Wine and Food Pairing Basics
Wine and Food pairing is an extremely personal pastime, drawing from the background, culture, and habits of each person sampling the wine. Some might think a particular wine is dry, while others are likely to find the same wine sweet. Someone brought up with spicy foods might judge a wine differently than someone brought up with potatoes and pasta.
Pairing is not an arcane science. It is simply the decision of which wine will bring out the best in a given food, and which food will bring out the best in a given wine, all based on how you personally enjoy both. Think of a comparison in the non-wine world. Few people would eat a delicate, paper-thin pastry shell with thick beef stew, garlic bread and baked potatoes. The pastry would simply "melt into the background" and be overwhelmed with the other flavors. The same holds true for wine. You don't want the food to completely overpower the wine, so you cannot taste it at all. Conversely, you don't want the wine to be so strong that you can't taste the meal. Some sort of balance lies in the middle.
Do you match like with like - a wine hinting of apples with apple pie for dessert? Or do you add some contrast, so the spiciness in the meat stew balances against the slightly sweet wine? Either method works, as do countless others. Part of the fun is to experiment with different combinations, to see which strike your own palate as truly delicious. Then, share those with others to see which tastes they also appreciate, and which are uniquely yours.
One very typical wine-food pairing is Cheese, and many wine parties have cheese as the main snack. Why is this? There are so many varieties of cheeses that there is one that goes well with any type of wine you might try.
In the end, it comes down to what an individual enjoys, and what combination works best for that person.
Click Here for Alderbrook's Wine and Food Pairing Suggestions
Updated: December 20, 2004