Pair This with What?

• Posted on 18 July 2024
• Posted in Austria, france, Germany, Oregon, pinot noir, Riesling, Syrah, Washington
• 0

Hosting a dinner party or social gathering with food and wine can be daunting if you have not done it before. Depending on what is being paired, it is important to consider the components of both—what foods are being served, and what beverages you wish to pair or highlight. The other part to consider is which do you want to showcase, the beverage (in this case, wine) or the food(s). To add more to your decision making, you could also opt to do both, along the course of your agenda, with some pairings to highlight the wine, some showcasing the food and others highlighting the way each compliments each other.

There are some foods that are just meant for each other. Blue cheese and Sauterne, Salmon and Pinot Noir, or Chinese and Riesling, just to name a few. On the flip side, there are some foods that are just not as friendly with many wines, like artichokes, asparagus, vinegar-based dressing, or anything with a considerable amount of heat. Important things to consider are: Is the food salty, acidic, fatty, or sweet? If the desire is to highlight the wine, then choose the wines first then the foods. If the food is meant to be the highlight, then choose the food first, wine second. 

Salty foods make wine pairing easy. Salt in food is wine's best friend, enhancing the wine to taste fuller, fruitier, and more flavorful overall. Acidic food needs to be matched with wines with equal, or close-to-equal acidity. Acidic foods will make wine seem fruitier and fuller; however, if the food is more acidic than the wine, the wine will seem flat. Fatty foods call for high-acid wine styles. Wine's natural acidity cuts through fat, creaminess and grease, creating a pleasing, palate-cleansing effect. Spicy foods need low-alcohol wines, with a bit of sweetness to tame the heat. The spiciness in food will be emphasized by the alcohol, and will cause the wine to taste overly alcoholic or bitter. Sweet foods pair best with sweet wines. Choose a wine that is as sweet or sweeter than the dish. If your dessert is sweeter than the wine you're drinking, it will diminish the wine's fruit flavors, eliminating the flavor and dumbing it down, and the wine could seem bitter compared to the dish. Foods with a lot of flavors need a wine that matches their flavor intensity.  Flavor-rich foods need a wine with rich, prominent flavors over lighter wine styles, and vice versa.

The options are to either complement or contrast. You may choose to match the flavors in your dish to the flavors in your wine. For example, complement the peppery notes in a Washington Syrah by using a peppery dry rub on your steak. This will create a harmonious sensory experience. By contrasting flavors in your wine and dish, you can emphasize or deemphasize one or the other. For example, contrast a spicy Thai dish with a sweet and fruity Riesling. The sweetness and the acidity in Riesling will tone down the spice and allow other flavors to shine. Something with vast bold flavors like a beef stew or beef Bourgogne needs a wine with both acids to cut through the fat, as well as be full of bold flavors to contrast, like a Barolo or Rhone Red blend.

Pairing wine and food does not have to be a daunting task. Instead, follow these guidelines and have some fun with it. Think outside the box; try a red wine with fish or chicken, or try pairing a sparkling wine to a salad. Using the components mentioned will make it easier to manipulate the outcome. Before the big event, do a trial run. The “homework” is the most fun! Gather foods with the same components as the foods you intend to serve, and gather a few wines, following the suggested guidelines, and do comparisons. If you are having something fatty and fried, use potato chips, if you are serving something peppery, get something like peppered salami. You get the idea. Food and wine pairing can be fun and an adventure, it is also about trial and error, and wine homework is always worth the trials!

 “Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures.”  —Michael Broadbent