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HomeTopicsWine And Food Pairing
How to Pair Wine and Food like a ProAmericans’ growing sophistication about global cuisine, coupled with ever-increasing varieties available in the wine market, make for myriad possible food and wine pairings.
The number of choices may at first confound budding gourmands. But not to worry! A few general rules of thumb exist that can give you a good foundation on which to build your wine and dining repertoire.
Of course, confidence always trumps conventional wisdom. If, as a cook, you feel that your signature roasted rabbit with creamy mushroom sauce cries out for a sherry, rather than the burgundy your wine merchant suggests, by all means serve the sherry.
But if your intuition fails you, don’t fret. Although the “rules” aren’t quite as simple as they used to be, by following a few sensible guidelines you can select wines that will bring out the best in your meals. By the same token, if you bring home a special wine or two and want to build a meal around them, suggestions abound.
Flavor Notes: The Secret Life of GrapesWhat some people may not know is that grapes themselves have an uncanny way of tasting like other fruits, spices and even flowers, depending on the variety of grape. For this reason, the “citrusy” grape used for sauvignon blanc would nicely complement the kind of white meats often served with lemon, such as chicken or fish.
But for a more exotic Asian dish, you might want to consider a Gewürztraminer, made with grapes whose flavor is often compared to litchi nuts.
In general, white wines tend to contain citrus, apple or pear notes, while reds yield berry, plum, peach or cherry flavors. If your experience tells you that a certain meat, grain or cheese often classically pairs with a particular fruit, then you’ve got a great head start toward knowing which wines will do the same.
AcidityThe relative sweetness or acidity of the wine gives you another element for choosing a wine and food pairing. Sweetness, which is a fairly self-explanatory term, lies on one end of the spectrum, with the tart, tangy, or “acidic” taste, on the other.
While one sometimes looks for wine to counterbalance a dish, with dessert courses it’s generally best to simply choose a sweet wine. In fact, look for a wine that is even sweeter than the dessert. Otherwise, the sugar content of the dessert will make the wine seem too bitter or thin. A port or sauternes, which conveniently fall into the category of “dessert wines,” have the perfect heaviness and sweetness to anchor your chocolate or pastry course.
Acidic foods, on the other hand, need an equally acidic wine to complement their tanginess. Dishes containing tomatoes, such as chicken cacciatore or spaghetti and meatballs, are classic examples of tangy foods. Here you’d want a more acidic wine, such as a chianti or sauvignon blanc.
Conveniently, the sweetness-acidity conundrum is often solved by simply pairing classic recipes with wines from the same region, because they tend to echo one another. This is especially true of wine-cheese pairings, which literally soak up the local atmosphere during the aging process.
Regional CluesOf course, regionalism also plays into classic pairings because local produce and meat sources influence the types of dishes that become associated with the area. The simplicity and freshness of California cuisine, for example, are nicely echoed by that region’s sparkling wines.
In contrast, France’s Rhone Valley, known for earthier dishes comprised of game and root vegetables, also produces the kind of robust grapes used in Shiraz wines.
One last aspect of wine choice revolves around the wine’s body, generally described as ranging from “light” to “heavy.” The heavier the wine, the higher its alcohol content. Most of us know that a pork roast tends to be “heavier” than poached salmon. Therefore, you might want to consider pairing a light wine with a delicate dish, and a heavy wine with more robust food.
Among the lightest of the white wines are pinot grigio and riesling, moving to more medium-weighted whites such as chablis and chardonnays, with white burgundy and pinot gris at the heavier end of the spectrum.
Lighter red wines include beaujolais, moving toward mediums like chianti, with the shiraz, or Rhone, wines generally considered to have the fuller bodies.
Quick Guide to Food and Wine PairingsWhile such considerations as acidity, regionalism, body and grape type might seem to be too many things to keep in mind, take heart. Many of these factors tend to blend seamlessly together.
Here is an at-a-glance guide to some classic food and wine pairings. See which ones work for you and which don’t. Before you know it, you’ll be an expert matchmaker of food and wine.
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