Both food and wine have texture, in other words how they feel in the mouth. When pairing food and wine, the goal is to match the texture of the food with the texture of the wine, and when it’s done well, then BOOM you have a whole new delicious sensation!
How to Pair Food with Wine
Here are a few guidelines to get you started:
- The wine should always be sweeter than the food. Sweeter food with a less-sweet wine pairing will often tend to taste bitter and tart.
- Bitter and bitter should never mix. Our taste buds are incredibly sensitive to bitterness, meaning they will get overwhelmed easily. The more tannin (dryness, bitterness) in a wine, the more bitter it is. So, if a bitter wine is your drink of choice, look for fatty food to balance it out.
- Always pair an earthy wine with earthy food (the drying impression felt on the palate). Bitter and bitter are a no, but earthy and earthy are a go. Old World wines are notably better with food because of their very earthy and tart flavor, making them a very bold flavor selection should they stand alone. Pairing them with any food is generally good but pairing them with something even more earthy than the wine is best.
- Champion the wine. Start every wine and food pairing by determining what the best characteristics of the wine are. Then, focus the pairing on complimenting those characteristics with all food choices. 5. If a sauce is involved, match the sauce. Wine and food pairing tips are designed to match the wine to the meat, however, if there is sauce involved, pairing the wine to the sauce surpasses pairing it to the meat. The thought process behind this is that the meat has either been marinated in the sauce for a while and has taken on the flavor of the sauce. Therefore, the sauce will be what you taste the most, making it logical to pair it with the sauce first.
Here is a list of a couple of types of wine and their intensity levels.
a) Light White Pinot Grigio – Pair this with pasta and rice dishes with lots of herbs, fresh green salads and vegetables, chicken and turkey, natural fish, and seafood.
Sauvignon Blanc -Pair the wine with chicken, turkey, or pork.
b) Heavy White
Chardonnay – Best paired with fatty fish like Salmon or seafood
c) Light Red
Pinot Noir – Pair this with a mushroom dish, pork, filet mignon, and game dishes.
d) Heavy Red Cabernet Sauvignon – Best paired with a slice of juicy meat such as lamb.
Following the guidelines, you’ll be able to make great choices no matter what meal you are having. Enjoy your meal! An unspoken rule of the thumb is that white wines are perfect for lighter dishes like fish or chicken, while reds are ideal for beef and lamb dishes.
