Food and Wine Pairing Essentials

The Basics of Food Pairing

Food & Wine Pairing Essentials l Wine and Cheese Pairing Essentials

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There are two schools of thought when it comes to pairing food and wine:

• A – Make sure that the wine compliments the flavors and textures of the dish it is served with, and
• B – Drink what you like with the food that you like.

While I always tell people “drink what you like,” it is not likely that you will often experience that moment where 1 + 1 = 3, brought about by pairing the perfect wine with a dish that transforms both into something greater than the sum of the parts. To maximize your enjoyment of food-wine pairing remember that the goal is synergy and balance. The wine shouldn't overpower the food, nor should the food overpower the wine. Think of wine as if it were a condiment - it should complement the food.

Wine drunk by itself tastes different than wine with food, because wine acts on food similar to the way a spice does. Acids, tannins and sugars in the wine interact with the food to provide different taste sensations. Wine can enhance the flavor of food. A good match will bring out the nuances and enhance the flavors and unique characteristics of both the food and the wine. Memorable food and wine pairing is achieved when you find similarities and/or contrasts of flavor, body (texture), intensity, and taste. Above all don't stress over the perfect food and wine pairing. The best pairing is good food, good wine and good company. Friends and loved ones are the most important ingredients.

Lets begin with some rules-of-thumb to use as guidelines, and then follow that with a discussion of why certain flavors are found, or are more dominant, in certain wines.

Food Pairing Rules of Thumb

Rules-of-thumb for food and wine pairing...

1. If you are taking wine as a gift to a dinner party, don't worry about matching the wine to the food unless you have been requested to do so and have enough information about what is being served to make an informed choice. Just bring a good wine. Match quality of food and wine. A grand dinner party with multiple courses of elaborately prepared dishes deserves a better wine than hamburgers on the grill with chips in a bag.
2. When you're serving more than one wine at a meal, it's customary to serve lighter wines before full-bodied ones. Dry wines should be served before sweet wines unless a sweet flavored dish is served early in the meal. In that case match the sweet dish with a similarly sweet wine. Lower alcohol wines should be served before higher alcohol wines.
3. Balance flavor intensity. Pair light-bodied wines with lighter food and fuller-bodied wines with heartier, more flavorful, richer and fattier dishes.
4. Consider how the food is prepared. Delicately flavored foods — poached or steamed — pair best with delicate wines. It's easier to pair wines with more flavorfully prepared food — braised, grilled, roasted or sautéed. Pair the wine with the sauce, seasoning or dominant flavor of the dish.
5. Match flavors. An earthy Pinot Noir goes well with mushroom soup and the grapefruit/citrus taste of Sauvignon Blanc goes with fish for the same reasons that lemon does.
6. Balance sweetness. But, beware of pairing a wine with food that is sweeter than the wine. This is particularly true of chocolate and red wine. I know lots of my customers love to nibble on dark chocolate while sipping hearty red wine. For me this is not a combination that works because the chocolate makes the wine seem more bitter and astringent than it is without the chocolate. I think this combination is more driven by a love for chocolate than a sense of balance!
7. Consider pairing opposites. Very hot or spicy foods — some Thai dishes, or hot curries for example — often work best with sweet desert wines. Opposing flavors can play off each other, creating new flavor sensations and cleansing the palate.
8. Match by geographic location. Regional foods and wines, having developed together over time, often have a natural affinity for each other.
9. Pair wine and cheese. In some European countries the best wine is reserved for the cheese course. Red wines go well with mild to sharp cheese. Pungent and intensely flavored cheese is better with a sweeter wine. Goat Cheeses pair well with dry white wine, while milder cheeses pair best with fruiter red wine. Soft cheese like Camembert and Brie, if not over ripe, pair well with just about any red wine including Cabernet, Zinfandel and Red Burgundy (aka Pinot Noir).
10. Adjust food flavor to better pair with the wine. Sweetness in a dish will increase the awareness of bitterness and astringency in wine, making it appear drier, stronger and less fruity. High amounts of acidity in food will decrease awareness of sourness in wine and making it taste richer and mellower — sweet wine will taste sweeter.

Lighter-bodied foods go best with lighter style wines while heavier flavored foods are best paired with fuller-flavored wines.  For instance, a poached white fish would go best with a lighter styled white wine such as a white Bordeaux or Albarino from Spain. Conversely, a well-marbled strip steak would be a great match with a robust red wine such as cabernet sauvignon or zinfandel.

The addition of sauces or spices to a dish can add a flavor dimension that can affect the wine you pick.  For example, sauvignon blanc is an excellent choice with poached salmon in a dill sauce, but grilled salmon that has been dusted with cumin, black pepper and chili powder needs a medium-bodied red such as pinot noir.

Textures also play a role in determining the best matches and this is where “contrasting” comes into play. Say you have a rich, fatty piece of beef, the ideal wine is probably a young tannic red, not only from a complimentary flavor standpoint, but also because the astringency of the tannin in the wine provides a contrast and serves to cleanse the palate.

To be successful in finding that perfect match, you need to consider flavor, texture and weight of the food and wine pairing. You wouldn’t logically pair a full-flavored red wine with a delicate broiled seafood dish such as Dover sole. Think about it. The flavors, textures and weight are all out of balance. Try a delicate Chablis, an Italian pinot grigio or a Washington State semillon.   

When it comes to matching food and wine the possibilities are, of course, endless but the good news is that there are no right or wrong answers. Sure, some combinations will be better than others, but you'll discover what these are through experimentation with your favorite foods and wines. So, out with the rule book and in with the freedom to improvise and have fun. Remember, too, that it's not just what you're cooking that matters but how you're cooking it.

Here’s a table with some suggested pairings:

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