Cutting the Fat: How to pair wines with Super Bowl food

When pairing Super Bowl foods with wine, keep this rule in mind: fat with acidity, salt with sugar.

Greasy, Fatty Foods and Wine

Greasy or fatty finger foods need a wine with a bit of acidity to help cut the fat. Grapes like riesling, gewürztraminer and grüner veltliner are great choices. Red grapes can also work, but avoid heavy or tannic wines. Pinot noir, tempranillo and gamay can be a pleasant match.

Of course, beer is always a good match with deep fried appetizers. The bitterness found in hoppy beers such as IPAs stands up well to the fattiness.

Pizza, Nachos and Wine

Pairing wine with pizza or nachos can be a little trickier; when in doubt, match the wine to the toppings. Delivery pizza is excellent with fruity zinfandel or mid-range sangiovese. Beer is almost always your best bet with nachos. Doesn’t matter if they’re veggie or piled with chili, the beer will help to balance the salt.

My Super Bowl guilty pleasure is Hawkin’s Cheezies and I pair them with big Italian reds. There is a fair bit of salt in a cheezie and the cheese flavour is intense, so Brunello di Montalcino, Super Tuscan and ripasso-style wines are good picks.

Snack Food Sauces and Wine

Pairing typical Super Bowl snacks with wine is not too challenging if you follow the fat/acid, salt/sugar rule. But wine matches can get more complicated when you get into the real stars of Super Bowl foods: the sauces.

Sauces are tricky to pair with wine because they alter the natural flavours of the foods. Here are a few tips for tackling the sauces:

• Teriyaki: The sweetness can be a little tricky, but try a red wine like Beaujolais, a gamay-based blend or even a pinot noir. If Teriyaki beef is on the menu, a zinfandel or Australian shiraz would work well.
• Tex-Mex: Covering all manner of evils — salsa, bean dip, seven layer dip and salsa con quesa — you’re going to want a lager-style beer or a gamay. If you’ve got a lighter Tex-Mex dish, try a grassy sauvignon blanc from New Zealand.
• Hot Sauce: Avoid big, tannic reds or higher alcohol juice with spice. High-acid wines will scrub the palate and balance the heat, and the slight sweetness will coat the mouth and protect you from the heat. Look for off-dry rieslings, gewürztraminers, Champagnes and proseccos or dry rosés.
• Honey Garlic: This is a tough one due to the staggering intensity of the flavour. Look for a big zinfandel, a sauvignon blanc or a pinot gris. Try to avoid New Zealand sauvignon blancs and stick with a fumé blanc or Alsace pinot gris.
• Blue Cheese: The flavours are quite strong and can be excellent matches with zinfandel or spicier syrah expressions, such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Port is a classic match, but that might be too robust for an afternoon get-together.
• Ranch: This dressing is a bit of an oddball that rarely goes well with anything. You could try to make it work with a higher acid, slightly off-dry riesling, but beer is probably your best bet.

You’ve got the main guidelines, so have fun experimenting with flavours at your Super Bowl party. Your cholesterol and waistline will probably thank you if you keep the heavy sauces to a minimum, or maybe try hitting the gym next week once or twice.

Cheers!