Basic Wine
and Food Pairing
Wine and Food pairing is an extremely personal pastime, drawing from
the background, culture, and habits of each person sampling the wine.
Germans might think a particular wine is dry; French are likely to
find the same wine sweet. Someone brought up with spicy foods might
judge a wine differently than someone brought up with potatoes and
pasta.
In the end, it comes down to what an individual enjoys, and what combination
works best for that person.
Certainly, generalizations can be drawn about "the average person's
senses". Still, these should only be used as starting points,
where you think to yourself, "I am a human, so my mouth might
work the same was as these other billions of peoples' mouths do, in
general." When you take in consideration how different you are
as an individual, and all that has gone into your particular taste
system, you will realize how truly individual your wine and food pairing
ideas probably are.
So where to start ... how about those two sense organs
that most humans possess: the nose and tongue.
The sensation wine gives you - flavor and aroma - does not come chiefly
from your tongue. Your tongue has "zones" for each type
of flavor it can taste, so you want the wine to be able to go over
each section. The tip senses sweet, the front sides salt, the back
sides acid, and the very back bitter. Even in each section, there
are buds of different "intensities".
In comparison with this well-organized but generalizing tongue, your
nose is incredibly sensitive at picking out minute differences in
aroma. It is able to sense concentrations of some odors in the parts-per-million
quantity. Practice often with both senses, paying attention to the
flavors you are detecting in the wine, learning what combinations
you enjoy and do not enjoy. The more flavors you try in your day to
day activities, the greater the "background of taste knowledge"
you will have when you try to figure out what a particular wine tastes
like.
Pairing is not an arcane science. It is simply the decision of which
wine will bring out the best in a given food, and which food will
bring out the best in a given wine, all based on how you personally
enjoy both. Think of a comparison in the non-wine world. Few people
would eat a delicate, paper-thin pastry shell with thick beef stew,
garlic bread and baked potatoes. The pastry would simply "melt
into the background" and be overwhelmed with the other flavors.
The same holds true for wine. You don't want the food to completely
overpower the wine, so you cannot taste it at all. Conversely, you
don't want the wine to be so strong that you can't taste the meal.
Some sort of balance lies in the middle.
Do you match like with like - an appley tasting wine
along with apple pie for dessert? Or do you add some contrast, so
the spiciness in the meat stew balances against the slightly sweet
wine? Either method works, as do countless others. Part of the fun
is to experiment with different combinations, to see which strike
your own palate as truly delicious. Then, share those with others
to see which tastes they also appreciate, and which are uniquely yours.
One very typical wine-food pairing is Cheese, and many wine parties
have cheese as the main snack. Why is this? There are so many varieties
of cheeses that there is one that goes well with any type of wine
you might try.
Cheese tends to make a wine taste better, too. It "smoothes out"
the wine and brings out what is best in both. Both wine and cheese
are natural products, something created with care and aged to perfection.
In most cases a red wine goes well with hard cheese,
while white wines go well with softer cheeses, but
again this comes down to your own personal tastes and what combinations
of flavors you enjoy. To get you started, this Wine & Cheese Pairing
Chart shows which partners most people think work well.
How about for dessert? While Ice Wine goes well with
fruit pastries, chocolate is the typical "difficult to match"
dessert. To please wine lovers of all stripes, you can choose a white
riesling, cabernet, or port. Wine and Chocolate Pairings.
You'll find that some people have created "hard and fast rules"
about what always goes well with what. Learn for yourself what combinations
of tastes YOU enjoy the most. Feel free to experiment, and write down
which wines go especially well with certain foods. You'll find that
the person who knows the most about what you should have together
is yourself!
Red
Wine and Food Pairings
Wine and Food pairings is an individual choice. Every person's sense
of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him
or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good - don't worry
about what anyone else says should work. However, I understand this
is difficult when a wine drinker is just starting out. Hence, this
listing.
Remember - these are only guidelines!! You will figure out quite quickly
that your own tongue has its own idea of what goes well with what.
Trust your own judgement, and eat and drink what you enjoy!
Typically, you want to drink light-to-dark, just as when you plan
a meal you start with delicate tastes and work towards heavier tastes.
For this reason, you normally don't serve a red wine with appetizers
or opening courses in a meal. Red wines do go very nicely with heavier
foods - beef, red pasta, and so on.
White
Wine and Food Pairings
Wine and Food pairings is an individual choice. Every person's sense
of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him
or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good - don't worry
about what anyone else says should work. However, I understand this
is difficult when a wine drinker is just starting out. Hence, this
listing.
Remember - these are only guidelines!! You will figure out quite quickly
that your own tongue has its own idea of what goes well with what.
Trust your own judgement, and eat and drink what you enjoy!
Typically, you want to drink light-to-dark, just as when you plan
a meal you start with delicate tastes and work towards heavier tastes.
For this reason, you tend to serve a white wine with appetizers or
opening courses in a meal. White wines also go well with most lighter
dishes - salads, fish, poultry, and so on.
Champagne
and Food Pairings
Wine and Food pairings is an individual choice. Every person's sense
of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him
or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good - don't worry
about what anyone else says should work. However, I understand this
is difficult when a wine drinker is just starting out. Hence, this
listing.
Remember - these are only guidelines!! You will figure out quite quickly
that your own tongue has its own idea of what goes well with what.
Trust your own judgement, and eat and drink what you enjoy!
Typically, you want to drink light-to-dark, just as when you plan
a meal you start with delicate tastes and work towards heavier tastes.
For this reason, Champagne tends to go very well with appetizers or
opening courses in a meal. It also goes well with sushi and very light
meals, and of course as an after-dinner celebration!
Champagne
and Food Pairings
