Most people think there are strict rules when it comes to food and wine. Many people still stick to the old stand-by: white wine with fish and red wine with meats. With all the types of wines available today there is no limit to the combinations available. The taste is in the mouth of the beholder so try a couple different wines with a meal to see what works for you. As a starting point, try to match the wines flavors with the foods flavors. Think about how the foods flavors the same way you think about the flavors in wine: if a dish has a citrus element then it has a fruity flavor and if it has mushrooms it has an earthy flavor and so on. After considering the flavors of the food try and match the wine with the same flavors to complement each other. Also, try and match a wines intensity of flavor such as a California Cabernet Sauvignon with a hearty dish such as stew or a wines texture such as a rich, buttery Chardonnay with the rich texture of lobster. Remember, only you can tell what you like so experiment and have fun with it.
If you have trouble or need any advice on finding the right wine for a meal you are serving please feel free to just ask a fine wine consultant. They will be more than happy to share their passion for wine with you.
Source: https://www.internationalwine.com/matching_food_wine.aspx?
According to Sid Goldstein The Wine Lovers Cookbook. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1999. There are 6 steps in his guidelines (Pages in book (16-17)):
Balance: Use the dominate flavor of a dish, often the sauce, as your guide in pairing. For example, use the wine used in the sauce as the compliment drink with the dish.
Contrast: Opposites attract, therefore sweet wine goes with sour or acidic food. Subdued, complex older wines deserve simple foods not heavy sauces.
Highly seasoned foods: Spicy, salty, and smoky flavors are best paired with fruity, low tannin, lower alcohol-content wines.
Rich foods: Rich and fatty foods often work well with full-bodied Chardonnay, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Zinfandel or syrah.
Sweet foods: The sweetness of the dish should be less than the sweetness of the wine. This is easily accomplished by adding citrus juice or vinegar to the dish.
High acid: Highly acidic foods such as tomatoes, citrus fruits and goat cheese usually go best with acidic wines such as a Sauvignon Blanc.
Linda Johnson-Bell in her book Johnson-Bell, Linda. Pairing Wine and Food. New Jersey: Burford, 1999. (77-80), takes a reasoned approach to pairing food with wine and suggests the following:
Chinese: Seasonings include ginger, garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Sauces include sweet-and-sour, peanut, ginger, and oyster. These ingredients match the sweet and salty flavors – so a sweet, spicy, fruity white or possibly a low tannin red wine for dishes such as duck would be good choices.
Japanese: Bitter and vinegar ingredients are common, therefore, avoid acidic wines and utilize dry, fruity whites or sparkling wines. Heavier dishes like tempura require fuller, fruity wines such as a red Chinon, Sancere or Brut Champagne.
Thai: Aromatic and spicy flavors are common. These combine well with a crisp, dry, white or slightly sweet wine like a Sauvignon Blanc, Marsanne, Chardonnay or a robust red, such as a Shiraz (with beef dishes).
Mexican: Chile-dominated cuisine that can affect your palate is best coupled with a spice wine that has a touch of residual sugar. Chilled, fruity whites, or a Beaujolais Cru (low tannin red) may also work well.
Indian: Common ingredients include curry, coconut, cumin, creamy or milk based sauces. These combine deliciously with low tannin, fruity wines with little oak, like a Merlot, Zinfandel or Syrah.
Middle Eastern: Figs, raisin, nuts and tumeric are common ingredients. These would match well with the soft fruity reds or whites (Beaujolais or New World Pinot Noir).
Pacific Rim and Fusion: These are generally bold dishes and need a confident, forward wine such as a New World Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, or Sauvignon Blanc.
A Delicate Balance
By Natalie MacLean
Dinner with wine used to be simple. The rule was white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. But most of us don’t just eat meat and potatoes or drink claret and chablis these days.
With modern fusion cuisine and wines from new regions around the world, the choices – and confusion – are great. One new school of thought is that any wine goes with any dish. However, most of us don’t put ketchup on our ice cream for the same reason as we don’t drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or a powerful red wine with sole – they are mismatched flavors and textures.
When the marriage of food and wine works well, each enhances the other, making the meal greater than if you had consumed them separately. That’s why the following classic matches have survived the changes in food fashion: stilton with port, foie gras with sauternes, boeuf bourguignon with Burgundian pinot noir and goat cheese with sauvignon blanc.
It helps to start with the basic principles of food and wine pairing as they still provide a basis for experimenting with new world cuisine. 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 chose 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 California, a Spanish cava or French champagne can both refresh and cleanse your palate when eating fish. Bubblies also work well with spicy foods. Hot spice in Asian, Thai, curry and chili pepper dishes can numb the palate. Many of these foods also have high acidity from citrus ingredients such as lime juice as well as sweetness. Therefore, you need a wine with an acidic backbone as well as a touch of sweetness such as an off-dry California sparkling wine with lots of fruit.
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. New World chardonnays can be oaky, buttery, flavorful wines that overwhelm many dishes. But you can still enjoy chardonnay with your meal. Pair it with butter and cream sauces to marry similar textures and flavors.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavours 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, Oregon pinot noir and lighter-style Rhône Valley wines such as Côte-Rôtie.
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.
For more information on food and wine pairing, an excellent book is Wine with Food by Joanna Simon, which suggests wines to serve with spicy, hot and sweet dishes, as well as the less-challenging, everyday fare. The summary charts at the back of the book are worth the price alone. You can find this book on the side bar on this page.
For online help, visit the Wine Spectator's web site at www.winespectator.com. (Click on Dining on the blue buttons to the left, then on Food and Wine Matching.) The site allows you to choose either a dish or wine to find its complement from their online database.
Your best source of food and wine matching is your own palate. Experiment with different combinations to discover not only what makes a perfect pairing for you, but also to broaden your range of possibilities. As the author Alexis Lichine observed, “There is no substitute for pulling corks.”
WHITE WINE AND FOOD MATCHES
Chardonnay: seafood with butter sauce, chicken, pasta with cream sauce, veal, turkey, ham, Emmenthal, Gruyeres, Port-Salut
Riesling: mild cheese, clams, mussels, Asian dishes, sashimi, ham, pork, lobster Newberg, Tandoori chicken, Coquilles St Jacques
Sauvignon Blanc: oysters, grilled or poached salmon, seafood salad, Irish stew, ham, chevre, goat cheese and strongly flavored cheeses, asparagus quiche
Gewurztraminer: spicy dishes, Thai food, curry, smoked salmon, pork and sauerkraut, Muenster, spiced/peppered cheeses, onion tart
RED WINE AND FOOD MATCHES
Cabernet Sauvignon: duck, spicy beef, pate, rabbit, roasts, spicy poultry, cheddar, blue cheese, sausage, kidneys
Pinot Noir: braised chicken, cold duck, rabbit, charcuterie, partridge, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb, veal, truffles, Gruyeres
Merlot: braised chicken, cold duck, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb, veal, stew, liver, venison, meat casseroles
Shiraz: braised chicken, chili, goose, meat stew, peppercorn steak, barbequed meat, spicy meats, garlic casserole, ratatouille