Perfect Wine Pairings
Matching wine and food doesn't have to be difficult
When you’re pairing food with wine, the rules change. Serve a red and a white wine at dinner — it’s okay to go back and forth when you’re tasting food with wine.
“Wine and food come together when the character traits of wine mesh with the food’s personality,” says master sommelier Evan Goldstein, author of Perfect Pairings: A Master Sommelier's Practical Advice for Partnering Wine with Food.
Spicy and Sweet Dishes: Off-Dry Riesling
An off-dry riesling is a versatile companion for many diverse dishes — think pulled pork sandwiches or ginger-and-chili-fired Thai curries. It’s also excellent with seafood and it’s one of the few wines that can hold its own with egg preparations and smoked salmon and pork.
Off-Drying Riesling Cheese Match: St. Agur
Earthy and Smoky: Pinot Noir
Nothing trumps pinot noir as a food-friendly red. It’s really a white wine masquerading as a red, with good acidity and soft tannins. It goes with almost everything, except overly rich butter-based sauces and strongly flavoured fish like anchovies, sardines and mackerel. Chilled slightly, it’s perfect for a picnic.
Pinot Noir Cheese Match: Taleggio
Steaks and Grilled Meats: Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet sauvignon is the world’s classic red wine grape. Choose an older Bordeaux blend or California cabernet to drink with rare beef and a young cab to accompany beef braises or stews. The firm tannins refresh the palate after bites of grilled meats.
Cabernet Sauvignon Cheese Match: Riopelle de L’Isle
Salty and Deep-Fried Foods: Sparkling Wine
Not just for toasting, bubbles have the depth of flavour and richness to offer a range of pairing options, from sashimi and creamy soups, to fish and chips, shellfish and omelettes. Perfect with Asian foods like deep-fried Chinese dishes, Indian samosas and Thai curries.
Sparkling Wine Cheese Match: L’Édel de Cléron
Soups and Salads: Sauvignon Blanc
The palate-cleansing acidity of sauvignon blanc and notes of citrus and herb pair with a wide range of dishes including salads with vinaigrettes, vegetarian soups and grilled poultry or seafood.
Sauvignon Blanc Cheese Matches: Salt Spring Island Chèvre or, if you can’t find that, try Woolwich Dairy Chevrai or Snow Goat Fresh Chèvre
Comments
Tom Firth
Hi Andrew,
Thanks again for commenting. I find pairing generally stressfull since I want to find that perfect match, rather than something fun and complimentary.
One of the best pairing rules of thumb I heard was from an export director who said, "match it to the final flavour you will taste". Our tendency to over sauce things such as red meat can mean, you might not want to pair to the meat, but your homemade BBQ sauce.
Personally, I love it when you have made a dish several times, and finally just nail the course and the wine to go with it.
The next time, the match will never be the same, so just keep looking for that new perfect pairing.
Cheers,
Tom
Andrew
Thank you for your response Tom! I definitely agree with your comment as to a dish's sauce or glaze. One of my favourite food and wine pairing books is Perfect Pairings by Evan Goldstein. He has taught me the importance of sauces and marinades, as well as the signifigance of the actual mode of preparation. Great book! I hope to one day pop some corks with you. I'll be in touch if I make it out your way, and you must contact me if you get a chance to visit Newfoundland. You will LOVE it - I promise! :) Keep up the good work, and I'm sure that we'll cross paths one day!
Cheers,
Andrew
Tom Firth
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your comment. I have to say that sometimes I am a bit unsure of which Cabernet (and how old) to enjoy with certain dishes. As you can imagine, we consume alot of beef in Alberta and I do drink alot of Cabernets with a variety of beef based dishes. Generally, more well done beef calls for softer or less tannic wines while rare cuts can handle a harder tannin such as in younger Cabs as you pointed out.
In my opinion, most sauces or glazes for things like steak overwhelm the meat these days, and in those cases need younger more agressive wines to cut through the sugars in those sauces. For Braised meats, I generally like wines with a little age, but not too much. For Stews, well, I think good stew pretty much can't be beat and that is the perfect time to pull out something like a well aged cab based wine.
At the end of the day, just like you, I simply want to enjoy a good meal and enjoy it with good company and good wine. Serving recommendations are just that, but not written in stone.
Tom
Anonymous
Good day! First off, I really enjoy your magazine - great job! My question pertains to your recommendation regarding the age of Cab's and the style of beef served alongside. As a Sommelier and wine educator I have actually been teaching the exact opposite?!? Wouldn't you serve the youger/more tannic Cab's with the rarer meat and the older/softer with the braises and stews?? I ask just because I would like to hear from "others" in the know. It's a lonely road I walk here on the Rock, with very little in terms of others in the field! :)
Cheers,
Andrew Facey
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