Basic
Wine & Food Pairing Principles
The Keys to Flavor Matching
One of the most important elements to harmonize between wine and food is
flavor. For example, a tangy tomato-based pasta sauce requires a wine
with comparable acidity. Without this balance between the acidity of the
dish and the wine, the partner with lower acidity tastes flabby and dull, while
the other, too tart.
To find an acidic wine, you can choose one that is made in the same area as the
food. Years of matching the regional cuisine and wine as well as similar
soil and climatic conditions make this a safe bet. For example, you could
pair a tomato sauce fettuccine with a Tuscan chianti. Or you can select a
wine from a cool climate where the grapes don’t ripen to great sweetness, and
maintain their tart, tangy edge. Crisp New
Zealand
sauvignon blancs and
French chablis serve these dishes well.
Acidic wines also work well with salty dishes. For example, oysters are
both salty and briny with an oily mouth-coating texture that can smoother most
wines. However, a sparkling wine from
While off-dry, acidic wines go well with many dishes, the two most difficult
wines to pair with food are also the two most popular: chardonnay and cabernet
sauvignon.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavors with mouth
drying tannins (the same sensation you get from drinking well-brewed tea). Therefore,
they find their happiest match in foods with juicy proteins such as a rare
steak. The protein softens the tannin making the wine taste smooth and
fruity. Steaks done with crushed black peppercorns sensitize your
taste-buds, making the wine taste even more fruity and robust. However,
the way in which the dish is prepared also has an impact. A well-done
steak, for example, may taste too dry with a tannic cabernet.
Proteins are also at work with the marriage of wine and cheese, the
cocktail classic. Red wines tend to go better with hard cheeses such as
blue cheese as they can accommodate more tannins. However, whites suit soft
cheeses such as brie and camembert as the creamier textures require more acidity
for balance.
Game birds such quail, pheasant, turkey, duck, squab and guinea hen have earthy
flavors that are more robust than chicken. Wild game often goes better with
racy red wines that have a gamy quality to them, the classic being Burgundian
pinot noir. The flavors of pinot noir -- plum, cherry, mushrooms, earth and
even barnyard (that’s a positive adjective) – accentuate the same gamy
flavors in the food. Other wine options for game birds include Spanish
rioja,
One of the most challenging flavors to balance is sweetness. Dishes with a
touch of sweetness such as glazed pork do well with off-dry wines such as
riesling and chenin blanc. However, rich desserts such as chocolate and crème
brulée demand a wine that is sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste
thin, even bitter. Sweet wines such as sauternes, Canadian icewine, late
harvest wines and port will work not only for their sweetness but also for
their unctuous texture.
Wine Variety Guidelines
When
the marriage of food and wine works well, each enhances the other, making the
meal greater than if you had consumed them separately.
Cabernet Sauvignon:
Roasts & spicy red meat, spicy poultry,
duck, rabbit, pate, sausage, kidneys, and cheeses like cheddar & blue.
Pinot Noir: Roasted beef or turkey, braised chicken, cold game birds
(duck, rabbit, partridge), veal, truffles, and cheeses like Gruyeres.
Merlot:
Roasted beef or turkey, braised chicken, cold duck,
lamb, veal, venison, liver, stew, meat casseroles.
Chardonnay:
Seafood with butter sauce, pasta with cream sauce,
veal, chicken, turkey, ham, and cheeses like Emmenthal & Gruyeres.
Riesling: Ham, pork, clams, muscles, Tandoori chicken, lobster Newberg,
Coquilles St Jacques, Asian dishes, sashimi, and mild cheese.
Sauvignon Blanc: Ham, quiche, Irish stew, grilled or poached salmon,
seafood salads, and strong cheeses like goat.
Gewurztraminer:
Spicy dishes, Thai food, curry, pork &
sauerkraut, smoked salmon, and spiced/pepper cheeses like Muenster.
Information and tips for finding end enjoying everyday wines from Europe and other major wine regions:
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