The Harmony between Wine and Food

wine

The Harmony between Wine and Food

Wine is a social drink which should be enjoyed in the company of friends and .. food.

The right combination between food and wine is a source of ultimate bliss for every connoisseur. Both wine and food can benefit from the right pairing. The right wine can accentuate unexpected gastronomically aspects of food and vice versa, wine can shine in a new light when accompanied by the right dish. In order to savour the splendour of such combinations, one does not need to frequent expensive restaurants and buy overpriced wines. Rather, when combining food and wine it is one’s intuition and curiosity that are of paramount importance.

Most rules for agreeable food – wine combinations date back to the 19th century and are made by French cooks who travel around Europe showing other nations the French savoir-vivre. It is since then that we know that champagne goes well with oysters, white wine – with seafood, and red wine – with game and red meats. Those rules, however, have been broken many times throughout the years because the nature of certain dishes and the rich wine variety available allow for a much freer interpretation. For example, some red meats could be made more enjoyable by stronger white wines.

A more practical approach for combining wine with food is to avoid any possible dissonance between them. For example, an exceptional wine stands out much better when accompanied by a not so sophisticated dish that will bring out the wine’s superb qualities instead of fighting with it. Certain wines and foods have “found” each other over the years and represent especially suitable combinations. Generally those are the regional wines and foods. Almost all local dishes go best with the wines from their regions.

Some tips for making good food – wine choices:

Try to balance the weight of both, i.e. heavy dishes and those with a strong taste, such as game and red meat should be enjoyed with an equally heavy wine. In most cases those are red wines but some full-bodied whites could be an equally suitable alternative.

Dry wines could develop a very unpleasant sour or even bitter taste if served with desserts. Generally deserts are served with wines that are at least comparably sweet, if not sweeter.

Wines with high acidity go best with heavy, rich in fat dishes. This is because the high fat content negates the impact of the acid.

High-tannin wines should be combined with foods rich in proteins. The proteins combine with the tannins, thus diminishing the tannin taste. Wines made from grape varieties that contain a lot of tannins, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah are an excellent match for red meats and other protein-rich foods. On the other hand, high-tannin wines acquire an unpleasant metallic taste if combined with fish and other seafood. Or they could have an extremely bitter taste when combined with salty dishes.

So finally… which wine? You could have in mind the rules above when making your selection but don’t be blinded by them and never take things for granted. Even when you are convinced that you have found the perfect wine for a certain dish, a small change, such as a bad yield, a change in the production technology, or other, could disappoint you. So have an open mind and be ready to experiment. Needless to say, a lot of times the results would be a bit strange but that’s what will make the whole experience interesting!!

author:Dan Philipe

This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)wine

Return to Home Page



Bill & Sheila’s Wine

Tim Hanni: Wine, Food and the Fertile Imagination of Experts

wine

Wine and food matching – Have You Even Tried It?

Almost all wine and food matching occurs in the fertile imagination of usually well-meaning and earnest wine and food enthusiasts and professionals. There is also some specter of “wine and food disasters” looming that can befall the poor, unsuspecting consumer if they make the mistake of ordering or serving the wrong wine with the wrong food — see Dan Berger’s piece on wine pairing disasters.

Here are recommendations for Peking Duck on a recent expert thread:

Reisling, a sauvignon blanc or Chateau Neuf-du-Pape, Oregon pinot noir, 100 percent Pinot Meunier Champagne, Alsace blends, a big ol’ Pride cabernet, dolcetto and ripe vintages of Rosso di Montalcino, sangiovese, Australian sparkling cabernet, gewurztraminer, dry rose (esp. ones based upon Rhone red varieties like grenache, and syrah or Italian varieties like barbera and sangiovese), a good Portuguese wine from Douro.

Holy moly. Basically everyone just conjures up the dish, conjures up the metaphorical match and then goes to the mental Rolodex of wines they love in their heads and comes up with a match. The process is not based on any reality — just our fertile imagination and personal wine favorites. Note there is nothing wrong with this — just what the hell is a poor consumer supposed to do with this information???

You can bet that all contributors would defend their choices and you can bet that if it is a wine you love, it will be great with the Peking Duck and if it is not a great match, a dash of soy sauce (which is erroneously referred to as a wine enemy) and a tiny squeeze of lemon (for those who are more highly sensitive to bitterness) will set the dish right with any of the wines recommended.

