I just read this article at the New York Times and I feel a bit vindicated. I have long held that the adage to never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink should not be the kitchen gospel it is. First, you’re putting it over hot fire, which immediately renders it a different glass of wine altogether. Second, you’re mixing it with other things that are likely more flavorful than the wine itself, and you don’t really want the wine to stand out that much, anyway. Third, I’m poor and can’t afford to go pouring the good wine into the sauce, instead of into my belly, where it belongs.
Julia Moskin does some extensive kitchen experimentation to prove, to my mind beyond a doubt, that cheap wine in your risotto (and whatever else you’re cooking) is a-ok.