Pairing Wines with Food
In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a staple at the dinner table and in some ways both the winemaking and culinary traditions of a region will have evolved together over the years. Rather than following a set of rules, local cuisines were paired simply with local wines.
The modern "art" of food pairings is a relatively recent phenomenon, There are no hard and fast rules for paring wine with food. In fact, you do not have to have food at all to enjoy wine. However, there are a great number of wine drinkers that do not drink wine unless they are having food and knowing what wine goes best with what food is can make an ordinary meal and extraordinary experience.
The main concept behind pairings is that certain elements (such as texture and flavor) in both food and wine react differently to each other and finding the right combination of these elements will make the entire dining experience more enjoyable. However, taste and enjoyment are very subjective and what may be a "textbook perfect" pairing for one taster could be less enjoyable to another. While there are many books, magazines and websites with detailed guidelines on how to pair food and wine, most food and wine experts believe that the most basic element of food and wine pairing is understanding the balance between the "weight" of the food and the weight (or body) of the wine. Heavy, robust wines like Cabernet Sauvignon can overwhelm a light delicate dish like a quiche while light bodied wines like Pinot Grigio would be similarly overwhelmed by a hearty beef stew.
The old rules of ‘white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat’ are now simply viewed as guidelines and are often thrown by the wayside. In fact the body of the wine, acidity and tannin in the wine are more important factors in choosing wines to match with food.
Wine grape varietals have unique and specific characteristics that are recognizable and known to go with certain types of food. Some general guidelines to follow are below but tasting is believing and once you become familiar with pairing wine with food, you will begin to experiment and know for yourself what combinations work best for you.
Weights of Wine
Below is a rough guideline of the various weights of wines. Winemaker and regional style as well as oak treatment can cause a wine to be lighter or heavier in body. For example, Pinot noir can vary from being very light to more medium bodied. Another example is the influence of regional climates. Warmer climate wine regions tend to produce wines with higher alcohol levels and thus more fuller bodied wines so that a Sauvignon Blanc from California may have a heavier weight than a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire.
Lighter White Wines
Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chablis, Champagne and Sparkling Wines, Gruner Veltliner, Vinho Verde
Medium to Heavy White Wines
Oaked Sauvignon Blanc, Alsatian wines, Albarino, White Bordeaux (Semillon), White Burgundy, Rhone whites (Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne), Tamaioasa Romaneasca and New World Chardonnay
Lighter Red Wines
Beaujolais, Dolcetto, some Pinot Noir
Medium Red Wines
Chianti, Barbera, Chinon, Rioja, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Zinfandel, some Pinot Noir
Heavier Red Wines
Syrah, Brunello di Montalcino, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port, Barbaresco and Barolo
Focus of the Pairing
While a perfect balance where both food and wine are equally enhanced is theoretically possible, typically a pairing will have a more enhancing influence on one or the other. Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein notes that food and wine pairing is like two people having a conversation "one must listen while the other speaks or the result is a muddle". This means either the food or the wine will be the dominant focus of the pairing, with the other serving as a complement to enhance the enjoyment of the first. In regards to weight and intensity, if the focus of the pairing is the wine then a more ideal balance will be a food that is slightly lighter in weight to where it will not compete for attention with the wine but not too light to where it is completely overwhelm. If the focus of the pairing is to highlight a dish then the same thought would apply in pairing a wine.
Complement and Contrast
After considering weight, pairing the flavors and texture can be dealt with using one of two main strategies — complement or contrast.
The first strategy tries to bring wine together with dishes that complement each other such as an earthy, Burgundian Pinot noir with an earthy, mushroom dish.
The second strategy operates under the truism that "opposites attract" and brings together food and wine that have contrasting traits such as a crisp, acidic Sauvignon Blanc and a fish with a creamy, lemon sauce. The crisp, acidity of the wine serves as a contrast that can cut through the creaminess of the sauce and give a different, refreshing sensation for the palate as opposed to what a complementary pairing, such as a creamy, buttery Chardonnay would bring. Another example of contrast pairing would be the racy acidity of sparkling wine and the rich texture of foie gras. For most of history, the "complementary strategy" was the prevailing thought on food and wine pairing. In the 1980s, as more people started to discover and experiment with pairings, the idea of using contrast started to gain more favor. It follows the same idea that the "salty/sweet" pairing does in cooking (such as salty peanut butter with sweet jelly).
The same food may be complemented or contrasted: a hard, nutty cheese such as Hirtenkase should have a nutty, slightly sweet wine with it, or a full bodied red wine.