Now take the information to your retailer, “I went online and am looking for a big, delicate, fruity and spicy late harvest sparkling nouveau white cabernet-pinot noir-grenache-sangiovese rose from Portugal made by an Australian winemaker with lots of not-oak owned by an Italian family to go with Peking Duck…”

When people come to my house for lunch or dinner and I get the cursory, “What wine should I bring?” question, I disclose the meal I plan and ask them to bring a wine that will not go with the dish. The wine should be something they like, but also something that would be considered a ‘disaster’ with the food. Most often I love to serve a delicate fish dish, like sole or halibut (red snapper or flounder when I am in Florida), and the wines that are selected are the intense reds that are so de riguer these days. Not sorta red, big and red.

The typical dishes I prepare are filet of sole a la bonne femme (paupiettes of sole — rolled up — poached in white wine and fish fumet with tarragon and mushrooms. The wines selected range from intense Lodi Petite Sirah to Napa Cabernet. I will invite some who have had this experience to weigh in the comments.

The results? Yummy food, wonderful wine — the sole is delicious. The wine does not overpower the food nor does the food do anything other than make the wine more rich and delectable. The wine and food ‘disaster’ is all in our heads. Not one in the hundreds of people I’ve cooked for over the years has ever tried a delicate piece of fish a la meuniere with an intense red wine. Ever!

Same goes for steak and Riesling or lamb and Pinot Grigio. If the food is green and vegetal the imagination goes to Sauvignon Blanc. Oysters and Syrah? Ask winemaker Ken Brown — we spent an afternoon at the Edna Valley Winery many years ago with a whole group of people slurping down fresh oysters and sucking down Syrah, Cabernet — anything close at hand that was supposed to ‘not go with’ oysters. If a slight metallic or bitter edge arose, the tiniest bit of fresh lemon juice brought the wine back into a wonderful balance. There were a lot of quizzical looks — turns out not one person in the very large group of very expert wine people had even tried the combination.

There is no natural affinity between Pinot Noir and salmon — salmon is just metaphorically more similar to Pinot: salmon is big and red as far as fish go (not as big and not as red as a cow) and Pinot is not as ‘big’ and red as a Cabernet. It is an imaginary match — and if you love Pinot Noir and love salmon chances are you will be very passionate that this is a perfect match!

A Couple of Caveats

1. The wine must be in the realm of a wine you would enjoy — if you hate high alcohol Zinfandel, White Zinfandel, Pinot Grigio or whatever, it will suck with your food (or without).

2. The more emotionally you are tied to wine and food matching the more likely it is the imaginary wine and food matches you conjure up will work together. This is a psychological phenomenon and self-fulfilling prophecy of wine and food matching, not an experiential reality.

3. The more ‘hypersensitive’ you are, the more likely you are to get a bitter reaction from strong wines (high extract, higher alcohol). With foods with lots of umami — a tiny addition of lemon and salt will cure most negative reactions, but if you don’t tend to favor huge reds or oakey whites in the first place, stick to the wines you love the most.

4. The more ‘tolerant’ you are the more you will love big, extracted reds with whatever the hell you are eating and less likely you are to get any bitter reactions — you just want big, red wines and you know who you are! A delicate Riesling with sushi is not in the cards for you.

5. If you love the metaphorical matching of heavy wines with heavy foods, searching for that orgasmic synergy when the wine and food elevate the experience to a whole new level, compliment and contrast the flavors and textures — keep on doing that. Just understand that the experience is personal, subjective and mostly all in your head!

It is time that to radically address the role of enjoying wine and food together — things are completely out of control and the misinformation, false premises and misunderstandings are at an all-time high. Go ahead — spend a week diligently trying the wrong wine with your food, or vice-versa. You will be surprised at the success you will have finding delicious matches you never imagined.


Bill & Sheila’s Wine

Food And Wine Choice Advice From An Expert Wine Taster

Food And Wine Choice Advice From An Expert Wine Taster

Food and wine were meant to go together. In my big Italian family, no gathering was complete without plenty of both. Winter feasts were easy for the food and wine lovers among us – a hearty red table wine is the perfect foil for most southern Italian dishes. A pitcher of table wine drawn from the cask in the basement was the typical accompaniment to our everyday meals.

