Top 5 tips for pairing food with wine

Pairing a wine with a particular food is quite a skill, but once your palate develops, all you need is practice, the task will be easier. Food pairing tips from the experts are a great place to start and familiarize yourself with wine tasting terminology. An accurate description of a wine will make it much easier to pair it with a meal.

  1. Try to match the wine to the dominant flavor of the dish to find a good balance between the two. Here are some combination suggestions:
    • Foods with a naturally higher acid content, including many fruits and cheeses, often pair well with younger wines that have higher acidity, such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or Zinfandel. These wines will also complement foods such as fish, chicken or salads, which are usually flavored with lemon or vinegar.
    • Heavily seasoned dishes flavored with salt or spices will pair well with low-alcohol, fruity wines such as Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, a dry rosé, or Pinot Noir rather than anything highly tannic.
    • Delicately cooked and flavored foods, such as steamed, smoked or poached dishes, will require a delicate blend. Again, try Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, or Gewürztraminer.
    • Rich and hearty dishes call for fuller-bodied wines such as Merlot, Syrah/Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel or Chardonnay.
    • Sweeter savory dishes, such as honey-roasted ham or pork with a syrup glaze, will suit a semi-sweet or semi-dry wine style like Riesling or Chenin Blanc.
    • Desserts and puddings will only pair successfully with well-rounded sweet or dessert wines. The wine should taste sweeter than the dish it hopes to complement. Serving anything else leaves the wine in danger of tasting sour, try Muscat, Vespaiola, Frontignac or a Port.
  2. Experiment with food and wine pairings.
    • Opposites often attract, so you can choose sweet wines to complement savory cheeses and spicy Asian food.
    • Know your geography and you’ll be able to match food and wine by place of origin, as regional pairings, which have naturally developed together, are often well suited.
    • Important! When drinking very fine wine, remember to serve it alone with neutral dishes that are lightly spiced. You don’t want to overpower the delicacy of the wine.

  3. If you find that your food and wine pairing is not perfect, adjust the flavor of your food. With careful use of the right seasoning or cooking method, an unsuitable dish can be cleverly altered to better suit the wine, if you find it feels too dry or too bitter.
    • Lemon juice or vinegar will enhance the flavor of a dish and make it more compatible with an acidic wine. The wine, in turn, will taste richer and smoother.
    • The salt will suppress unwanted bitterness in the wine. It will also make sweet wines taste sweeter.
    • Fresh pepper: Grind over a raw steak to add texture and juiciness and make a highly tannic wine taste less tannic.
    • Undercooked meat will add texture and juices to the meal and can often make up for mediocre wine.
    • Sweetness in a dish will increase awareness of the bitterness in the wine, making it appear stronger and drier.
  4. Use a ‘forkful’ to cook! Wine can be an exceptional ingredient for marinades and sauces, but if you do decide to add wine to food preparation, make sure it is of good quality; don’t take shortcuts just because you’re cooking with it. Try to use the same variety of wine that you will serve with the dish and, if possible, the same wine.
  5. For formal dinners, follow etiquette and serve:
    • Lighter wines before full-bodied wines.
    • Dryer wines before sweeter (unless there is a particularly sweet early dish).
    • Low-alcohol content wines before high-alcohol content wines.

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