Wine and food are two of life’s great pleasures, and trying to match them can be enormous fun.
The first thing to remember when trying to pair wine and food, is that nothing is written in tablets of stone and it's not really a case of being “right” or “wrong”, because taste is extremely subjective and everyone’s tastes are different. In fact your tastes generally change as you grow older, becoming less sensitive, so you are more likely to enjoy foods that you thought too strong as a child – olives and anchovies for example.
So, the sense of taste is highly personal, and it's estimated that between 75 and 95% of our taste sensation is actually determined from our sense of smell, which is why, if you are suffering from a cold, your sense of taste is compromised.
As adults we have between 2,000 and 8,000 taste buds inside our mouths and it's known that different taste qualities are found in all areas of the tongue, although some are more sensitive than others.
There are five primary tastes; Sweet, Sour or Acid, Salt and Umami. Fat, piquant spicy flavours, tannin and oak are also a consideration when pairing food with wine.
The key is understanding how these different tastes interact with wine, and there a few things that are important to consider with wine and food matching – it’s really all about balance - the weight and acidity of the wine should be compatible with that of the food you are serving with it. The strength and intensity of flavours involved in the food are another consideration and whether you want to compare or contrast them with the wine.
The way we perceive taste is incredibly complex, but an understanding of how different flavours interact with wine can help you discover new culinary experiences. However, some wine and food pairings can transcend what is rather a good meal, into the realms of a truly excellent one, and the following tips are designed to do just that.
Acidity
Acidity is extremely important in wine and crucial in food pairing. If there is too much acidity, the wine will taste sharp and sour. Not enough acidity on the other hand, and the wine tends to taste dull and flabby, like all the fruit has been leached out. Acidity gives wines its backbone, providing it with its tart and zesty, mouthwatering and refreshing taste that stimulates our appetites and revives our palates between each bite. But although acidity should bring about a pleasant mouth-puckering effect - it shouldn't' be like sucking a lemon! There are three main acids in wine; Tartaric [this is the acid responsible for the formation of the crystals known as “wine diamonds” that sometimes form in bottles. It contributes to complexity and structure], Malic [gives crisp, green apple flavours] and Citric [ found in lemons and limes but only in minute quantities in wine, it adds vibrancy to a wine's profile]. Lactic acid is not present naturally in grapes but it can be introduced through the technique of winemaking. Malolactic fermentation is the process where the the harsh malic acid like you find in apples, is converted into the softer lactic acid like you find in milk [this will result in wines with less pronounced acidity and taste smoother with a buttery richness and a creamier texture].
Acidity affects the way we interpret sweetness and bitterness in food, decreasing our perception of these flavours.
In a cool climate grapes tend to ripen slower, resulting in higher acidity. As grapes ripen the sugar level increases and acidity decreases. In a warmer climate the grapes will have less acidity, making lusher wines, but without crispness. With aromatic grape varieties however, a zesty flavour profile is key, and high acidity is also desired in some wine styles like Champagne and other sparkling wines.
Acidic foods make wine seem more sweet and fruity, but less acidic, drying and bitter.
Crisp and vibrant high-acid white like Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, Albariño, Muscadet, Riesling and unoaked Chardonnay [think Chablis] pair well with vinaigrette dressings, tomato dishes and fish and seafood dishes that have benefited from a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice.
Low-acid white wines like Viognier, Gewürztraminer and Marsanne are a great choice with dishes that have a high fat content and creamy texture.
High-acid reds like Pinot Noir, Chainti [Sangiovese] and Barbera are good options to cut through rich foods and prevent them from feeling heavy, like cheesy pizzas and other dishes with a high cheese content, and fatty meats like pork and duck.
Mellower and richer low-acid red wines like Merlot, Zinfandel and Grenache are good with roasted vegetables, leaner meats and dishes with subtler flavours.
You need to match the acidity in the food to the acidity in the wine, so to avoid the wine tasting flat and lifeless, the trick is to choose wines with at least as much acidity as the food – acid really does need acid!
Bitterness and Tannin
Bitter flavours stimulate appetite, and this why bitter aperitifs like Campari for example, are often enjoyed before a meal – they are good postprandial choices. But this is not a flavour that all people find pleasant. Tannin can contribute to a wine tasting bitter. It binds with the proteins in saliva which makes the mouth and gums feel dry, resulting in a sensation that can be interpreted as bitterness. Where acidity floods our mouths with saliva, tannin dries it out.
