Wine Pairing Demystified

Who doesn’t love a good meal? It doesn’t matter if it’s at home or at a restaurant. Add a nice glass of wine, and you could have a home run meal. That’s usually when the fun hits a bump in the road. Choosing what wine to buy can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be. Before your heart starts beating rapidly at the thought of wine pairing, a complementary/contrasting is one approach you can consider.

Complementary Pairing:

Complementary pairing is when you try to match a flavor, a texture, or richness. That is why you always hear white wine with fish. Lighter bodied wines go well with light dishes. A medium bodied wine goes well with fuller flavored dishes. Full bodied wine goes well with heavy, intense dishes. An example, Gooseneck Pinot Grigio goes well with seared scallops. Our new Rioja Crianza would go perfectly with beef short ribs.

Contrary Pairing:

Contrary pairing refers to flavors or textures in a wine that aren’t necessarily in a dish. This requires more thinking and consideration of the texture of the food and of the wine. For example, if you are making Nadia’s Pollo con Funghi, you might pair it with a chardonnay that has a bright acidity to cut through the richness, leaving a clean palate.

Other Things to Note:

Wine flavors are derived from specific components like sugar, acid, alcohol, fruit, tannin. Food also has flavor components like fat, acid, salt, and sugar.

Wine texture is how the wine feels in your mouth when you take a sip. Most often, it’s the feeling you get from the acidity or the tannins of the wine.

Here is a great summary of wine styles: http://winefolly.com/tutorial/the-9-major-wine-styles/

As a general rule of thumb, when pairing wine with food, choose the wine and the food that you like. You will never go wrong.