Pairing wine with food can be tricky, but there are some easy basics that you can keep in mind in order to make wine and food pairings easier! Once you get the hang of pairing your wine with the right food, it will make it easy to throw meals together without worrying about flavours clashing!
Your Preferences Matter!
Wine is made to be matched with food. Drinking wine on its own can be great, just like eating food without wine can be great as well, but the two can be amazing together! There are also no super strict rules with wine and food pairings, because everybody’s taste preferences are different. Therefore, if you think something tastes great just go with it!
The Most Basic Rule
The easiest rule for wine pairing is that generally speaking white foods will go with white wines, while red foods go with red wines. For example, fish should be paired with a white wine, while red meat should be paired with red wine.
Acidity
Make sure that your wine has a higher acidity level than the food you are matching it with. This is a good rule to keep in mind, because if your wine has a lower acidity level than your food it won’t stand out against your meal.
Bitter with Bitter isn’t Better
One easy and quick rule to remember is that pairing a bitter or high tannic wine with a bitter food will accentuate the bitterness. This is why red wines pair so well with fatty meat dishes like steak. Salty dishes will also cut the bitterness of the wine.
When in Doubt
When in doubt pair your wine with the sauce. This is a great rule with saucy dishes like saucy pastas. If your meal has a meat sauce pair your dish with a more tannic wine. If your sauce is a very creamy white sauce pair your dish with a wine that has some acidity. White wines with high acid tend to go nicely with white cream sauces.
Dessert
Dessert can be tricky! Mainly because sweet dessert wines can sometimes be a little overwhelming if you pair them with a very sweet dessert. Therefore, just make sure to tread carefully, so that you don’t overdo it!
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