TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What are Wine Pairings, anyway?
2. Sparkling Wine Pairings
3. White Wine Pairings
4. Red Wine Pairings
5. Dessert Wine Pairings
6. Tips for Pairing Food and Wine

Food & Wine – 2 Best Friends 

Wine and food taste better when served together — they’re two sides of the same coin. After all, wine and food have evolved at the same pace throughout the ages, and they’re now intimately linked.

Food and wine pairings are fun, too, and can turn any meal into a party. Finding the right wine for your food might be a challenge, though, as pairings take practice. Still, this doesn’t mean you can’t try — once you get started, you’ll get better at paring food and wine with every dinner party. This is our quick guide to food & wine pairings.

What are Wine Pairings, anyway?

Food and wine are compatible, but just like there are endless types of food, there are many types of wine. People make wine worldwide with hundreds of grapes, so there’s literally a wine style for every meal.

Generally, food and wine pairings are successful when the food and wine complement or contrast each other. In complementary pairings, robust wines pair well with hearty food, and light-bodied wines are best with simpler dishes. On the other hand, contrasting pairings create an exciting experience by bringing together opposites, like what happens with sweet and sour combinations. Below, you’ll find tips to pair the most common types of wine with the right food.

Sparkling Wine Pairings

Sparkling wine is celebratory, so it makes sense to serve it on special occasions. Still, sparkling wine is one of the most food-compatible wine styles, and it’s for its high acidity. Sparkling wine is made with tart grapes, resulting in acidic wine. Acidity cuts through fat and cream while lifting the food’s flavors.

Pair sparkling wine with:

• Pâté and other fatty foods
• Shellfish, such as shrimp and crayfish/lobster
• Whitefish and smoked fish
• Cured meats and hams
• Fried food
• Fresh and curd cheese

Note: Sparkling wine is a good apéritif served on its own.

White Wine Pairings

White wine is more versatile than you think; you can pair it with all but the heartiest meals with remarkable success. Not all white wine is created equal, though. To make things easy, let’s say there are two main types of white wine: stainless-steel white wine with a fruity personality and bold oak-aged white wine with a creamy palate. Each style goes best with different food.

Pair un-oaked white wine with:

• Whitefish, oysters, mussels and other seafood
• Vegetable-based meals
• Salads
• Olive-based pasta
• Fried food
• Fresh and curd cheese

Pair oaked white wines with:

• Butter-seared seafood, such as shrimp and lobster
• Oily fish like salmon and tuna
• Roasted poultry
• Veal and pork
• Starchy food
• Creamy pasta
• Semi-hard cheese
• Dairy-based dishes

Red Wine Pairings

Red wine can tackle food pairings like no other wine style can, especially meat, hearty meals and beefy stews. However, not all red wines are big and bold like a Cabernet; some are elegant and subtle, like Pinot Noir, and they’re suitable for different types of food. Then you have medium-bodied red wines, such as Merlot. There is a bottle of red wine for every meal.

Pair light-bodied red wine with:

• Oily fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna
• Roasted poultry
• Mushroom-based dishes
• Brown sauces
• Stewed red meat
• Stir-fries

Pair medium-bodied red wine with:

• Lean red meat
• Dark white meat
• Barbecue
• Sweet and sour food

Pair full-bodied red wine with:

• Marbled beef steaks
• Smoked red meat
• Char-grilled steaks
• Hearty sausages
• Roasted vegetables

Dessert Wine Pairings

Dessert wines can be red, white, pink or bubbly, and they vary in sweetness, too. Of course, all dessert wines have that delicious residual sugar that makes them a dessert in their own right. This doesn’t mean you can pair sweet and semi-sweet wines with food, and we’re not only talking about sweet food since they can contrast savory meals nicely.

Pair dessert wine with:

• Puff pastry desserts
• Meringues
• Custards
• Fruit
• Cakes and tarts
• Blue cheese
• Fatty food such as pâté and foie gras
• Cured meats and other salty food

Tips for Pairing Food and Wine

Let’s end our quick guide to food and wine pairings with a few tips to help you get started. Happy pairings!

• Pair local wine with local food. Wine made in a particular area usually goes well with the region’s cuisine.
• Acidity is your friend. The tarter the wine, the more compatible it is with food, which goes for all wine styles. Pro tip: cold-climate wines are tarter than those from warm climates.
• Full-bodied red wines go with red meat, but light-bodied reds are lovely with white meat and even seafood!
• Oak-aged white wines are bolder than you think and can tackle rich foods such as creamy pasta, shellfish and grilled white meat.
• Ensure your dessert wine is sweeter than the dessert itself; otherwise, the wine will taste weak.

For more information on wine and food pairing be sure to read: