How To Pair Wine With Food

There are so many theories out there about pairing food with wine. Logistics behind it, things to do, things not to do. Truth be told, pairing food with wine has to involve considering the flavors, textures, and characteristics of both food and wine that you're about to have. And personal preferences have a role in this process, but for the most part, there are some general guidelines that will help you make a more successful food pairing with wine. And this video is all about that. This is a little step-by-step guide on how to pair your food with wine. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to My Wine Diary. If you are new to this channel, by the end of this video, if you liked it, of course, please consider subscribing. And if you're a returning subscriber of mine, then thank you so much for being here for yet another video. I personally have a love-hate relationship with all of the step-by-step guides and rules out there about how to pair your food with wine. Because truly, I think that we are all so different and our palates are so different that the rules that we're trying to box everybody in when it comes to pairing food with wine just don't work all the time. That does not mean, however, that it's not a good idea to have those guides in your head just as a set of rules and kind of like a little platform to jump from. And going into a restaurant and seeing a large wine menu at times, I really want for you to take a deep breath and decompress and not stress about it. First and foremost, think about which wine do you actually like? Do you prefer red wine? Do you like white wine? Or do you just like bubbly? And let that really guide you first before you go into any other analyzing about the food and wine. Ask for any help and whatnot. And here's why I'm saying this. Yes, we do believe in the wine society that certain foods go well with a certain wine type. But if you are fundamentally not in favor of, say, red wine, then don't go there. Don't go against your will trying to make yourself like something, if that makes sense. And I truly encourage for you to explore. And if you think that you don't like red wine, for instance, just based on like one or two red wines that you tried, of course, you just need to explore and try some other red wines. But this is just an example. What I'm saying is if you're a pretty experienced wine consumer and you know for a fact that white wine is where it's at for you, you can 100% have white wine with heavier dishes, with meats. And the stigma behind red wine versus white wine for specific foods is so blown up and so overrated, in my opinion. I truly think that you can fit your personal preference to whatever food you're eating. First and foremost, let's look at the food first. I strongly believe that you need to decide, or at least have an idea, what is it that you're in the mood for when you're in a specific restaurant. So take a look at the food menu first before you choose a wine to start with. So for instance, if you are in the mood for something light, if you're not that hungry, then your food preferences will be on the lighter side and your wine preferences or wine choices will probably follow that same route as well. Now, if you're super hungry or if you're in a restaurant that specializes in specific foods, like ethnic foods for instance, that are just known to be spicier or heavier, or maybe you're in a barbecue restaurant, so all of that will of course kind of affect your choice in wine as well that you're going to pair with that food. So take a look at the food list first and have an idea what you're gonna have. And once you did that, this is my point number one in the step-by-step guide, identify the flavors of the food that you're about to have. So for instance, is the food that you're about to order, is it sweet? Is it salty? Is it savory? Or is it sweet? You know, is it spicy perhaps? So identifying those flavors of food will definitely help you select a wine from the wine list that will complement that food a little bit better. For the most part, people start with an appetizer, something a little bit lighter, so for that matter you may want to start with a sparkling wine or a white wine of whatever sort, right? Or if you're a true red wine drinker and you just want to have some red wine on a specific evening, maybe with your lighter appetizers have some lighter red wines as well. The second point is to consider the intensity of the dish. So just like our wines, our food can be light bodied or heavy bodied as well. So for that reason, we definitely want to try and pair lighter foods with lighter wines as well. The rule of thumb is as such, your lighter food will go with lighter wines and then heavier food will go with a bit of more complex heavier wines as well. So definitely identify the intensity of the food item. Then once we've identified the intensity of our food, we are going on point number three, which is matching or contrasting the intensity of the food. So you can either go the route of that harmonious matching of the intensity. For instance, if you have a very, say if you have a very light appetizer, you are going with a lighter wine with it as well, or you can go the contrasting route. So for instance, if your appetizer is on a spicier side, like a spicy tuna or something super bold, right? You're going to contrast it with a lighter, crisper wine to kind of break that heaviness and add some freshness into the food that you're about to eat. So we're either going harmoniously with it, or we're going to contrast it with going against the grain. Then going on to my next point, which I think is point number four, who cares, right? We definitely want to analyze the wine itself now. So we've chosen our food. Let's now think about the wine that we're choosing. So here, consider the acidity level, the tannins. You want to consider the body. Is it a full body or medium body or light body wine? So analyze all of that because your wine will help you enjoy your food a little bit better. For instance, if you're choosing something, say very spicy, for instance, or heavier food, you definitely want to go for highly acidic wine that