The Food & Wine Pairing Pointers
The marriage of food and wine always promises to be a memorable taste experience. Food and wine also traces a rich history across Europe’s dinner tables and has emerged as a popular culinary choice in the modern world. The pairing of food and wine has interestingly been governed by some cardinal rules though these are often broken with exciting results. So we’ve listed a few pointers rather that rigid rules than match food and wine with potentially sumptuous results.
Match The Style & Weight
To begin with, match the food and wine for style and weight so you achieve a fine balance between them. Simply put, relatively light dishes like salad and seafood work well with white wines, given their medium intensity of flavour. Heavier, meaty dishes need with their rich texture call for red wines of fuller body and tannins. Hence a shrimp salad and Sauvignon Blanc is a go as is Tandoori Chicken with an Australian Shiraz. Remember, the key is balance.
Red Wines Elevate, White Wines Contrast
Be mindful that most often, red wines absorb or amplify the dish they’re paired with or vice versa while whites wines complement the dish’s flavours. For instance, pairing lamb with an Australian Shiraz will lead to the dish’s rich sauce and fatty texture soaking in and smoothening the bitter tannins and alcohol, making the wine feel softer on the palate while an off dry German Riesling perfectly contrasts a hot, spicy sea food curry with sweetness and acidity, making both the wine and curry feel incredibly delicious.
Lead With Favourites
Try leading with your favourite wines in the pairing even if the choice might stray a bit from the rules. This is a potentially fail-safe tip because all said and done, wine and food pairing can at times be a minefield and despite the best intentions, even experts can muck up a pairing. But if you’re drinking your favourite wine and find that it’s doing nothing for the dish nor is the dish elevating the wine, well at least you’re enjoying one element. And maybe a few sips later, your senses could just will the pairing towards unlikely success. So sometimes fall back on the wines you love and you can’t go wrong.
Ingredients Are Key
Now here’s an approach that’s both fun and simple. Taste the wine, sense its characteristics like aromas, flavours and acidity level and think about which dish or cuisine it most reminds you off. Sangiovese is a really good example in this context. Italy’s most famous wine, the classic Sangiovese has visible acidity which connects well with tomatoes which incidentally are also local to Italy. Similarly, a herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa is the ideal companion for a spring salad abounding with herbs and veggies. Sometimes the hit and miss science can be as easy as pie.
