Hard Advice on
Wine and Food Matches
There are
numerous articles written on matching wine with food. These articles
talk about matching the weight of the wine with the weight of the
food, they talk about experimenting for yourself, but they don’t
actually give hard advice on exactly which food goes with which
wine.
“Just tell me
what goes with what”
I hear you cry. Why doesn’t someone just set it out in a chart?
Well, that is
exactly what we are going to do here.
The All Time
Classic Matches
These classic
matches defy changes in food and wine pairings:
- Stilton
with port
- Foie gras
with sauternes
- Boeuf
bourguignon with pinot noir
- Duck and
pinot noir
- Lamb and
shiraz
- Goat cheese
with sauvignon blanc
- Oysters
with sauvignon blanc.
White Wine
and Food Matches
 |
Chardonnay:
seafood with butter sauce, chicken, pasta with cream sauce,
veal, turkey, ham, Emmenthal, Gruyeres, Port-Salut.
Riesling: mild cheese, clams, mussels, Asian dishes,
sashimi, ham, pork, lobster Newberg, Tandoori chicken, Coquilles
St Jacques.
Sauvignon Blanc: oysters, grilled or poached salmon,
seafood salad, Irish stew, ham, chevre, goat cheese and strongly
flavored cheeses, asparagus quiche.
Gewurztraminer: spicy dishes, Thai food, curry, smoked
salmon, pork and sauerkraut, Muenster, spiced/peppered cheeses,
onion tart. |
Red Wine
and Food Matches
 |
Cabernet
Sauvignon:
duck, spicy beef, pate, rabbit, roasts, spicy poultry, cheddar,
blue cheese, sausage, kidneys.
Pinot Noir: braised chicken, cold duck, rabbit,
charcuterie, partridge, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb,
veal, truffles, Gruyeres.
Merlot: braised chicken, cold duck, roasted turkey,
roasted beef, lamb, veal, stew, liver, venison, meat casseroles.
Shiraz: braised chicken, chili, goose, meat stew,
peppercorn steak, barbequed meat, spicy meats, garlic casserole,
ratatouille. |
Some Specific
Wines
Two of the most
difficult wines to pair with food are also the two most popular:
chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. New World chardonnays can be oaky,
buttery, flavorful wines that overwhelm many dishes. But you can
still enjoy chardonnay with your meal. Pair it with butter and cream
sauces to marry similar textures and flavors.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavours
with mouth drying tannins (the same sensation you get from drinking
well-brewed tea). Therefore, they find their happiest match in foods
with juicy proteins such as a rare steak. The protein softens the
tannin making the wine taste smooth and fruity. Steaks done with
crushed black peppercorns sensitize your taste-buds, making the wine
taste even more fruity and robust. However, the way in which the
dish is prepared also has an impact. A well-done steak, for example,
may taste too dry with a tannic cabernet.
Proteins are also at work with the marriage of wine and cheese, the
cocktail classic. Red wines tend to go better with hard cheeses such
as blue cheese as they can accommodate more tannins. However, whites
suit soft cheeses such as brie and camembert as the creamier
textures require more acidity for balance.
Game birds such quail, pheasant, turkey, duck, squab and guinea hen
have earthy flavours that are more robust than chicken. Wild game
often goes better with racy red wines that have a gamy quality to
them, the classic being Burgundian pinot noir. The flavors of pinot
noir -- plum, cherry, mushrooms, earth and even barnyard (that’s a
positive adjective) – accentuate the same gamy flavours in the food.
Other wine options for game birds include Spanish rioja, Victorian
pinot noir and lighter-style Rhône Valley wines such as Côte-Rôtie.
One of the most challenging flavours to balance is sweetness. Dishes
with a touch of sweetness such as glazed pork do well with off-dry
wines such as riesling and chenin blanc. However, rich desserts such
as chocolate and crème brulée demand a wine that is sweeter than the
dessert, or the wine will taste thin, even bitter. Sweet wines such
as sauternes, Canadian ice wine, late harvest wines and port will
work not only for their sweetness but also for their unctuous
texture.
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