Tannin is found in the skins, seeds and stems of grapes – so naturally red wines tend to have more tannin than white wines because of the way they are made. Orange wines, where white grapes undergo maceration and are fermented on their skins like a red wine, will also have noticeable tannin.
Wines aged in new oak may acquire extra bitterness because of the way compounds are extracted from the wood, infusing the wine with distinctive profiles which add tannic elements.
Oak can give flavours of vanilla, coconut, cedar, spices like clove, smoky and toasty notes. New oak imparts more intense flavours, whilst with older oak the influence is more subtle.
Young wines that have been matured in new oak are often quite grippy, but as the wine evolves in the bottle the tannins are smoothed out and softened over time. Oak loves creamy dishes that mirror the creamy flavours and texture.
Some grape varieties are naturally higher in tannin than other – Nebbiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat [the clue is in the name!] have a high tannin content, whereas Grenache, Pinot Noir, Beaujolais [Gamay] and Merlot are low in tannins, as are rosé wines because of the minimal skin contact involved in their production.
Climate also has an impact. As already noted, in a cool climate grapes tend to ripen slower resulting in higher acidity, but they will also have lower bitterness.
Grapes grown in warmer climates may produce more tannins, yielding more pronounced bitter flavours and grapes harvested fully ripe produce smoother wines.
Avoid pairing bitter foods like broccoli and globe artichokes with wines that are high in acidity they will just make the wine taste more bitter. This is the same for tannic wines – tannin enhances bitterness!
Because tannin dries your mouth out, tannic wines are usually best enjoyed with food. High-tannin wines are great with red meats like steak and lamb, and fatty dishes, rich in protein. This way the fruity characteristics of the wine are enhanced, the tannins are softened and your palate is refreshed between mouthfuls.
Low-tannin wines suite vegetarian cuisine, lighter meats and subtly seasoned dishes. But avoid too robust heavily seasoned dishes, spicy cuisines, smoky and very oily foods with low-tannin wines; you don't want the wine to overwhelm the food or vice versa. It's all about balance and you want both the food and the wine to compliment and enhance each other.
Sweetness
Sweetness in wine varies from bone dry to lusciously sweet, and there are several factors that can affect our perception of sweetness. The interplay between tannin, acidity and alcohol is crucial.
The drying affect of tannin can dull the perception of sweetness, and this is particularly true of red wines.
Acidly can affect the sensation of sweetness. High-acid wines can mask sweetness by offsetting it, making it taste less sweet than it actually is, and vice versa; these two components play against each other and balance is vital. A high sugar wine with low acidity can taste excessively sweet, whereas a wine with both high sugar and high acid will be balanced and taste vibrant.
High alcohol wines increase the perception of sweetness and make a wine seem richer.
Sweet foods can make wine seem more acidic, bitter and drying, and less sweet and fruity.
The rule of thumb is that the wine should be at least, preferably sweeter than the food you are serving it with, otherwise the taste of the wine can be seriously dulled and taste thin and sour.
Sweet wines can also balance out salt and the contrast between savoury salt and sweet can be fantastic – think blue cheese and Sauternes! Port is also great with blue cheese – Port and Stilton is a legendary pairing, where the salty flavour and creamy texture of the cheese is enhanced and perfectly balanced by the sweet wine.
Keeping on the savoury side, sweet wines are superb with decadent liver pâtés like foie gras, as their high acidity can stand up to rich fatty foods.
Sugar amplifies fruitiness – think of a fresh fruit salad with a sparkling Moscato – a classic pairing.
Just remember that if you are serving a lusciously sweet dessert – then pair it with a sumptuously opulent sweet wine!
Sweetness also make a difference to the way we perceive spicy foods - see Piquancy section below.
Piquancy
Sweetness has an effect on the heat of spicy, chilli-laden food. Sugar tames the heat and balances out the burning sensation; it doesn't neutralize the spice, but it does make it more palatable because sugar activates receptors in the mouth that counteract the burn of capsaicim, the compound that gives chilli peppers their heat and spicy flavour. So, this is why off-dry wines are great with spicy cuisines - but choose wines with pronounced aromatics, like Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chenin [think Vouvray] or off-dry rosés, because wines that are too delicate and subtle will be overwhelmed by the spice. You want to enhance the flavours, not crush them.
