Red wines with beef
dishes, whites with seafood. BUT, lighter reds can be
perfect with many of the more flavorful seafood
preparations and there are some rock 'em sock 'em whites
that will stand up to meat.
The heartier (richer,
spicier, more flavorful) the meal, the heartier (more
full bodied and full flavored) the wine. Neither the wine
nor the food should overpower the other. You want to
taste BOTH!
Match the wine with the
sauce more than with the type of meat. (Fish with a
heavy, spicy tomato sauce would overwhelm most white
wines and even many light reds!)
The wines of a region
often go best with the cuisine of that region.
Be careful with complex
food flavors and mature complex wines. It's safer to pair
complex dishes with a fruity, relatively straightforward
and even one dimensional Cabernet rather than a mature
Bordeaux with its panoply of aromas and flavors, for
example. Use simpler dishes (roast beef, unadorned) to
show off mature red wines. Either the food or the wine
can be complex, usually not both!
Pinot Noir (also red
Burgundies) and Sauvignon Blanc (also Sancerre, Pouilly
Fumé and white Bordeaux) are the most versatile
varietals. They go with a wider range of foods than most
other varietals. If in doubt....
White wine tastes sweeter
with artichokes and asparagus. Thus, bone-dry herbal
Sauvignon Blanc works best with them.
White wine tastes metallic
with the dark, grey, oily parts of fish such as bluefish,
salmon and tuna. Generally, remove those parts before
cooking.
Red wine tastes metallic
with more than a tiny amount of vinegar, shellfish, or
snails. Vintner's
Salad is one salad that works
well with wine.
Red wine tannins are
softened by dishes that contain certain ingredients, such
as cracked black pepper or fat. Pepper also fleshes out
and improves young fruity reds.
Red meat needs red wines
with some tannic grip. A modest amount of tannin behaves
like acidity to cleanse the palate. Obviously, a wine
that is very tannic should be aged several years before
opening.
Salty foods go well with
sweeter wines, which counteract the salt to achieve
balance in the mouth.
Spicy foods go well with
lightweight, low-alcohol, semi-sweet wines such as German
wines or spicy wines such as many from Alsace. Alcohol
fans the flames; sugar douses them.
High-acid foods (including
those with citrus or tomato) need high-acid wines
(Italian wines generally work well). Wines with low acid
appear flaccid with acidic foods.
Subtly flavored foods need
more subtle, older wines that have lost their youthful
exuberance, like mature riesling or Bordeaux.
Champagne is not the best
choice with caviar and smoked salmon! The sugar dosage in
most Champagne is amplified by the pungent fish oils,
turning the wine sweet and fishy. Very dry (nondosage) or
aged Brut Champagne can work, however.
Champagne does go well
with fried and salty food, salty nuts, Parmigiano Cheese,
egg dishes (especially with ham or bacon), soups, salads,
sushi and sashimi.
