This article is a general guide to help you pair specific wines with your favorite foods. While all taste is a matter of personal preference there have been well respected opinions formed by wine experts over the years of which wines best complement certain foods. Wine and food are often thought of as being synonymous with each other and drinking a great wine with the perfect dish is an incredible experience that everyone deserves to have.
It is widely believed that simple, lightly spiced dishes emphasize the subtlety and complexity of the finest wines better than spicier, mouth searing foods. You will experience the best pairing when you let the wine lead the way and prevent the food from overwhelming it. However, there are strong flavored white wines that can stand up to spicy foods like Mexican and Asian cuisine.
Seafood seams to be the one food where there is an overwhelming general consensus of the best pairings. White wines complement white fish the best unless there is a strong tomato based sauce used in the cooking process. Full-bodied, tannic red wines seem to taste steely and add no flavor to fish which is why they are rarely ever paired. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. Lighter red wines, like pinot noir, can make splendid companions to full flavored fish such as tuna or salmon.
The most common pairing recommendation for beef, lamb, and other game is red wine because the tannins in red wine cut through the fat and muscle of the meat, releasing additional flavor. The body and flavor of a medium to full-bodied red is strong enough to match the intensity of the meat, which is very hard to find in a whine wine. Most food and wine critics believe that the better the meat, the better the red wine.
When pairing other foods like pizza, pasta, cheeses, and vegetables with wine you really need to consider the sauce, style, or topping. These ingredients as well as the food type will help you determine whether you will pair with red or white wine. Much to the surprise of wine drinkers, both can work equally well with these food categories. One shocking fact for red wine connoisseurs is that there is a growing consensus among wine experts that cheese is enhanced as much by white as red. This especially pertains to crusted cheeses such as brie and camembert. Red wine is still the best match for softer milk cheeses and goat cheese can be paired with white or red.
There are many other foods that can match well with both white and red wines like poultry, veal, pork, and rabbit. All of these foods are equally improved with either a Chardonnay or red Bordeaux. Once again, it mostly depends on the sauce and ingredients used in the food preparation.
Lastly, we have come to fruit and desserts. This is still a pairing that creates great debate amongst wine tasting experts. Chocolate still seems to be best accompanied with red wines like cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and zinfandel. However, other sweets seem to best paired with whatever your personal preferences might be. I guess you can say no wine can really mess up or take away from a delicious dessert.
Overall, there are general rules to wine pairing but rules were meant to broken. Feel free to experiment and be daring with your pairings because you never know when you will come across a unique, delicious combination that others have not considered. You cannot enjoy the tastes or palates of others so stay true to what you enjoy and don't get caught up in following the rules.
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