First this should probably be in the dining forum.
Second, my experience is often the onion soup is too hot that you burn your mouth os scald it and cannot taste the wine appropriately. But if you need to have a wine, the ones which I found went well were peppery and spicy reds with some acidity ?grenache based? (gigondas or chateauneuf du pape, or red from spain). Northern rhone(syrah) probably wouldn't do well because of the lack of the acidity that grenache provides. Maybe nebbiolo based but not too heavy, something like a barbaresco or gattinara or even a langhe. Barolo might be too much (even barbaresco depending on the producer). I wouldn't go with sangiovese because of the lack of body/weight (chianti) or low acidity (super tuscans). Valpolicella might do, but might be a bit too light bodied, amarone would do better, but better uses for amarone (and cheaper alternatives) than onion soup. Forget cab or merlot or australian fruit bombs.
And here I thought this thread was going to have tasting notes posted on French Onion Soup!!!!
ex: brown, oniony on the nose, strong onion flavors with some beefy notes, smooth, long finish -- immense effort, especially with the melted cheese. Tasted twice with consistent notes, best now till next week. 88 pts.
RRV
Posts: 804 | Location: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 19, 2002
I am a professional french onion soup chef (or at least I play one on TV). Most FOS recipes call for a dry white wine in the making of the soup. Coincidentally this is the wine I enjoy most with the soup. I generally go for a unoaked/lightly oaked chardonnay or a pinot gris. Sauvignon Blanc tends to be too citrusy for my taste, but a dry riesling might also work.
If you MUST go red, I would go southern rhone.
Real Gruyere is the only way to go for the cheese topping.
********** "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln.
Posts: 1242 | Location: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jan 09, 2002
Smaug, would you please post a recipe for a good french onion soup? I've been trying to locate a decent recipe for quite some time now.
BTW, one of the first recipes I tried called for white zinfandel - I ended up buying a bottle of red zin for the soup. Of course after I poured my soup down the drain, I ended up drinking what was left of the bottle.
Posts: 81 | Location: Boston, MA and San Diego, CA | Registered: Jan 09, 2002
