Matching Wine With Food
Pairing wine and food is the topic for this installment of our wine guide…
The taste of a wine can improve or worsen depending on the food that you drink it with. There are only a few combinations which really do not work, however, by learning a little you can bring the best out of both the wine and the food.
When pairing food and wine, you can take one of two approaches: pair a wine with a contrasting food taste, like combining a sweeter wine with spicy foods; or use a complementary combination, in which the food and wines share similar characteristics. Either works equally well, but which to apply varies on the type of food being served.
Regional combinations are worth paying attention to as food originating from a particular region or country will often pair well with the local wines, as they have both evolved to complement one another. Problem foods include eggs and egg dominated dishes, acidic foods, such as tomatoes or vinaigrette dressings, and spicy foods. There are no specific rules or recommendations for these, and it’s really a case of hit and miss. Personal experimentation is necessary if you insist on pairing wine with such foods.
Here are some examples of wine and food pairings: pair beef with heavier reds like Zinfandel, Bordeaux, or Cabernet Sauvignon; most of these wines go well with lamb as well, but this meat can take white wines like Pinot Gris too; for poultry, look for whites or light reds when there is a heavy sauce, Pinot Noir and Beaujolais work well; finally, fish should always be served with whites, and Sauvignon Blanc makes a good choice.
However, though these are said to be classic pairings, that doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily like all of them. Everyone has a different palate and appreciates different tastes and flavors. It’s important to also remember that some people only drink one kind of wine, no matter what food is being served. So, if you’re entertaining a guest who only drinks white wine, it’s not advisable to insist on them drinking a particular red wine just because you think it matches the food well. Make a suggestion to them, but still give them a choice.