Cooking with heavily oaked red wine

[JCNorthway]

I have a few bottles of a 2007 Chateauneuf that I always felt had seen too much oak (unfortunate as other vintages have been good), and it has not seemed to improve during the decade I've had the wine. I've thought about using it for cooking, but I read an article suggesting to avoid oaky wines because they can turn bitter when used for cooking. Does anyone have experience with this, and what would be your recommendation?

[stefan]

I have never had a problem cooking with any wine we bought. Last month we cooked with a corked wine and even stefanJr could not detect anything bad.

[DavidG]

No problems here either, but I can't recall specifically using an oak-monster to cook with. I'm sure it's happened. Overly tannic beasts often get used for cooking and they're fine.

[jal]

I'm curious, what do you guys cook with red wine? Except for boeuf bourguignon obviously. Whenever I cook with wine, it's invariably leftover white wine. I find red wine used in cooking has a tartness that is unpleasant, however maybe I need to expand my experience.

[stefan]

Beef stews--not just boeuf bourguignon; coq au vin; sautéed mushrooms; grilling marinades for venison, bison, and beef; some tomato based pasta and mushroom sauces; poached pears; cheerios when we are out of milk...

[jal]

cheerios when we are out of milk...

ROTFL

[DavidG]

Yup, beef stews, marinade for beef and lamb.

[brodway]

Jacques.

Short ribs stewed in red wine with a bouquet garni for aromatics and you will be in heaven. Other herbs can work well too.

[brodway]

Stefan

breakfast at your house when the milkman fails to show up must be fun times

[Nicklasss]

Personally, I keep my oaky wines, or corked wines, for my mother in law. Love it or not, I like her.

Nic

[sdr]

I don’t know why but I find if I reduce the red wine gently instead of boiling it rapidly it is less bitter. If necessary though I will add a pinch of sugar to balance it.

America’s Test Kitchen recommends avoiding oaky wines for cooking but I’m not sure what research they did. I usually use Chianti because it’s cheap and comes in a 4-pack of 187ml bottles at the supermarket.

I know Jacques is not big on most sauces but a reduction of beef or veal stock and red wine with herbs added to sautéed shallots, garlic and (usually) red wine vinegar is delicious.

Stu

[Claudius2]

For the most part, I use dry whites for cooking, even with beef or pasta sauces, but I buy Italian reds such as Chianti or Valpolicella if I need it.
I have however always avoided woody white wines and stuck to riesling, semillon or Italian white varieties.
Sometimes I'll save a glass or so of Australian red (eg, shiraz or a blend) for use in stronger dishes such as Hungarian Goulash.
I have never really noticed the wood character from shiraz in the past and that would have been used many times.