Sparkling wines also complement spicy dishes as their bubbles and acidity create a refreshing balance and soothe heat.
But spicy foods can clash with wine. Alcohol can increase the perception of heat, intensifying the chilli burn and numb your palate, so if you prefer a red wine then choose light-bodied, low tannin ones like Pinot Noir or Beaujolais, which you can even chill slightly as this will mitigate the heat. Of course some people crave this burning sensation when they choose spicy food, and it makes the culinary experience all the more enjoyable for them – in that case, steer away from the sweeter options and go for high alcohol tannic red wines instead, as these will make the food taste even hotter! Everyone has different tolerances when it comes to heat.
Salt
Many wines have a saline profile - like Muscadet, Abarino, Asyrtiko and Fino and Manzanilla Sherries.
The combination of Muscadet with briny oysters is a classic pairing, as is Chablis, which is often described as having nuances reminiscent of oyster shells. And Sherry with roasted, salted almonds is divine!
Salt makes most foods more palatable. Salty foods can make wine seem less acidic by levelling out the perception of acid, making wine taste smoother and rounder with more body.
The combination of salt and acid elevates flavours. There is a reason why salty cheesy and fried snacks are served with sparkling wine aperitifs!
Salt also makes wine seem more fruity, enhancing a wine's fruitiness, making it seem juicier.
But saying that – overly salty food can clash with wine, and too tannic wines are not a good combination with too salty foods, as together they create an unpleasant bitter and sometimes metallic flavour sensation.
But in general though, everything LOVES salt!
Umami
Paring wines with umami-rich foods can seem challenging, as its flavour is rather hard to pin down.
That deeply savoury, pungent and meaty flavour known as the fifth taste, was only recognised in 1908. It was discovered by Kikunae Ikeda, a professor of physics at the Tokyo Imperial University. Tucking into a bowl of seaweed based broth, he found that the flavour didn’t conform to any of the four accepted primary tastes of sweet, sour, bitter and salty. So he set about trying to identify this new taste by conducting a whole range of soup based experiments and eventually managed to extract glutamic acid crystals. He stabilized the crystals, which was easily achieved by mixing them with salt and water – and then they became monosodium glutamate. Umami is a natural form of MSG.
The word Umami doesn’t translate easily, but loosely it means “deliciousness”.
We now know that glutamate is present in varying amounts in almost every foodstuff, and that the protein is so vital to our functioning that our own bodies produce 40grams of it a day.
But some foods are much richer in umami than others, and seaweed aside, you will find Umami notes in soy sauce, bacon, tomatoes, cheese, cured meats, Worcester sauce, Bovril, Marmite, Asian fermented fish sauces like the Thai nam pla and mushrooms, particularly Shitake, Porcini and Oyster. Cooking will enhance the umami flavour of all mushrooms.
Parmesan cheese has more glutamate in it than any other natural foodstuff and Marmite has more than any other manufactured product.
MSG itself is not all that palatable, but when added to soup for example – it becomes much more tasty! In short it adds complexity and enhances flavour.
In wine terms you might liken it to those wines that traditionally have rather savoury notes, Pinot Noir for example, develops savoury nuances over time. And red wines are more umami than whites because of the way they are made; amino acids are mainly found in the skins of grapes and during maceration these acids are extracted and conveyed to the wine. Malolactic fermentation and lees ageing also contribute to umami flavours.
Umami-rich foods can make wine seem more acidic, drying and bitter, but less sweet and fruity.
Avoid high-tannin reds like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah as they can amplify the drying out of the mouth sensation that tannin affords and make the wine taste harsher and bitter with a metallic astringency. Also avoid high-alcohol wines as they can clash with the intense flavours of umami, creating an unbalanced taste. And finally avoid heavily oaked wines which may overpower the food; the wood can enhance the salty flavours of umami making everything taste cloying and unbalanced; you want both the food and the wine to shine. But there are always exceptions to every rule and Nebbiolo, a grape very high in tannins, is wonderful with mushrooms, and Sangiovese, another high tannin grape, is great with cooked tomato-based dishes. This is because they are both also very high in acidity, and the acidity is more pronounced than the tannin! And oaked Chardonnays are also great with cooked mushroom dishes because the depth of the wine compliments the earthliness of the fungi. For more delicate mushroom dishes look to un-oaked Chardonnays and Chablis.
