Are You Going To Eat That?

So, in my post Do You Smell That we discovered the proper way to taste wine, the difference between taste and flavour and the importance of balance.  We now know that wines can have many different flavour elements yet the taste must remain balanced between sweet, sour and bitter.  In cooking we must also look for a balance between sweet, sour and bitter but, also between salty and umami as well as heat (temperature as well as spice) and texture.  How the wine reacts to food is what I will be discussing in this post. 

Before we start to look at guidelines we need to identify and define certain terms.  When we discuss wine we are generally going to place them within six basic styles: Aromatic, Crisp, Rich, Fruity, Smooth and Powerful.  In descending order think about the lightest whites up to the darkest reds.  Aromatics tend to be dry and medium dry white wines, Crisp tend to be dry and unoaked whites, Rich are the full bodied (oaked) white wines, Fruity tends to be light to medium bodied red wines, Smooth are medium to full bodied reds and Powerful are big and intense red wines.  Rosés can fall anywhere within the spectrum from Crisp to Smooth.  In this varietal chart, separated by white and red, simply substitute light, medium and heavy with Aromatic, Crisp and Rich in the white wine chart and Fruity, Smooth and Powerful in the red wine chart.  This will give you an adequate idea of the wine styles for each category - there are, of course, exceptions which is why these are all guidelines and not rules. 

When we speak of food we also use similar descriptors to those for describing wines.  A dish can be heavy, or light, it can have balance, it has heavy notes and high notes, it is layered.  With today's cuisine the emphasis is on balance and harmony amongst the ingredients.  Fusion is no longer a fad but, has truly become the cuisine of many countries due to the mobility of humankind and our cultures.  Even when we cook using a certain cuisine's techniques we often use ingredients from another culture all together.  This makes the task a little harder but, the good news is the rules for matching are less stringent. 

So, here are my very simple guidelines for matching foods and wines.  

1) Do what tastes best to you

2) Do not develop or let someone insist you follow any set rules

3) Try to make sure the wine is always sweeter than the food you are eating 

4) Proteins and fat will mute the astringency of high tannin red wines - think meats and cream

5) Deep fried and greasy foods tend to want more acidic wines to cut the grease - especially batters

6) When a dish is too hot, cooks will add sweetness to dull the heat; the same holds true for sweet wines

7) Contrasts are sometimes just as good as compliments.

Aromatic Wines

Sole, Flounder, Clams, Oysters

Crisp Wines

Snapper, Bass, Shrimp, Scallops, Veal Paillard

Rich Wines

Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish, Lobster, Duck, Roast Chicken, Sirloin Steak

Fruity Wines

Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish, Duck, Roast Chicken

Smooth Wines

Game Birds, Veal Chops, Pork Chops

Powerful Wines

Lamb Chops, Leg of Lamb, Beefsteak, Game Meats

Classic Cheese Pairings

Chevre/Fresh Goat Cheese - Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc

Montrachet, Aged Monteray Jack - Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux

Pecorino, Parmigiano-Reggiano - Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux, Barolo, Amarone

Manchego - Rioja, Brunello di Montalcino

Camembert, Brie - Sparkling Wine, Champagne

Aged Gouda - Riesling

Stilton - Port

A note about sauce.  It is always important to consider the type of sauce when attempting to match a wine.  A light flavoured protein that is served in a heavy cream or marinara sauce will require a rethink.  Does the dish now require a bolder wine, a sweeter wine or a crisper wine?  Matching wines to sauces is the trickiest part of wine pairing and, until you acquire experience, feel comfortable asking your local LCBO product specialist for assistance. 

When you do match a wine to a meal properly you will be in for a memorable experience.  All of my favourite wines became so because of the way the reacted with the food I was eating.  I will re-live two for you as examples:

In 1999, while in BC, I was dining with friends and took my first shot at ordering a bottle of wine with dinner.  We were having a dish which had scallops and fried oysters with a lime sauce.  After reading the descriptions of the wines I chose a 1998 St. Supéry Sauvignon Blanc.  The match was amazing and, as I am typing this, I can even remember the taste of the food, the decor of the restaurant and the faces of the friends I was dining with.  This wine remains my favourite Sauvignon Blanc. 

This past week I cooked Ossobuco alla Milanese and served a 2008 Tenuta San Guido La Difese which, when drank by itself is higher in tannin than one would like but, when had with this meal was enough for me to write an entire post about it.  The same magic holds true for this wine: I can recall the flavours of the food and the enjoyment of the evening much better than if it was just the food alone. And I know that I  need only try this wine any time I wish to relive those memories.