The wine world can be intimidating. From full-bodied reds to crisp, dry whites. The possibilities are truly limitless! When it comes to pairing wine with food, however, there are a few pointers to keep in mind. This is your one-stop shop for learning how to pair food and wine.
Understanding some of the most commonly used wine terms is the first step toward gaining a thorough understanding of wine and food pairings. These words are used to describe various aspects of wine. Visit our blog for a more comprehensive list of Wine Descriptions And Wine Tasting Terms.
Food and Wine Pairing Tips
Can’t remember which wine goes well with salmon or the chef’s special at your favorite restaurant? These guidelines cover the fundamentals of what you should and should not do when pairing wine with food. These suggestions will help you broaden your perspective on the impact wine can have on the dining experience.
1. Light Meat and White Wine (Fish and Chicken). White wines complement fish because the acids in the wine enhance the flavor of the fish, making it taste fresher. Because of its acidity, white wine can have the same effect as squeezing lemon over fish to enhance the flavor.
2. Red meat and red wine One of the most fundamental tips that are simple to remember and will assist you in making quick recommendations. Red wine pairs well with red meats such as steak because it softens the proteins in the meat and helps to enhance the flavors of the fat. The tannin, a chemical compound found in red wine, causes the softening of the meat.
3. Pairing wines with heavy sauced meats or fish can be difficult at times. The best way to approach this dish is to pair the wine with the sauce rather than the meat. This improves the experience because some sauces can have negative interactions with wine. For example, you should avoid pairing bitter sauces with bitter flavors because the bitterness will build, resulting in an unpleasant taste.
4. If the same adjective can be used to describe both the food and the wine, the pairing is likely to be successful. Sweet wines, for example, pair well with sweet foods. Fruit-based desserts or tarts, as well as sweet wines, are excellent examples. There are a few exceptions, which we will go over in detail below!
5. Finally, drink what you want, but don’t neglect your ability to experiment!
Pairing Methods
There are numerous approaches to wine and food pairings, but each one falls into one of two categories. The first type of pairing is congruent, while the second type is complementary.
Congruent Pairings
The food and wine chosen for a congruent pairing will share several compounds or flavors. A sweet wine with a sweet dish, or a red wine with a buttery aftertaste with a buttery pasta dish. When creating congruent pairings, it is critical to ensure that the wine is not overpowered by the flavors of the food.
When this occurs it can make the taste of the wine become bland. The benefit of a congruent pairing is to allow the wine and the food to enhance the flavor of the other. Red wines are a great go-to when looking to create congruent pairings. With aromas and flavors ranging from cherry to smoky, red wines are very diverse and easy to match with like food pairings. Take a glass of Syrah wine that is full-bodied and it will have a similar flavor profile to some of your favorite grilled meats, making it a great congruent pairing.
Complementary Pairings
Complementary pairings, on the other hand, are based on food and wine combinations that share no compounds or flavors but instead complement each other. Each flavor is balanced by its contrasting elements.
Rosé, white, and sparkling wines are ideal for contrasting pairings. When paired with a spicy dish, a sweet white wine allows the sugar in the wine to cool down and balance out the spiciness in the dish.
White wine and salty dishes are another common complementary pairing. The saltiness of the food reduces the sweetness of the wine while enhancing its fruity taste and aromas. A glass of Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio goes well with salty popcorn and even better with fried foods.
Pairing by Type of Wines
The flavor profiles of white wine, red wine, and sparkling wine are all very diverse and complex. That means there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways to experiment with pairing dry white wines with bold red wines. In this section, we will look at various tips and tricks for creating wine pairings.
White Wine
White wine pairing is a serious matter. As a result, we wanted to share our suggestions for what goes best with white wine. A simple rule of thumb for wine pairing is to remember that light wines complement to light dishes and heavy wines complement heavier dishes. The lighter the wine should be, the simpler the dish. This may appear to be an oversimplification, but it helps when you have a large selection of wines like we do. Here are a few suggestions for white wine pairings you enjoy:
– Shellfish – What could be better than a glass of dry sparkling wine alongside a plate of lobster, crab, and shrimp? A baked or grilled lobster dinner pairs well with the acidity of champagne or prosecco. Sparkling white wines are adaptable and go well with high-fat recipes. This combination, also known as the holy trinity of seafood, goes well with a dry sauvignon blanc or riesling. Because riesling is sweeter, it complements the savory and ocean flavors of shellfish, such as our Chilli Mussels from our lunch menu.
– Poultry is the simplest of all white wine pairings. The same wines that go well with shellfish also go well with poultry. Trimbach Riesling with roasted turkey or chicken is not the first white wine pairing that comes to mind, but it is delicious!
– Fish – When grilling, frying, sautéed, or baking fish, use white wine! Remember that white wine-food pairing is all about personal preference, so don’t be afraid to try a variety of wines ranging from dry to sweet and everything in between.
