Food & Wine Pairing: A Quick Guide
Pairing wine with your food can seem like an overwhelming task. Even if you’re familiar with wine, how do you know exactly what would pair well with your favorite Aunt’s corn casserole AND Stacy-from-down-the-hall’s five-layer dip? Both people will be at your dinner party and you’re panicking. Well, we know the feeling. So here’s a quick guide on how to pair your wine with your food.
A general rule of thumb: What grows together goes together. Foods and wines bred from the same soil and climate tend to pair well together. In the wine world, we call things like soil and elevation “terroir.” There’s also a traditional element to this rule. Wines from certain regions have been paired with food from that region for centuries, which is why we continue to do so now. Simply put, an Italian dinner will pair great with a Montepulciano.
Dry White - Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigo, Albariño
The palate for a dry white includes raw vegetables, roasted vegetables, starches, and fish. Vegetables are notoriously difficult to pair. Something about their acidity level makes raw veggies, like a salad, harsh in comparison to wine. The main thing to focus on when thinking about these foods is what flavor is being used to enhance them. A dry white will always compliment seafood because the saltiness is supported by the acidity of dry whites.
Sweet White - Gewurztraminer, Malvasia, Moscato
A sweet white generally pairs well with soft and hard cheeses, cured meats, and sweets. Sweets don’t usually pair well with wine, because you always want your wine to be sweeter than what you’re eating. Sweet whites are great for solving this problem. There are also certain instances where a sweet white, perhaps an off-dry Riesling, would taste really great with a spicy dish. It’s a true “opposites attract” moment.
Rich White - Chardonnay, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne
Medium to full-bodied whites have a richness to them that pairs well with soft cheese, starches, fish, rich fish (like lobster), and white meat. You can see now that there’s some overlap when it comes to rich whites and dry whites. As previously mentioned, pairing with fish sometimes has to do with the way it’s cooked. However, you can also play this by preference if you need. Rich whites are a great choice for a meal that relies on roasted chicken breast and potatoes.
Sparkling - Champagne, Prosecco, Sparkling Wine, Cava
Sparkling wine pairs well with raw vegetables, soft and hard cheeses, starches, and fish. You’ll also find that when we host our bi-annual sparkling tastings—Champagne Day (October) and Bubbles Bash (June)—we always have a selection of chips for sale. Sparkling wine is great with all things crisp and salty. Of course, sparkling wine is a go-to for most celebratory events. There’s a lot of variety when it comes to sparkling wine in terms of tasting notes, so even if one of these foods isn’t on the menu, you’ll likely still be able to find a sparkling option that works for you.
Light Red - St. Laurent, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt
A lighter red pairs well with roasted vegetables, starches, rich fish, white meat, and cured meat. If you prefer reds over whites, these wines also complement the roasted chicken breast and potato meal that was used as an example for rich whites. And, you can throw some roasted carrots on your plate as well. These lighter reds also work well as chilled reds in the summertime.
Medium Red - Red Table Wine, Zinfandel, Merlot
Medium-bodied reds pair well with roasted vegetables, hard cheese, starches, white meat, and red meat. If you’ve been craving a juicy steak, this is the type of wine you want to wash it down. These wines also offer another great option for roasted vegetables and white meat, meaning you have more leniency based on preference again.
Bold Red - Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Aglianico
These big, bold reds pair well with hard cheese, starches, red meat, and cured meat. When it comes to the wine you want to pair with your steak or curated charcuterie board, you’ll have to consider what type of mouthfeel you prefer seeing as medium reds pair well with several of the items listed here. A bold Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic in this category and a great wine to choose if you want to satisfy a room of red drinkers.
Dessert - Late Harvest, Port, Ice Wine, Sherry
Dessert wines pair well with soft cheese, starches, cured meat, and sweets. Dessert wines function on a spectrum of sweetness and are generally served in two or three-ounce pours. The reason for the smaller pour has to do with its higher alcohol content. As previously mentioned, you always want your wine to be sweeter than what you’re eating. Picking the right dessert wine to pair with your birthday cake can be a great way to finish off a celebration.