The Wine Fact Center

Pairing wine and food is what we’ll be looking at in this part of our wine 101 guide…

The taste of a wine can improve or worsen depending on the food that you drink it with. There are only a few combinations which really do not work, however, by learning a little you can bring the best out of both the wine and the food.

When pairing food and wine, you can take one of two approaches: pair a wine with a contrasting food taste, like combining a sweeter wine with spicy foods; or use a complementary combination, in which the food and wines share similar characteristics. Either works equally well, but which to apply varies on the type of food being served.Regional combinations are worth paying attention to as food originating from a particular region or country will often pair well with the local wines, as they have both evolved to complement one another. The foods that are hardest to combine with wines are egg dishes, acidic foods, and hot and spicy selections. {There are no specific rules or recommendations for these, and it’s really a case of hit and miss.} When it comes to such foods, personal experimentation is the only way to find a good wine match.

Here are some examples of wine and food pairings: pair light seafood with light wines, like Sauvignon Blanc or White Port; beef requires heavier red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Burgundy; poultry is usually served with whites unless it has a heavy sauce, in which case lighter reds are perfect; for lamb, try medium-bodied reds like Bordeaux.{However, though these are said to be classic pairings, that doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily like all of them.} Remember that everyones tastes are different, and what other people like may not be appealing to you. It’s important to also remember that some people only drink one kind of wine, no matter what food is being served. Therefore, you should always have different types of wine at hand when you’re entertaining others. You can recommend a certain variety, but the final decision about what they drink should be up to your guests.