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WINE & FOOD
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SERVING
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WHAT TO LOOK FOR
There are two main avenues in matching food with wine. One looks to compliment the dish with similar flavors while the other acts to highlight each by contrasting the wine and food. Both rely on weight and balance with acidity playing a major role.
Compliment: Use the dominate flavor of a dish, which is often the sauce as your guide in pairing. If there is wine in the sauce, use the same wine varietal as the wine served with that course. Where there is no sauce, aim to compliment the main attraction on the plate. A steak au Poivre loves a spicy peppery Zinfandel.
Contrast: Opposites attract, therefore sweet wine goes with sour or acidic food. Subdued, complex older or old world wines deserve simple foods and fresh preparations not heavy sauces. When heavy cream style sauces are on the menu, chose a wine with enough acid to cut through and refresh the palate. Also remember that even though the aim is to contrast, the weight of both food and wine must still be similar. |
OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS
Geography: The French have been pairing their wine with their food for hundreds of years. So too have the Italians and all the other great gastronomic cultures. Wine and food from the same regions are a natural fit, here again weight and balance should be your guide. If Italian is on the menu, think the wines of Italy.
High acid: Highly acidic foods such as tomatoes, citrus fruits and vinaigrettes usually go best with more acidic crisp wines such as a Sauvignon Blanc. The more buttery the dish, the more the need for increased acid in the wine in order to cut through it.
Highly seasoned foods: Hot, spicy, salty, tangy, and smoky flavors are best paired with fruity, low tannin, lower alcohol, high acid wines. Rieslings and Gewürztraminers work great with spicy Asian, Indian food and Mexican. Wines that may seem a bit tart on their own often work well. These are tough foods to match, when in doubt, there is always beer.
Rich foods: Rich and fatty foods are often complimented by full-bodied Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel or Syrah. The heavier the weight of the meal, the bigger the wine should be. Again think weight and balance.
Sweet foods: The sweetness of the dish should be less than the sweetness of the wine. Ports and desert wines are great with many deserts, but can be too much of a good thing. If a molten chocolate lava cake is on the menu, don’t break out the Vintage Port, it will just get buried. Instead try a big Cab or move on to coffee.
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