteed onions. It imparts a nutty taste to meat dishes, while Madeira is a lush wine with medium-rich flavors. Pour a couple of teaspoons of either wine into the roasting pan after the meat is cooked to make a sauce from the drippings. Use Marsala for a caramel-like fruitiness. When selecting Marsala wine, observe the bottle label. The wine comes in somewhat dry, sweet and very sweet varieties. Port gives roasts a robust sweetness that pairs well with shallots and aromatic herbs such as rosemary.

Sweet Tips

• Chefs agree that price has little to do with the flavors that can be gained from cooking with wine. For long, slow cooking, a cheap bottle of wine is acceptable. Use finer wine when finishing a dish, when you'll be better able to taste the flavor of the wine more intensely. Adding a bit of sherry in the last few minutes of roasting beef tenderloin, for example, will give the meat a pronounced wine flavor. Steer clear of bottles marked as sweet red blends unless you have tried them before. Some of these blends are heavy, dark red and excessively sweet, while others have more in common with fortified wines and may be appropriate for your roast.