The 4 Rules To Match The Perfect Wine With Food

Wine is really meant to be drunk with food. On its own, it’s really good. When paired with food, however, the complexity of the wine really shines through. To get the most out of wine, it deserves to be paired with the foods that are going to bring out all of the hidden characteristics. 

This is a very intimidating process for a lot of people, however. There is a lot of pressure to make sure that the food and wine combination doesn’t conflict and result in a terrible pairing. Luckily, there are some basics to consider so that you can successfully pair food and wine without being an expert. In this article, we will go over some tips so you can make a match made in Heaven for your next dinner party. 

1 – Pick an area

You have a lot of wines to choose from so you should look to pair wines and foods that naturally go together. For instance, the food in Italy was essentially created alongside the food that was eaten in the area so there are natural pairings. There are loads of pasta sauces that will match perfectly with a glass of Italian wine.

The same goes for so many other areas. You can even match Moroccan food with a wine from Morocco like Dune Wines. 

2 – Drink what you like

There are some wine snobs out there who will disagree with this, but, you should ignore hard and fast rules. If you like a bottle of red wine and want to drink it with a fish dish then go for it. That pairing is far from perfect but don’t let anybody tell you that you’re wrong for wanting to do that. 

The same goes for the food angle. If a perfect wine pairing for the type of wine you prefer is with a food that you don’t like, you won’t magically start to like it based on the pairing. 

3 – Be balanced

Every wine has a certain level of body, acid, and richness. This is essential to gauge to find the right combination with food as you either want to match like for like or go in opposite directions. An example is that a Chardonnay with a lot of body and creaminess could go with a buttery lobster dish. Others would rather pair the lobster with an acidic wine like Sauvignon Blanc that will cut through the richness of the dish. Use the keyword lobster delivery near me to find a supplier in your area to get your seafood needs for your recipes.

The idea is to balance the properties so they work in harmony together and not against each other. If you decide to go with a rich to rich combination, they should be about equal on the scale so one doesn’t overshadow the other. 

4 – Find the prominent element

The way something is cooked or if it is in a sauce or not is going to bring a certain element to the dish. This is where the pairing really matters. A chicken dish cooked slowly with tomatoes will work with a rose or light red, but less so a Chardonnay because of the tomatoes. Another chicken dish in a Marsala sauce will pair best with a fruity white like a Pinot Grigio.

Identify what is going to be the dominant flavor and then pair the wine with that rather than the main ingredient like the chicken in the previous examples.