Wine Food Pairing is an Adventure, not Rocket Science!
Denise Clarke
November 16, 2007
Wine Food Pairing is an adventure and not an exact science. It is always important that you do not take yourself too seriously, but to experiment and enjoy the wonderful tastes and textures of wines that are available to us today!
I have enjoyed wine food pairing since I was a youngster up in the Pacific Northwest where my parents made wine from the berries that we picked in the summer. They teamed up with a neighbor, recently transplanted from Austria, and came up with some delightful combinations of flavors!
With any wine food pairing, personal taste comes into play. Everyone has different body chemistry. This plays a big role in what tastes good to us. In addition, flavors that we grow up loving enter into the combination. When we grow up loving a wine, our palate makes exceptions to the normal rule of wine food pairing. I simply MUST drink inexpensive Chianti while eating pepperoni pizza! All of my friends at the table enjoy a cold pitcher of beer, but old habits die hard for me! The entire meal tastes even better if the table has a lighted candle placed in an old wine bottle, you get the picture?
Even though sometimes I use my heart instead of my head in wine food pairing, I do have some general guidelines that I follow when I entertain:
If I start with an appetizer of crudites I might them pair with a Chardonnay or a Beaujolais
I usually pair red meat with a wine that has a stronger taste and a lot of tannins, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dishes rich in fat content I pair with a wine with a higher acidity level.
Food rich in protein will work well with tannic wines. They combine well and decrease the tannin taste. If you were to drink this same wine with a seafood dish you might notice a strong metallic taste or bitterness with salty food.
For desserts, I tend to go with a sweeter wine. Hot chocolate souffle with a California Cabernet Sauvignon is simply to die for, YUM! Ice Wine is something that I enjoy with most cakes or pies.
My European friends really taught me the delightful taste of cheese as a dessert and of course paired with right wine it is even better!
Cheese plates really run the gamut depending on the flavor and texture of the cheese being offered. I serve Champagne with a Brie or Camembert, but on the other hand I might go with a Cabernet Sauvignon if I serve the Camembert with a Sharp Cheddar and a stinky Blue.
The bottom line in any wine food pairing is that not everyone will enjoy your exact tastes, but that does not mean that you should not go forward. Never let anxiety rule your pairing choices. Wine is an adventure and a challenge that should be embraced. So go out there and experiment and enjoy the ride! CHEERS!
I have enjoyed wine food pairing since I was a youngster up in the Pacific Northwest where my parents made wine from the berries that we picked in the summer. They teamed up with a neighbor, recently transplanted from Austria, and came up with some delightful combinations of flavors!
With any wine food pairing, personal taste comes into play. Everyone has different body chemistry. This plays a big role in what tastes good to us. In addition, flavors that we grow up loving enter into the combination. When we grow up loving a wine, our palate makes exceptions to the normal rule of wine food pairing. I simply MUST drink inexpensive Chianti while eating pepperoni pizza! All of my friends at the table enjoy a cold pitcher of beer, but old habits die hard for me! The entire meal tastes even better if the table has a lighted candle placed in an old wine bottle, you get the picture?
Even though sometimes I use my heart instead of my head in wine food pairing, I do have some general guidelines that I follow when I entertain:
If I start with an appetizer of crudites I might them pair with a Chardonnay or a Beaujolais
I usually pair red meat with a wine that has a stronger taste and a lot of tannins, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dishes rich in fat content I pair with a wine with a higher acidity level.
Food rich in protein will work well with tannic wines. They combine well and decrease the tannin taste. If you were to drink this same wine with a seafood dish you might notice a strong metallic taste or bitterness with salty food.
For desserts, I tend to go with a sweeter wine. Hot chocolate souffle with a California Cabernet Sauvignon is simply to die for, YUM! Ice Wine is something that I enjoy with most cakes or pies.
My European friends really taught me the delightful taste of cheese as a dessert and of course paired with right wine it is even better!
Cheese plates really run the gamut depending on the flavor and texture of the cheese being offered. I serve Champagne with a Brie or Camembert, but on the other hand I might go with a Cabernet Sauvignon if I serve the Camembert with a Sharp Cheddar and a stinky Blue.
The bottom line in any wine food pairing is that not everyone will enjoy your exact tastes, but that does not mean that you should not go forward. Never let anxiety rule your pairing choices. Wine is an adventure and a challenge that should be embraced. So go out there and experiment and enjoy the ride! CHEERS!