Wine and Food: Successful Matching
By Andrew Barrow
Despite some hostile reactions to , surprisingly from some quarters who I thought would be ‘well-up’ for the full gastronomic experience, I shall persevere. Today, my top six tips for successful wine and food matching.
1 - Consider the Weight
“The wine bottle?” Now, don’t get silly, talking here about the food. Light wines go with light foods and heavier wines with heavier foods. A delicate, simply cooked fish will match with a crisp, light wine. Equally a more substantial dish, say something seared or char-grilled or served in a rich sauce, would need a heavier wine.
2 - Regional Hints
Wines from a particular region often accompany the food from the same area. Think of paella served with a Spanish ros or seafood with a Muscadet. Old-world wine-producing countries — France, Italy, Spain and others — have long, long traditions of matching food and wine. It works, and while other countries’ wines may too, why worry? Most of these countries’ wines are designed to be drunk in company with food and do not work that well if drunk without.
3 - Sweet and Sweeter
Food that is sweeter than the wine will make the wine taste sharp. You need to provide a sweeter wine than the dish.
4 - Attractive Opposites
Generally the very finest of wines should be served with simpler foods while those elaborate dishes should be paired with simpler wines. It depends on which you want to show off most.
5 - Supporting characters
What else is on the plate? The accompanying vegetables or sauce could be the dominant flavour on the plate. Think of spicy salsas or a rich, herby tomato sauce. These can all have an influence on the taste of the wine. And although they may not totally affect the wine selection, they might just need a richer version — a full New World Merlot perhaps over a lighter Italian version. Seldom is pork or chicken served unadorned. The sauce should dictate the wine, there being a world of difference between a sweet-and-sour chicken dish and chicken in a light cream sauce.
6 - Wine in the Recipe
Occasionally a wine will be used in the recipe and will thus suggest itself as the appropriate drink to go with it. This could be wine, but equally it could be a beer or a cider. Thus chicken cooked in red wine would be served with the same wine, or more probably a better-quality wine than that used in the cooking. A dish that is spiked with lemon would need a citrusy white, while mushroom flavours would be emphasized with a wine such as a mature red Burgundy.
