I love wine. You love wine. I also love food, and I would venture a guess to say It’s why you’ve downloaded this handy little help guide on food-wine-pairing. No dinner table is complete without a bottle of wine, and 80% of the time, neither the food nor the drink need to be fanciful.
What wine pairs well with burgers? What about pizza? Can you have Champagne with dessert?
In order to get on the same page and explain to you what makes certain wines great with certain things, let’s first get some “wine basics” out of the way.
Terminology
If you’ve ever read a wine review, you’ve seen writers use words like soft, light, full, dry, sweet, and tannic. What do we mean by those? These words are used to describe the structure of the wine; all of the elements put together give us an idea of the wine as a whole. Let’s break those elements down a bit
Body: Light, medium, and full: Body refers to the way the wine feels in your mouth. on a science level, it has a lot to do with the alcohol content (more alcohol, heavier mouthfeel) and sugar levels (sweeter wines are more viscous). wrap your head around it by drinking some different milk: light bodied = skim medium = whole full = heavy cream
Acidity: Crisp or soft: just like the acid from lemons compared to oranges, the amount of acid in wine is what gives a wine its brightness on the palate. High acid wines can be called lifted, crispy, zesty, bright or lively. lower acid wines are soft or smooth. mostly, acid is a product of grape variety (sauvignon blanc and pinot noir generally have higher levels of acid) but levels can be affected by where the grapes are grown.
Sweetness: Dry, off-dry, off-sweet, sweet: people can get easily confused with sweetness, because a lot of people assume it is such an easy thing to judge. sugar content in a wine is a product of residual sugar (the sugar left in the wine after fermentation; usually called r.s.) dry wines are fermented until all of the r.s. has been consumed by the yeast. off-dry and off-sweet have some amount of r.s., but are usually balanced with acidity. sweet wines have lots of r.s., are low in alcohol, and are viscous and lush.
tannin: low, medium, high -AND- silky, soft, firm, coarse: tannin can be another tough idea to wrap your head around. first, what is it? go grab a cup of hot water and three tea bags. let the tea steep for 10 minutes then take a sip. Feels like your mouth was just wrapped in saran wrap, right? that’s a high tannin content. In wine, tannin is a chemical compound which resides in the skins, seeds, and stems of the grape. Tannins act as a preservative, allowing a wine to age. the reason we have low to high -and- soft to coarse levels for tannins is because we don’t taste them we feel them.
Wine names: a chablis by any other name is still chardonnay
Wine labels can be confusing, and depending on where the wine is from, it can give you a lot or very little information. The important thing to be looking for is grape and location. Wines from the new world (that is, wines from outside of Europe) are almost always name after their variety; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc… Wines from the old world on the other hand are usually labeled by their location; Bordeaux, Chablis, Rioja, Barolo…
Why is this? Well, winemakers in Europe have been working for hundreds of years to determine that best spots to grow particular grapes. They got so caught up with it, that when they found good soil for certain grapes, they made laws declaring they were the only grapes allowed to be grown there. Then they expanded those laws to include all sorts of things like crop yields, bottle shapes, harvest dates, release dates, alcohol content… the list goes on and on.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet on how to remember what grapes are from some big areas in Europe:
Grape=Place
Chardonnay=Burgundy in France (including Chablis, Montrachet, etc)
Pinot Noir=Burgundy in France (including Chambertin, Montrachet, etc)
Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot=Bordeaux in France
Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon=Bordeaux in France
Sauvignon Blanc=Loire Valley in France (including Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, etc)
Syrah=Northern Rhône Valley in France
Syrah & Grenache Noir=Southern Rhône Valley in France (including Chateauneuf du Pape)
Sangiovese=Wines from Tuscany in Italy (especially Chianti)
Nebbiolo=Wines from Northern Italy (including Barolo and Barbaresco)
Tempranillo=Wines from Spain (including Rioja, Duero, and Toro)
Getting to know your own style
Have you ever considered what style of wine you like? Notice that I didn’t ask what kinds of wine you liked, but styles. All to often I hear people say, “I hate Chardonnay, but I love Sauvignon Blanc.” Okay, but have you tried a light, crisp Chablis (which is 100% chardonnay), or a round rich Pouilly Fumé? Understanding that your tastes rely more heavily on stylistic choices rather than flavors will vastly expand your wines you are prone to enjoy.
Here are some good questions to ask yourself about style:
Which do you drink?
Whole Milk- Go for whole bodied Chardonnay or
Skim Milk- Go for a lighter style, like Chablis
Which juice appeals to you?
Grapefruit Juice- you like higher acid wines. Try Sauvignon Blanc or dry Riesling or
Orange Juice- You prefer sweeter or lighter flavors. Try Chardonnay or Viognier.
Which would you rather put on your steak?
Cracked Black Pepper- go for a spicy red like Northern Rhône Syrah or
Béarnaise- you would prefer something more lush and smooth, like a California Merlot.
Which sounds more appealing to you?
Black Truffles- you like more savory, umami flavors. Try old world Pinot Noir or
Blackberries- You love fruit. Go for new world reds like Shiraz or Zinfandel.
Pairing basics
Like Flavors with Like Flavors
This idea is very straightforward. Using a lemon and garlic sauce like scampi in your dish?
Try a wine with notes of lemon rind and lime zest. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or California Chardonnay both would work well here.
Pair like textures
I’ve always found that people have a harder time wrapping their mind around this idea. To give it some context, it’s important to go back to the idea of body. Food and wine can both be described in light, medium, and full body. Lobster and Chardonnay are the classic comparison here, as they are both medium bodied. A heavy beef Bolognese works fantastic with Barolo, as they are both weighty.
Pair Similar Sweetness Levels
This idea can bite you in the butt if you aren’t careful. For instance, chicken or pork with a roasted apple glaze works well with an off-dry Riesling (try something from the Finger Lakes in New York State, they are producing some amazing stuff!), and pineapple upside-down cake pairs well with late harvest dessert wines. Going overboard with sweetness—like milk chocolate paired with ice wine—can overwhelm the palate. To avoid this, always balance out overly sweet dishes with some amount of acid, like a Sauternes.
Pair Salty foods with crisp wines
There is no pairing like Dom Perignon and Beluga Caviar…. At least that’s what I’m told, I’ve never had the privilege. However, the pairing makes perfect sense. The crispness of the dry Dom Perignon cuts the saltiness of the caviar perfectly. For a pairing that is a bit more down to earth, I love pairing pepperoni pizza with Torrentes.
Spicy foods require sweeter wines
Spicy foods and I don’t get along. I once dunked a French Fry in sriracha thinking it was ketchup, and if a gallon of milk wasn’t at hand, I would have reached for a glass of Gewürztraminer. The light sweetness of the aromatic gem from Alsace (and Germany, Austria, Hungary, and some areas of the new world are even doing it well) cuts spicy foods really well. If you ever see me out at a Thai restaurant, don’t be surprised to see me eating bread and sipping Gewürztraminer…
Tannic wines need fatty meats
A young California Cabernet can make your mouth feel like it has been wrapped in plastic wrap. A good way to balance out this affect (other than holding onto the bottle for five years or more) is by pairing it with fatty foods. A well marbled steak or prime rib works fantastically with Cabernet from Atlas Peak or Cabernet Franc from Chinon.
Final advice: don’t overthink it!
All to often, people worry and fret over a wine list because they don’t want to order the wrong wine and ruin both the dish and the vino. First off, ask for help—a server or sommelier should be more than able to recommend the best wines for any given dish on their menu. If you’re cooking at home, follow the acronym I must constantly remind myself of… K.I.S.S; Keep It Simple Somm!
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