will help you cut through the rich dishes. So for instance, something fatty, maybe fried will go really well with a crisp acidic wine. And then you want to go with, say, sweeter wines for foods that are spicier. So our Asian cuisine that tends to be on a spicier side goes really well with, say, sweeter Rieslings or something like that. So analyzing the wine after you ordered the food and then making a choice is a very bold decision because normally once you're in a restaurant, you're asked, what would you like to drink first? And that's where I really challenge you to choose your food first and then go into analyzing the drink that you want to order to go with it. Next point is focusing heavily on regional pairings. There is just so much beauty in drinking the wine produced in a specific region with the food that comes from the area as well. Normally our foods and wines that are produced in a specific area, they really evolve together. They pair extremely beautifully together. So for instance, your Italian dishes will pair really great with Italian wines as well. A great example of that are our Tuscany wines, Chianti, anything that's made with that Sangiovese grape goes so absolutely perfectly with red sauces, with pastas and pizzas. And then French wines go so great with French dishes as well. And I mean, the list just goes on. Same with the Spanish wines, the Portuguese wines and on and on and on. Now I want to pull you into exploring the textures of both your food and wine as well. And here, imagine if you're eating something creamy, something rich and delicious, that's very buttery and creamy and flavor. I'd like for you to explore very smooth and velvety wines as well. So maybe go on to a lower acidity level here. And in contrast to that, if you're eating food that's super rich, bold, maybe oily, such as again, some of the Asian cuisines that we notice or Indian food, for instance, you definitely want to bring higher acidity in the plate here to cut through all of those oils and the richness of the flavors with a fresher wine. So texture exploring is absolutely huge. Give it a go, try different things. And my next point is in the fact that it's all about balance when you want to achieve that perfect wine and food pairing, because you definitely don't want to overpower your food with wine or wine with food for that matter. So think about a good balancing here, no overpowering. So let's go back to the Indian cuisine for instance, which is one of my favorites. I love Indian food. So Indian food tends to be oily, super, super rich, an immense amount of flavors in it, right? We don't want to bring the wine that's also so strong and so bold and rich, right? So if I was to pair, say, an Argentinian Malbec with Indian food, I'd be very disappointed in both my food and the wine, because that pairing is just overwhelming on each side. We definitely want to balance it out. So if the food that you're about to order has the oomph to it, if you know for a fact it's going to be an absolute powerhouse of flavors, then balance it out with wine that's a little bit simpler, more refreshing, crisper. And that does not mean a sparkling wine or white wine for that matter. You can 100% find a red wine on the list that's a little bit lighter, not such high intensity of flavors, maybe higher acidity to help you break through the fats and the oils and the richness of the flavors as well. So explore that balance in food and wine and don't let one overpower the other and don't clash the two powerhouses of wine and food together, because unfortunately, you'll just be disappointed in both. My last point is perhaps the most important one, and that is that you need to consider your personal preference. I did say in the beginning of this video that it has its role in wine and food pairing, but it's probably not the most important one. Well, I think I reconsidered that and I truly think that it is, because end of the day, you want to have a good experience eating and drinking. And if something just doesn't fit your palate, you're not a fan of a specific wine and you're pushing yourself to like it, to go with a specific food, chances are you're going to be disappointed with that experience. So I strongly encourage for you to really just determine what is it that you like, where is it that your preference lies. And think about, like my example here would be Moscato wines, for instance. I do not like Moscatos. I never have and I probably never will. So if somebody will be strongly recommending for me to have Moscato with a specific dish, I will be stubborn and I will refuse. I'll choose some different wine that will be kind of close to the Moscato characteristics, but not quite the sweetness of Moscato, for instance. So again, if you fundamentally don't like something, do not push yourself to go with it just because it's a rule to pair that specific wine with a specific food. So definitely explore your own preferences, see what you like best, and explore, explore, explore. There's no such thing as too much exploration when it comes to food and wine pairings and it's so much fun. That's my favorite part about it, that there's just no stopping in having fun with food and wine pairings and I just love that journey so much and I think you should as well. This is it for today's video. I'm very curious to know your opinion about food and wine pairings. I know that some topics might have seen a little bit vague when I talked about them, perhaps, but it's really because I don't believe that there is a set of rules in which that sweet spot lies as far as pairing food and wine. So for that reason, I try to be very careful and sometimes kind of jump around the topic and dance around it to better explain to you my point of view about the subject. So with that said, in the comments down below, please let me know what is your favorite food and wine pairing. Did you agree with any of the points that I've brought up? Did you disagree? And if you did, again, just explain to me why and what do you think is the best rule to follow when it comes to pairing wine and food. But thank you guys so much for being here with me at The Wine Diary and until next time, cheers everyone!