Light to moderate red wines that have low tannins but high acidity and a profile that is fruit-forward are good with umami-rich foods – the fruit balances umami flavours and brings out the fruitiness of the wine. Think Pinot Noir and Beaujolais [Gamay].
If you prefer whites, then light whites that are crisp [crispness balances savoury flavours] and aromatic with bright acidity are the way to go, like Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner , Pinot Grigio and Riesling. And dry, crisp rosés with high acidity are also a nice option.
Because of their lees ageing [lees add savoury notes], Champagne and other bottle-fermented wines are a good match too – their bubbles and high acidity cut through richness and act as a palate cleanser.
And don't forget Sherry! Dry Fino and Manzanilla styles [sherries produced under flor take on a savoury umami taste] are fantastic with charcuterie. Nutty Oxidative sherries deepen umami flavours; Amontillado is brilliant with aged cheeses and Oloroso with rich meats like duck!
Fat
Some researchers consider fat the sixth primary taste.
Full fat foods are more sumptuous and silky-textured than their low fat alternatives. Fatty meats are juicer than lean meats, and textures are changed by the amount of fat in a dish.
The richness of fatty, oily foods can be counteracted with wines that are high in acidity as they help to breakdown fats, cut through the richness and revive your palate. Fatty foods make wine seem less acidic.
Fatty foods coat the mouth with their oleaginous texture, so wines with crisp and bright acidity like Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling for example, will cut through the richness and cleanse the mouth.
Researchers have found that fat can also reduce the sensation of tannin by masking it, making wine seem more fruity and less astringent. So there is a mutual affinity between tannin and lipids and wines high in tannin will taste less bitter when paired with cheese, fatty meats, oily food, creamy and buttery sauces.
Weight and Body
Matching the weight or body of the wine to the accompanying food is one of the key elements to successful wine and food pairing. You don’t want the food to overwhelm the wine; you want it to compliment and enhance it. Therefore heartier more robust dishes suite heavier wines and delicate more subtle flavoured dishes go better with lighter wines.
For example, light-bodied wines like Pinot Grigio, can be overwhelmed by heavy foods like red meats, stews and casseroles, just as delicate dishes like salads and seafood can be overwhelmed by robust wines like Cabernet Sauvignon – match the intensity of the dish to the intensity of the wine.
Remember that the use of oak can affect the weight of a wine – think about the difference between an oaked and an un-oaked Chardonnay for example. Climates too affect a wine’s weight – Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand are often weightier than those from the Loire.
The amount of sugar in luscious dessert wines makes them heavier and more viscous, giving them more weight and density on the palate.
Alcohol influences the body of a wine, and a wine can be light-bodied, medium-bodied and full-bodied – it's like comparing skimmed, semi-skimmed and full fat milks. Basically, the bolder the wine, the gutsier you can go with your food pairings.
Flavours - Complementary or Contrasting
Complimentary matching is about pairing similar flavours in the food you are serving to similar flavours in the wine; like with like. It works because the comparable flavours in the food and wine amplify each other.
If you want to compare the wine to the food, try to identify the dominant flavours involved, which is often in the seasoning and sauce, rather than the main component of the dish, and literally try to match them up with the tasting notes of the wine. So, you are basically mirroring the flavours in the food with those in the wine.
Contrasting works on the premise that “opposites attract”, like sugar and acid. Think about the sweet and sour contrasts you find in many Asian and Oriental cuisines for example. So in this case you are using opposing flavours in a juxtaposition to create an exciting dynamic effect. They work because they create a balance by using antipodal qualities, playing the flavours off each other.
It may seem safer to go down the complimentary road, but the contrasting one can surprise you and deliver some intriguing and genuinely great pairings!
Conclusion
You can have a look at the in-depth food pairing categories on this site and see some wine matching suggestions.
And remember that regional pairings will usually be a winner – that old adage, “what grows together, goes together” really is a good rule for wine and food matching.
At the end of the day, buy wine you really enjoy as it's no point forcing yourself to drink wine you really don't like the flavour profile of. Let your instincts guide you and acquaint yourself with your own palate; if you enjoy combinations that others eschew, don't feel embarrassed and dig in as your preferences are purely individual and subjective. But do keep an open mind and have fun experimenting; you might discover an unexpected synthesis! Most importantly though – ENJOY! It's supposed to be fun after all, and the very best pairing could be the conviviality around the table creating wonderful memories!