– Salads and appetizers – The lighter the dish, the lighter the wine and salads and appetizers are ideal for white wine. Any white wine you want will go well with lighter dishes.
– Cheese and wine can be enjoyed at any time! Milder cheeses complement white wines well, while stronger and more robust cheeses complement red wines.
– Potato chips – Yes, you read that right! Potato chips are delicious with champagne or a dry sparkling white wine. The high acidity of sparkling wine combined with the saltiness of chips is a match made in foodie heaven!
In addition, our blog All about white wine article will go into detail on how to pair food with each of white wine.
Red Wine
What better way to bring out the flavors of a delicious red wine than through the food we eat? If you want to try pairing your food with red wine but aren’t sure where to begin, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the seven best foods to pair with red wine.
– Red meat – Pair a medium to full-bodied red wine, such as a Cabernet, with a hearty dinner dish, such as roast beef or lamb. The meat’s bold flavors will complement the complex flavor profile of red wine.
– Cheese – Always a good match for almost any wine, including a variety of reds. While white wines may pair better with milder cheeses, pair your red wine with a strong, heavier, bolder cheese.
– Chocolate – Try pairing a tasty box of chocolate with a delicious red wine. Although some chocolates and desserts can overpower subtle wine flavors, a bold red can actually pair well with intense chocolate desserts.
– Mushroom – Many people enjoy red wines, such as Pinot Noir, with dishes that have a more earthy depth. For example, make some rich portobello mushrooms stuffed with spinach to add an earthy, woodsy flavor to the wine’s flavor profile.
– Pork, Poutry – Choose a red wine with a versatile, medium-bodied texture and soft tannins for lean meats like pork, duck, or even dark-meat chicken. This allows them to pair better with low-fat foods. Choose the pork to pair with your red wine if you want a meal with a healthier meat option.
– Pizza – Finally, what goes better with red wine than pizza? There’s a reason why Italians adore their wine and pizza! However, the tomato and garlic on pizza can sometimes leave the wine tasting metallic, so pair it with a hearty and slightly acidic wine.
To get the ideas to pair well food and red wine, you can find the details at All about Red Wine.
Sparkling Wine
Sparkling wine is frequently associated with special occasions. Sparkling wines, on the other hand, go well with a wide range of foods. Particularly salty and fried foods. This is due to the carbonation in sparkling wine, which cuts through the saltiness and perfectly balances the meal. Sparkling wine also complements roasted vegetables and fish.
Food Flavor Profiles
Another popular method for matching wine and food is to categorize them into one of six food flavor profiles. Salt, acid, fat, bitter, sweet, and spicy are all examples. Each flavor is broken down below, along with the important factors to consider when pairing it with wine.
– Salt: Commonly found in a variety of foods, including fried foods, pasta sauce, and potatoes. Salty foods can have a significant impact on the flavor profile of a wine. As a result, the best wines to pair with salty foods are sparkling wines and acidic wines. Acidic wines make excellent complementary pairings and can help to balance the flavors in a dish.
– Acid: Acidity is common in both food and wine, allowing for complementary and congruent pairings. Both wine and food can benefit from acidity. When pairing wines, the acidity of the wine should be at least equal to the acidity of the food, or the wine will taste bland. As a general rule, your wine should be more acidic than your food. Salad dressings are very acidic, so when pairing salads, it is important to base the pairing on the dressing rather than the salad contents. Sauvignon Blanc is an excellent match for acidic dressings.
– Fat: One of the few flavor profiles that cannot be found in wine is fat. As a result, the key to pairing fatty foods with wine is to make complementary pairings. Tannins are an important component of wine that pairs well with fatty foods. The bitterness produced by tannins in wine can soften the fat within meat and enhance the flavors. A cabernet-based wine is an excellent choice. This is because the wine’s fruit and berry flavors will complement the smoky flavors in the meat.
– Bitter: There is one important rule to remember when it comes to bitter food and bitter wine. Pairing bitter foods with bitter wine is an example of a congruent pairing. Pairing with bitter elements will only increase the bitterness in both the food and the wine, creating an unpleasant pairing experience. Try more complementary pairings, such as acidic wines, off-dry Riesling, and Zinfandels.
– Sweet: When pairing wine with desserts and other sweet foods, the level of sweetness is critical to consider. The wine must be sweeter than the dessert, or else it will be overwhelmed and lose its flavor. Sweet food can also increase the bitterness of wine, making it taste unpleasant to most people. As a result, avoid pairing sweet foods with tannin-rich wines.
– Spice: Spicy foods are complex, but they allow for complementary as well as congruent pairings. The ability of spicy food to increase the taste of bitterness and acidity while decreasing the body and sweetness of a wine is one of the most important factors to consider. With a hint of sweetness and great fruit flavors, Riesling is an excellent complement.
Overall, food and wine pairings can be as simple or as complex as you want. The most important thing to remember is to have fun and drink what you enjoy!
