Food and Wine Matching:

To find a wine on our list to match your food, try typing the food (eg lamb) into the search tool on our website.

Alternatively following the link below, and select "wine-food matching tool", for a really useful food and wine matching tool:

winesofontario.org

Rupert P’s thoughts on Food and Wine Matching

In the shop we are asked on an almost hourly basis for our opinion on a food and wine match. Normally the question is preceded by the phrase 'We are having a wedding' or 'the boss is coming to dinner', and is accompanied by a concerned look.

Our first and most honest reply is normally along the lines of ‘Don’t Panic/ Don’t be intimidated.’ Although many people feel that there are lots of centuries old rules for food and wine matching and that failure to follow them to the letter will instantly ruin any dinner party, the truth is that the vast majority of wines will go reasonably well with the vast majority of foods. If this wasn’t true, how for instance could a restaurant ever choose a house wine? Since a house wine has to pretty well match any dish on the menu.

Having said this there are a few food and wine matches that seem to have been made in heaven (Vouray demi-sec and blue cheese springs to mind), and conversely there are a number of truly disastrous ones (for instance tannic reds produce a horrible metallic taste when eaten with white fish). 

I would propose choosing the wine by following a series of steps:

1. Think guests first, food second: I try to pair people with the wines as much as the wines with the food. If you have open minded guests who would enjoy something new and unusual try something a bit more modern and funky, for instance our Indian red or an Alsace Gewürztraminer with a mild curry. If they are going to be more interested in quantity and the wine will barely touch the sides of their mouth go for a large amount of cheap and cheerful plonk and relax with them (you might even consider magnums to save you time!). Finally if you have a mixed bunch coming (for instance a wedding with a number of elderly relatives) who are likely to very traditional in their views, choose something in their ‘comfort zone’, so for instance with the curry example try a powerful style of Sancerre instead.
   
   
2. Work on the main flavour of the dish: For instance lamb with a lot of garlic would work best with a heavy Zinfandel, whereby milk lamb is sufficiently delicate it could match a light Pinot Noir.
   
   
3. If planning in advance consider the likely weather of the event. If you are choosing the wine for a June wedding in February, and there is snow on the ground outside, it is all too easy to end up choosing something that will be far too heavy on a 30 degree summer’s day.
   
   
4. Decide if you want a wine to compliment the dish or contrast it: This may sound double-dutch, but certain dishes like game go well with mature wines, like old Rhône reds that have earthy/gamey flavours of their own. Conversely oily fish goes well with a wine with a lot of acidity (like Sauvignon Blanc) as this acts as a foil to the oiliness and cuts through it nicely.
   
   
5. Experiment and don’t be held back by generalisations: A classic example of this would be the rule ‘White wine with fish, red wine with meat.’ This was fine in the days when our fish diet consisted of cod and white-fleshed fish. Now as the cod is running out, and we harvest fish from all over the world, we are tending to eat stronger flavoured grey fleshed fish like Tuna and John Dory. These grey fleshed fish are fantastic with lighter reds like New Zealand Pinot Noir. As for the meats, Jean Meyer of Josmeyer  probably sums things up when he recommends his Pinot Gris with “Anything that runs on the soil” as in his opinion Pinot Gris is simply: “A  Pinot Noir that has lost it’s colour, but has kept it’s flavour.”

Rather than just list a long line of food and wine matches (you can always use the tools at the top of the article for that anyway), I find the best way to explain food and wine matching is to think in terms of flavours. Those of you who studied ‘O’ level/ GCSE Biology will remember that the tongue can in fact only pick up 4 basic tastes, with different taste receptors being concentrated in different regions of the tongue.

Saltiness :

From taste receptors in the middle of the tongue

Sweetness :

From taste receptors on the tip of your tongue.

Acidity :

From taste receptors at the sides of the tongue

Bitterness :

From taste receptors at the back of the tongue.

Therefore consider these when making your choice:

Salt 

Salt exaggerates the tannins in red wines, so for salty dishes pick low tannin red wines like Beaujolais. Salt can also make very dry white wines seem sharp hence salty cheeses like Roquefort pair best with off-dry whites like Vouvray Demi-Sec or Sauternes.

Sweetness

As a rule of thumb, try serving a wine slightly sweeter than the food you are eating. This applies not only to puddings but to all dishes e.g. glazed pork is particularly good with the off-dry wines of Alsace, and pâtés and Foie Gras tend to be  served with a sweet wine like Sauternes even if served as a starter.

Acidity

Wines from ‘cooler’ areas tend to have more acidity (and lower alcohol). For instance, wines from Northern France will have more bite to them than an Australian Chardonnay. Higher acid wines contrast nicely with oily foods, a classic being the match of smoked salmon in canapés with champagne. (Cheap acidic champagne incidentally goes very well with fish and chips as the acid in vinegar adapts the palate to being less sensitive to other acids, and makes the champagne taste softer and more agreeable). This is also why most Italian reds, like Chianti, have a distinctive lemony bite: It balances the Italian diet in two ways. Firstly the acidity cuts through and contrasts with the olive oil that they tend to use in their dishes, and secondly the same acidity nicely complements the citric acid in tomatoes that they also use a lot in cooking.

Bitterness

Tannins that are found naturally in many heavier red wines can have a bitter or astringent quality to them. Tannin reacts with fatty proteins to produce a delicious smooth cherry like flavour and a soft mouth feel, so the protein content of red meat (e.g. lamb/ beef-steak) means that it will drink very well with more tannic reds like cabernet-sauvignon or Rioja.

You should know understand the wine-merchant’s maxim: ‘Buy on apples, sell on cheese’: Fresh uncooked apples, like most fruits are high in both sweetness and acidity, making wines taste thin and metallic; any wine that impresses when tasted with an apple must be seriously good! Hard cheeses like cheddar on the other hand are full of protein and so tend to make wines taste softer and fuller.

Hopefully this article hasn’t served to only confuse you further. If you are still baffled, just drink your favourite wine with your favourite food and you won’t go far wrong!

P.S. as a final pointer for your next drinks party, please don’t serve peanuts as they destroy wine flavours.