Learn How to Pair Wine With Food

When pairing wine with food, the rules used to be simple: red with meat, white with fish and poultry. But with the limitless options of wine, as well as modern cuisine's complex flavors and exotic ingredients, pairing wine with food is now about experimentation.

The first rule to pairing wine with a meal is to...throw out the rules. Pick a combination that you enjoy. Still, traditionalists won't want to arbitrarily choose a bottle. There are some basic guidelines that will help you select an appropriate wine for your meal.

When pairing a wine with a meal, the goal is balance. A wine's flavor should complement the food being served. If you're planning a formal gathering, it's common to pair one type of wine with the salad and appetizer, and another for the entrée. But for casual, simple meals, stick to matching the wine to the entrée. Avoid a wine that will overpower your dish. Foods with subtle flavors such as red snapper are not a good match for a strong red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon. Likewise, a wine shouldn't be dominated by your main dish. A good way to determine whether a food and wine are complementary is to take a bite of the food you'll be serving, take a sip of the wine, and repeat. Ask yourself what stood out to you more - the food or the wine? If you have trouble deciding, but thought it was a delicious experiment, you may have found a good match.

You also want to find a healthy balance. There are four main components to taste: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Wine shouldn't be salty, so that leaves sweetness, sourness and bitterness. A wine's sweetness is affected by its sugar content. Sourness is affected by a wine's acidity, and bitterness is measured by its amount of "tannins." A good wine possesses a structured balance of these three flavors, and can almost magically evoke the flavor of an array of foods from a spicy pepper to a sweet chocolate. Wines may offer a description of their flavors on the label but, more often than not, you'll have to taste the wine to discover its taste. Whether it be sweet, sour, or bitter, if you determine the fundamental flavor of a dish, and match the wine to that flavor, you'll be in good shape.

Be selective when choosing wines to accompany sweet dishes. Avoid serving dry, acidic or bitter wines with sweet dishes. If you're serving a sweet dish like honey-glazed ham, select a sweet wine, such as a Riesling. Sour or acidic foods with lemon or tomatoes command a more acidic wine. Try a Pinot Noir, Chianti or Sauvignon Blanc. Bitter dishes, grilled steak for example, demand a wine high in tannins, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is also a great choice with grilled food, despite that you may have heard to shun Merlot in the 2004 movie "Sideways." But don't be afraid to contrast flavors; spicy foods found in Asian or Mexican cuisine go well with sweeter, fruitier wines, such as a white Zinfandel.

Matching wine with food is all about trial and error. To get started, find a good wine shop with knowledgeable employees. Thanks to wine's growing popularity, a good shop might be just around the corner. Ask employees and shop owners to recommend wines that will go well with the meal you're planning to serve. If money is an issue, ask for one of the many affordable wines on the market today.

Many shops have regular wine tastings where you can try a variety of wines with food and discover what works and what doesn't. Wine tasting classes are also available in a variety of forms in many communities. Check out www.localwineevents.com to search for tastings and classes in your area. Many restaurants now offer wine pairing menus, where the restaurant's sommelier, or wine expert, will recommend a specific wine for each dish.

As you expand your wine knowledge, you'll begin to notice that the selection process becomes easier and more pleasurable. Matching wine with food can be an entertaining, educational and lifelong hobby.

Fun Sites:
Wine of the Month Club (Click Here)

Wine Enthusiast (Click Here)

Until Next time!

Jasmine

http://barworks.blogspot.com