Pairing Food and Wine
Matching Food and Wine - Top Strategies
Matching food and wine is something of an art. However, even the novice can follow
a few guidelines that will definitely improve their ability to appropriately
pair a wine with a meal.
- One guideline to live by in pairing food
and wine: Light
foods go with light wines. Heavy foods go with heavy wines. Delicate
meals need a light wine. Heavier meals need a bigger wine.
- Example: Filet of Sole goes nicely with a Sauvignon Blanc,
not a Zinfandel. The Zin in most cases would overpower the fish.
- Example: A pesto pizza with prosciutto and cheese goes nicely
with a Zinfandel, not a Sauvignon Blanc. The pizza would overpower
the Sauvignon Blanc.
Here
is a list to get you started. See the Varietal
Chart for information on the weight of the various varietals.
- Sauvignon Blanc – white or light fish, mild cheese, fruit
- Chardonnay – grilled
chicken, salmon, shellfish, and grilled fish, anything with a
cream sauce.
- Pinot Noir – light meats, chicken, grilled
anything, salmon.
- Merlot – pasta, red meat, duck, smoked
or grilled foods
- Zinfandel – tomato pasta dishes, pizza,
pesto, red meats, chicken with heavy sauces
- Cabernet Sauvignon – red
meats, especially a juicy barbequed steak, grilled and smoked
foods.
- Syrah – red meats, spicy pizzas, herbed sauces on
red meat, turkey
- Dry
Rosé - salads, pasta salads, bbq chicken or fish, light spicy foods
Our featured recipe for the month of December is penne with tomatoes,
fennel sausage, and cream by cooking teacher and chef Joanne Weir.
What wine would you pair with this meal? Take
the Poll.
Another guideline to
live by:
If you like your
everyday red or white wine, don’t
worry about trying to match the food you are eating with that
particular wine. What matters most is that you like how your
wine tastes. Not every meal requires the perfect match with
a wine.
Important Tip: Always use a good wine
glass. It’s a common
practice to bring out your finest crystal for a delicious dinner
on a special occasion. These may or may not be the correct glasses
for bringing out the best in wine. A good wine glass is an
essential part of matching food and wine. Choose
the right wine glass.
Practice Matching Food and Wine
Experiment with two or more wines
Cook up a great entrée and open a couple of bottles or more
of wine that follow the rules above. Taste each wine without the
food. Taste the food without the wine. Taste one wine and then the
food. Taste the other wine, then the food. Does one wine match better
with the food? This is really fun to do with friends and discuss
what each likes.
Plan a meal around a special bottle of wine
You have a special bottle of wine you want to open. Plan your
meal around the wine. If is a Cabernet, barbeque a steak with
buttery sauce. If it is a Syrah, cook up a pepper steak. If it
is a Chardonnay, think about shellfish or a heavy cream sauce
on a chicken. This is a reverse strategy that might help you
think about matching your wine with the appropriate foods.
Go to Restaurant that has a food and wine pairing menu
Many restaurants now offer food and wine pairing meals. They
are a delight and a good way to start to learn about pairing
food with wine. You pay a set price and receive three or four
different servings, each paired with a different wine. We have
done this several times and we find it is fun and very educational.
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