Wine 101: 10 Tips for Pairing Wine with Food

Here are 10 tips for pairing the perfect wine with your food whether you're ordering the menu at a restaurant or buying wine for the meal you intend on cooking that night. What wines pair best with heavy meat dishes like grilled steak, rack of lamb, and beef stew? Medium to full-bodied red wines. Think red wines with moderate to high structure and fruitiness like Ribeiro del Duero, Barolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Syrah or Shiraz. What wines pair best with pork dishes like pork chops with mashed potatoes or tenderloins with grilled vegetables? Light to medium-bodied reds or medium-bodied white wines. So think fresh and fruity reds with softer tannins like Creux Beaujolais or Pinot Noir or neutral to aromatic white wines like Pinot Blanc or Gris, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer. What wines pair best with seafood dishes like grilled fish and vegetables or octopus salad? Light to medium-bodied dry white wines with medium to high acidity like Vino Verde, Sauvignon Blanc, and Albariño. What wines pair best with creamy pasta dishes like fettuccine Alfredo or truffle and mushroom gnocchi? Dry, medium-bodied white or red wines with medium to high acidity depending on whether the dish features meat, mushrooms, or cheese. So for example, a Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc or Grigio would pair well with a plain cream or Alfredo sauce. Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo, or Dolcetto would pair beautifully with a creamy mushroom sauce. And Chianti or Barbero d'Alba would pair with a cream sauce with meat. Here's a little hack to help guide all of your pairing decisions. The wines produced in a specific region often pair the very best with the unique foods that come out of that same region. Why? Well, for starters, the same terroir that produces the grapes that grow into the wine produce the fruits and vegetables used to make that region's cuisine. Secondly, winemakers typically craft their wines with their home's cuisine in mind. So you can be sure that the wines produced in a locale will typically pair exquisitely well with the foods that come from that same place. What wines pair best with salads? Dry, medium-bodied white or rosé wine with medium to high acidity. Think Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Bianco, and Arnais. We're halfway through our smorgasbord of wine and food pairing suggestions. Remember, you can keep studying more flashcards like these in the Brainscape app, which leverages spaced repetition to help you gorge your wine knowledge so much faster than any other learning or wine app. What wines pair best with chicken dishes like whole roast chicken or chicken parmigiana? Dry, medium-bodied white wines like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio. Or red wines with medium acidity like Beaujolais, Dolcetto, Cotes de Rhone, and Oregon Pinot Noir. What wines pair best with dessert? Well, sweet dessert wines that are at least as sweet as or sweeter than the dessert you've chosen. So if you've chosen a lighter dessert such as panna cotta or a fruit tart, a light-bodied, gently sweet wine will pair really well. For example, Moscato d'Asti, Sauternes, and Icewine. If, however, you've chosen a richer dessert like chocolate, fortified wines or passito red wines will work better, like Port and PX Sherry. Now, passito is simply the term for raisin in Italian, so it refers to the class of wines made from raisinated grapes. What wine should I get if I'm having sushi? Light to medium-bodied white wines with medium to high acidity like Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc, and dry to off-dry Riesling. Also, some sparkling white wines will do the trick, like Bouffre, Cava, and Champagne. What wine should I get if I'm having pizza? Sparkling wines like Lambrusco and Champagne, and dry, fruity, medium-bodied reds like Chianti Classico Barbera and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Now, all of these wines, with one exception, are Italian, just like pizza is Italian. So remember, the foods of a country, or more specifically a region, often pair the very best with the wines produced in that same region. What wine should I buy or order if I'm having spicy food, like Thai or Mexican cuisine with chili peppers in it? Textural, aromatic white wines with some residual sugar, and fruity reds with lower tannins. Think Riesling Spätlesa, Alsatian Gewürztraminer, and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Then, on the red end of the spectrum, there's Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Cinsur. The overt fruit and residual sugar in these wines makes the spice feel less harsh, while the acidity makes you salivate and cleanses your palate. That's the end of your 10 flashcard study round. You can find hundreds more questions like these in Brainscape's collection of wine appreciation flashcards, or in our comprehensive flashcard collections for the WSET and Court of Master Sommelier exams. And of course, keep listening to the rest of this hands-free playlist to massively level up your wine knowledge.