Wine pairing is one highly delicate process that refers to combining specific food with the perfect wine. As the result, a person will get an enhanced dining experience and enjoy the delicious taste of the dish to the fullest. Believe it or not, pairing perfect wine and food is not an easy task. In fact, the pairing technique requires the skill of matching complementary flavors, so the enjoyment of each component can reach the highest level.
This means that pairing wine with a specific food is not only about matching them for excellent features, but to get the maximum value of each component, so the whole immersive experience can be brought while eating. In this article, we are going to talk about crucial things that you need to know about pairing food with wine. Therefore, you can be able to use this concept and bring new delicious combined flavors into your kitchen.
How to Pair Food and Wine?
Well, you will not believe this but pairing even a simple nice glass of wine with a delicious plate of food can be a combination that will awaken all of your senses and make you enjoy your dining to the fullest. Now, imagine what can you do to your senses if you are able to combine two perfect things into one and get an incredible taste. How to achieve this goal if you are not a professional?
Primarily, you should know that selecting a wine that is best in the terms of price is not the worst way you can start a food and wine pairing. You will definitely find some affordable ones with reasonable prices that are worth a try. This experimental option can be fun. However, if you are not so creative and you want to take a more professional approach, you should get to know the rules.
Choose a Food and Wine That you Like
Logically, if you want to highlight the taste of the dish you are eating, is it quite important to pair the food and wine that you actually like. If you do not like the taste of red wine, for instance, you will definitely won’t like it with the food you are eating, no matter how they can make a perfect combination.
Why are food and wine pairing important?
Many people are wondering why is it important to pair perfectly food and wine. Well, they need to balance each other so the person that is eating will not get the overwhelming taste of one or the other. This means that it is crucial to pair equal flavors, so you can achieve a great balance that will be tasteful. For instance, you can try combining red wine with meat and a glass of white wine with grilled fish. We ensure you that this will provide you delicate experience.
There are two basic rules for Wine Pairings
In the process of wine pairing, it is quite crucial to match the wine with the most prominent element of the food you are going to eat. This can be the main ingredient in the food that you are tasting the most while eating. For instance, if you choose to eat chicken in a mushroom sauce, you need to complete it with red wine. However, grilled chicken with a creamy lemon sauce will be ideal with a glass of white wine. Everything lies in whether the flavor is richer or not.
Additionally, you can see from the example that in most cases, wine is paired with the sauce, not with the specific meat. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the most important ingredient in the dish while pairing. There are generally six main flavor profiles that everyone who wants to pair wine and food should keep in mind. Those are:
- Acidic
- Fatty
- Bitter
- Salty
- Sweet
- Alcohol
Every one of the mentioned can be mixed and combined with another with the purpose of creating an ideal wine-food pairing combination.
Interesting Wine Facts
Well, you should primarily know that red wines come with more bitterness. On the other hand, white as well as rose wines are having more acidity. Lastly, all sweet wines are having sweet notes inside.
Methods of Wine Pairing
There is a congruent and contrasting wine pairing. In the first case, your goal is to pair two similar flavors together that can strengthen each other and finally, create an ideal balance. An example of this can be mixing Chardonnay and cheese. On the other hand, contrasting win pairings which are called also complementary pairings is when one flavor cuts through and balances out the richness of the other.
Some Pairings That you can Try
So, enough talking about theory, let’s see some examples of wine and food pairings that you are going to love! We understand that it can be challenging to decide what can go with what, especially because there are so many various types of wines that you can find out more about on this website. However, which of these wines goes perfectly with particular food dishes?
- Try Chardonnay wine with Salmon for a delicious experience
- Try Cabernet with Red Meat and enjoy
- Pinot Noir can go great with Earthy Flavors
- Pinot Grigio, on the other hand, is ideal for Seafood
- Sauvignon Blanc and Tart Flavors can be a great combination
- Rosé wine can be paired with Cheesy Dishes
- Sparkling Wines with Salty Flavors will surprise your senses
- Riesling and Sweet notes of wines with Spicy Flavors can go unbelievably perfect
- Syrah and Spiced Dishes are an excellent combination that you can try
- If you want to experiment, Zinfandel and Rich Plates can be great as well
Well, we listed some of the great combinations of wine and food that you can try! If you are a beginner, do not be afraid to experiment, who knows what you are going to like! Additionally, pairing wine and food can be one of the very interesting hobbies if you love the taste of wine. You can take every night some different combinations and bring a lot of fun into your life.
