6 Basic Rules For Pairing Food With Wine (Video)

Hi, I'm Rachel May, and today we're going to talk about wine pairings. Now there's certain elements of wine. There's sugar, acid, fruit, tannins, and alcohol. And there's also flavor components of food. There's fat acid, salt, sweet, bitter, and texture. So when we think about pairing, we need to think about how these flavor elements are going to work together. Let's talk about some of the basic rules of wine pairing. Rule number one, hors d'oeuvres need a dry rosé. The reason is a rosé combines the light crispness of a white with the fruitiness of a red. And if you have a table of hors d'oeuvres, there's many different flavors and textures that you need to accommodate. Rule number two, acid needs acid. So any food that has a high acidic level, something you'd want to squeeze a lemon onto, that's a great pairing with a light citrusy, acidic white wine. If you have a dish like chicken piccata, pasta with tomato sauce, or a roasted fish with citrus, which will pair with a bright citrusy pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. It'll be like a zap of fresh lemon in your dish. Rule number three, tannins need fat. If you have food with a higher fat content, say a marbled ribeye steak, or a braised duck, or grilled sausages, you really need a wine with a textural element that will balance it out. If you pair with a bold red wine, like a Syrah or a Cabernet, the tannins in that red wine really balance out the fat element. Rule number four, heat needs sweet. If you're serving a dish that has a little kick to it, or a little bit of spice, you're going to need a lighter, slightly sweet wine to pair with it. A good example would be a Riesling or a White Zinfandel. Rule number five, salty needs bubbles. Now it can be a little hard to pair salty or fried foods with a wine, but similar to a beer, the carbonation of the sparkling wine adds a whole different texture and brings a whole new flavor to it. Rule number six, earthy needs earthy. Now if you have an earthier food, like mushrooms, lentils, or gamey meats, they're going to be great paired with an earthy wine. A good choice would be a Syrah or a Pinot Noir. You really want to think about your dominant flavors. Is it sweet? Is it salty? Is it citrusy? These are the elements you want to consider when pairing your wine with your entree. Hopefully this gives you a better idea for how to pair your wines with your food. These tips are brought to you by Shoptopia. Just what you want, right where you are.