Red, white or rose, Italian table wines are meant to be imbibed in the casual atmosphere of a family dinner. They are light enough to be enjoyed even by the casual food and wine enthusiast, and robust enough to complement the full-flavored richness of smoked and barbecued food. Which leads us to the subject of this little soliloquy – mixing and matching food and wine for the barbecue. My own tastes run to Italian jug wines, and if it was up to me, I’d tell you to just go out and buy a jug of Chianti and a jug of Lambrusco. It’s what I grew up with, and I happen to love the little sparkle that a good Lambrusco (yes, they do exist!) adds to food.

In the interests of presenting a fair and educated view, however, I decided to check with an expert. Austin Liquor has been voted Best Liquor Store in Worcester for the past 5 years, mostly on the strength of its weekly wine tasting. A Friday night tradition in Worcester since the late 1970s, each tasting offers food and wine based around one or two specific vintages. I was directed to Richard Beams, Austin Liquor’s resident wine expert, and directed my question to him: “What food and wine combination would you recommend for a summer barbecue?”

I did get my recommendations – but I also got a wonderful overview of Rich’s philosophy of choosing wines, especially for fun or everyday occasions.
“I don’t think it’s necessary for people to spend more than $12 for a bottle of wine for an everyday dinner,” he told me. “For a special occasion like an anniversary dinner, sure, you can spend $20 or more for a bottle. A barbecue is a fun occasion, though. For a barbecue you can get really good quality wine for under $12.”

That may come as a surprise to those of us who have been intimidated into believing that the only true quality wines come with corks and high price tags.
Said Rich to that: “I like wine to be fun. It should be fun. Too many people try to snob it up and break down the flavours so far that it’s not fun anymore. I advise people to find something they like and enjoy it. I like to steer people to the less expensive wines that are excellent quality.”

So what does Rich recommend to go with the food at a summer barbecue?

“I like to recommend a nice, light Riesling, “ he told me. “Something crisp and fresh.”

In fact, he told me, several of their recent wine tasting afternoons have featured barbecued food and wine that complements it. He recommended several wines that he feels are ‘fun wines’ with good value.

Flaio Primitivo (Salento, Italy) Primitivo is a grape varietal grown in the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s very similar to a good California Zinfandel – in Rich’s words it’s “almost an exact copy”. It retails for about $7 a bottle and is a great accompaniment for burgers and ribs.

Bonny Doon Big House Red (California) Bonny Doon has a lot of fun with their wines, according to Rich, and he does believe that wine should be fun. Big House Red is a blend of 7 or 8 grapes. According to Bonny Doon’s own web site, those varietals include syrah, petite sirah, Grenache, barbera and malbec. It retails for about $12 a bottle and its robust licorice and raspberry-accented bouquet stands up to the spiciest barbecued ribs.

Monte Antico (Tuscany, Italy) – “very similar to a Chianti Sangiovese,” said Rich. At $12 a bottle, it’s got great fruit, balances a barbecue, holds up well, and has a very Italian looking label.” To quote Monte Antico’s own press, this wine is “Dark ruby in colour, its bouquet of leather, earth, herbs, black cherries, liquorice and plums is confirmed on the medium to full-bodied palate – round, spicy, elegant, attractively fruity and extremely versatile with any fare from pasta or risotto, to meat, fowl and cheese.”

Rich’s final recommendation was another ‘fun’ wine, one that he says is a great ‘food wine’. The top in his book is:

Three Thieves 2002 Zinfandel was voted #8 as one of the Hottest Small Brands of 2005. The wine comes in a 1 litre jug with a screw top, and is marketed as a ‘fun thing’, says Rich, but the wine inside is a full bodied red zinfandel that goes great with burgers or eggplant parmagiana.

“The wine is excellent, and it’s about $11,” Rich added. He also added the following advice for would-be wine fanciers. “You don’t have to spend a lot to find excellent quality wines. If you find something that you like, make a note. You can go into a store and tell someone there that you liked ‘this brand’ and they’ll steer you to other similar wines for you to try.”

Final analysis? Good food and wine that’s fun are the cornerstone of a great summer barbecue. Skip the fancy labels, vintages and price tags and pick out a wine that you like. Who cares what the noses think as long as your nose is tickled pink?

author:Chris Robertson