Wine sexual union is hardly the horizon of just wine snot and wine waiter ; in fact , it ’s scarcely tricky at all , so long as you treat wine like you would any other smell . Sometimes flavor work well together , enhance one another – and other clip , they do n’t . peanut vine butter and chocolate ? Hell yeah ! Peanut butter and mayo ? Noooo , thank you .
With that in nous , here are a few things you should do when oppose up solid food and wine .
Look for high-acid wines
Wines that are high in acidity tend to play nice with the wide range of foods ( consider about how a squeeze of lemon succus can perk up up almost any ingredient ) . High - acid white wine-colored such as Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc , and gamey - acid red like Sangiovese ( prominent in Chianti ) , Pinot Noir , and Gamay ( which make water Beaujolais ) are beneficial go - to picks . Generally , sparkling wines are eminent in sourness , and are overlooked for meal mating far too often . In fact , acidulousness is so significant in matching food and wine-coloured , that if there is one item on this list to remember , this is it .
Learn more about the science behind pairings
There are actual chemical reasons behind previous wine-colored and food pairing adages like “ red wine-coloured with essence . ” Red vino unremarkably have more skin contact during fermentation than white wines , which leave grape tegument tannins ( those compounds that make you pucker up – think strong tea and you ’ll get the idea ) to the resulting wine . Some of those tannins tie with the proteins in centre , which makes it finger more tender in the backtalk .
Pair according to the weight of the dish
Generally , the most successful food and wine coupling match up the “ weight ” of the dish with that of the wine-coloured . A rich Chardonnay run with lobster and potato because both the wine-colored and the foods have relatively mild flavor profile , but finger heavy in the mouth ( and all three work with butter ) . Same croak for Sauvignon Blanc and greenish salad , only in reverse ( sluttish texture , but pungently flavorful ) .
Focus on the most prominent ingredient
For case , if Asparagus officinales is the focus of your mantrap , you ’re in tricky wine-coloured - pairing district , since Asparagus officinales contains a combination of compounds that can make many wines taste direful . But if you focalize on that ingredient , you’re able to choose a pungent , gamey Lucy in the sky with diamonds white wine that can stand up to them .
If it’s a special bottle, plan the meal around it
Sometimes , the food is n’t the star of the show . If you ’ve got a special bottle of wine ( and particularly if it ’s an onetime wine-colored ) , you are far well off starting with the vino and sour your way backwards to the formula . It ’s not snobbish ; in this case , your feeding bottle of wine-colored functions as an ingredient ( we ’re treating wine like a food here , remember ) .
Be the boss over the sauce
Personally , I ’ve seen sauce destroy an otherwise well - considered wine and food pairing more times than I deal to commend ( in some case , I drank more of the wine specifically to blank out the experience ) . A heavy sauce on a light , pungent white fish completely changes everything about how that fish tastes , and significantly impact how your oral cavity interacts with it chemically . When in doubt , focus on the sauce and ensure you ’ve got a wine-coloured to match it .
Know that opposites make great combinations
It ’s true in love , and sometimes it ’s also true in the sweet love being made between wine and food . Rich , cheap , creamy dishes are often best served with a wine that ’s the polar contrary ; vibrant , piquant , chirpy , and flavorful . run short the other elbow room , light meats like chicken can sometimes pair beautifully with big red wines , provided that the meat is prepared in as flavorful a manner as possible ( like long , slow roasting ) .
Use a sweet wine to temper spice
risque dishes are notoriously difficult to couple up with wine , as they can hit with a annihilative one - two jazz band of overpower a wine ’s look while also overemphasizing the vino ’s inebriant . But there ’s a secret weapon here , and that weapon is sugar . wine-coloured with even a hint of residuary sweetness ( sugars leftover from fermentation that did n’t twist into alcohol ) can help to tame spices without the wine losing its savour .
Be more experimental
Always cull the same wine-coloured with dinner party is the vinaceous eq of have a pamphlet with two recipe on it and trying to call it a cookery book . You ’ll in all likelihood have the most succeeder with solid food and wine pair in the same manner that you gain achiever in cooking – by not being afraid to experiment . There are roughly 10,000 different all right wine grape varieties being made into wine . Italy alone has hundreds . By being a hardy taster , you ’ll not only severely up your wine-coloured and food pairing game , but you might just find some raw deary .
Do what you like!
Unless you ’re cooking and pouring for a gathering , or are super into the art of raising vino and solid food pair into borderline esthetic expression , the most of import rule of matching up food and wine is to embark on with whatyouenjoy , even if your selection go against the rules of food and wine pair altogether .
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