Basic Food and Wine Pairing Tips + Cocktails
I know I personally struggle to pair my food with wine on most occasions. It’s hard to remember what goes with what. I teamed up with a couple of BC wineries and wanted to share some basic wine pairing tips for you.
You may have encountered this issue while planning your holiday meals or parties. You should just remember that wine is like cooking, you need a balance of fat, acid, salt and sweet. The basics of flavor-matching are actually quite simple (although not always easy to pull off). These are the 6 basic profiles to work with when thinking about when food and wine pairing:
- Acidity in wine pairs well with fatty and sweet foods.
- Fatty foods need either an acidic or high alcohol wine, otherwise the wine will taste flabby.
- Bitter (aka Tannic) wine can be balanced with a sweet food.
- Salty shouldn’t compete with acidity in wine. Use sparingly as necessary to keep sharpness in the meal.
- Sweet food/wine benefits from a little acidity.
- Alcohol can be used to cut through fatty foods or balance a sweet dish.
Common Food and Wine Pairing Techniques
Regional Pairing
The idea of a regional pairing is pretty fundamental. Imagine Italian wine and Italian food or an Oregon pinot noir with a cow’s-milk cheese from the Willamette Valley. Regional matches aren’t always the perfect pairing, however they provide a template for us to understand more about what’s going on structurally with food and wine pairing.
Acid + Acid
Unlike bitter, acidity can be added together with food and wine and will create the basis of what wine people think about when selecting a wine with dinner. If the wine has less acidity than the food, the wine will taste flat. An easy visualization for acids out-of-balance is a glass of oaked warm climate chardonnay with a vinaigrette salad. When pairing a dish with wine, consider the acid balance between the food and the wine.
Sweet + Salty
If you love maple bacon, candied pecans and salted caramels, a wine and food pairing of a sweet wine with a salty food will probably delight you. Pair Riesling with Asian foods such as fried rice or Pad Thai or a dessert with salty components.
Bitter + Bitter = No
Bitter does not go well with more bitter, which is the primary reason why I loath red wine and chocolate pairings. When we feel fat in the middle of our tongues, it helps to alleviate bitterness.
Bitter + Fat
Grab a big thick piece of fatty something-or-other and pair it with a wine with lots of tannin. This is the classic steak with red wine food pairing, however, I think we can do better than that. Take a red wine and pair the wine with a potato, roasted tomatoes (like this recipe) or a bitter salad with a fatty dressing.
Acid + Fat
Nothing like a glass of champagne to cut the fat. A high acid drink will add a range of interesting flavors to a lipid heavy dish. This is why white wine butter sauce is popular. The white wine in the butter sauce livens up the whole dish. So when you are in a situation where there is something fatty like cheese cake, get a glass of something bubbly and zippy.
Alcohol + Fat
The alcohol category is a bit of a strange one. The alcohol taste actually comes across as acidity so a lot of the same ideologies of the Acid + Fat category pass over into Alcohol + Fat. The primary difference is that a high alcohol drink should not be used as a palate-cleanser because that will mess you up. Instead, look at an alcohol + fat category as a way to mitigate high-speed food consumption. I use the alcohol + fat category often for dessert pairing, but I’d like to see it more in dining as we learn to eat slower and enjoy longer.
Three BC Wines to try for Food and Wine Pairing
2014 Haywire Pinot Noir – The ultimate food wines are those made from the Pinot Noir grape. Why? It’s a red wine, with moderate degrees of tannin, so it goes well with meats with some degree of fattiness — especially with a twist of pepper or slightly bitter vegetables on the side. This bottle of 2014 Haywire Pinot Noir will pair perfectly with turkey dinner. The tannin of Pinot Noir is also very soft, very tender, making this usually a sleek, smooth, easy-drinking red wine. It goes just as well with white meats like fish, pork and soft ripe cheeses. Suggested retail price: $27.00 and is available online: https://okanagancrushpad.com/online-store/#/
2014 Singletree Harness Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon Red – The Merlot in this bottle brings bright, soft fruits like cherry, raspberry and plum, while the Cabernet Sauvignon offers fine structure, hints of cassis and a rich, enveloping mouthfeel. Together the two create a fruity, elegant and classy partnership. The bottle of 2014 Singletree Harness Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon will pair well with any holiday dinner, but especially those serving up red meat. Suggested retail price: $30.00 and available online at: http://singletreewinery.com/wines/
2014 Evolve Riesling – A classic white to bring out on the big day is a dry to off-dry Riesling. This is a perfect example of a smooth, full-bodied BC Riesling. It has tasting notes of citrus and peach and is seamless on the palate. It is also becoming quite trendy to mix up and enjoy in a cocktail for before dinner or after a meal as a liquid dessert. Suggested retail price: $16.99 and available online at: http://www.encorevineyards.ca/Wines/Evolve-Cellars
If you want a couple of recipes to try out using Evolve Riesling, read below!
Three cocktail recipes used with Evolve Riesling
1. Princess of the Hive
1 oz. gin
1 oz. Evolve Riesling
1 oz. lemon juice
½ oz. Peach Schnapps
½ oz. simple syrup
To make simple syrup, mix equal parts hot water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake a strain into a glass.
2. Evolve Cosmopolitan
1 oz. Evolve Riesling
1 oz. Premium Vodka
½ oz. Grand Marnier
3. Evolve Riesling Hot Toddy (serves 4)
4 cardamom pods
1 bottle Riesling
2 teaspoons brandy
1 lemon, halved
2 tablespoons honey
2 bay leaves
4 strips lemon zest
Toast cardamom pods in a dry skillet over high heat, tossing often, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Gently crush with a mortar and pestle.
In a medium saucepan combine Evolve Riesling, brandy, honey, cardamom pods, and bay leaves leaves. Squeeze lemon halves over liquid and add rinds to the pot. Bring to a gentle simmer then reduce heat to lowest setting and steep for 45 minutes. Strain and divide between 4 cups. Garnish with lemon zest.
4. Riesling Sangria with Mango and Nectarine (serves 4 to 6)
1 bottle of Evolve Riesling
2 cups mango nectar
1 lime, halved and thinly sliced
½ cup peach eau de vie
1 ripe nectarine, halved pitted and thinly sliced
1 orange, halved and thinly sliced
A can of club soda
Stir together Evolve Riesling, mango nectar, eau de vie, limes, nectarines and oranges in a pitcher. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
Serve over ice in white wine glasses and top with a splash of club soda.
That’s it, so you now have the basics of food and wine pairing plus a couple recipes to try out! Not so complicated right? I think it’s also important to have a good wine to start. Don’t cheap out, you may not be satisfied or put off with your pairing.
And, if you live in BC or have access to BC wines, do try these three out. Or better yet, go and visit their wineries! I know I am this summer 🙂
* Wines were supplied by Town Hall Brands, but all opinions are of my own.
Thanks for all the info. It was fun to learn about the food and wine pairings. So much I didn’t know before reading this.
Wow these tips are great! Jotted some down for future wine drinking nights! Thank you!