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Importers of Fine Wines Since 1919 | Resources for the Trade |
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Sugar is sweetIf there is sugar in the dish, there needs to be sugar in the wine…and at parity. If the food is sweeter than the wine, the wine will taste sour by comparison. Dessert wines are often paired with desserts that are far too sugary to make the match. No wine can handle the intensity of powdered sugar icings, fondant, and overly sweet pastry creams. Match dessert wines with fruit tarts. The sugar in the fruit is much more akin to the level of sweetness in the dessert wine. A squeeze of lemon, anyone?If there is acid in the dish, there needs to be acid in the wine and at parity. The tang of a vinegar-based salad dressing, citrus sauce, or seafood splash needs an echoing burst of acidity in the accompanying wine. A low-acid wine paired with any piquant dish will taste like water. When pairing food with a wine that is a tad on the tart side, reach for the salt. The salt tames the wine’s acidity. But, be mindful of the alcohol level. Too much salt, when paired with an alcoholic wine, can leave an unpleasant bitterness on the palate. The bitter end
How to cut the fatThe acid and tannin present in wine effectively strip away the fats and oils that coat the tongue and readies the palate for the next bite of food. Rich dishes tend to smother the taste buds. Acid and tannin serve as cleansing agents so that the last bite of any dish is as tantalizing as the first. Tannins also have the added advantage of aiding in digestion. They actually begin to breakdown the proteins in meat before it is swallowed.
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If an entrée or main course has some sweetness to it and you do not wish to serve a wine with residual sugar, select a wine that is abundantly fruity. This will help make the match.
Chocolate and red wine can work very well together, but only if the chocolate is semi-sweet…otherwise the sweetness of the dessert will sour the wine. You’ll need a rich, ripe and fruity red to make the match. Briny oysters and shellfish pair well with high-acid whites. The saline nature of the bivalves soften the wine’s acidity. In traditional food and wine pairing lore, no wine was ever served with a salad. The tartness of the vinaigrette made the wine taste like water. These days, chefs are steering clear of brash vinegars and using citronettes vs. vinaigrettes. Some also incorporate fruit-flavored vinegars or mellow balsamic vinegars into the equation to make a better match. “How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: A glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea…” -Zorba the Greek “I feast on wine and bread, and feasts they are.”
Delicate cuts of meat, simply prepared, are delicious when served with older, more mature reds. Aggressive cuts of meat such as T-bone steak, fare well with young, brassy reds with gobs of fruit and abundant tannin. View Banfi's World Wine and Food Pairing Charts. 
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Tannins are bitter. In small amounts, they serve as a complexing agent, but in excess, they detract from a wine’s overall flavor profile. If there is bitterness in the wine and bitterness in the food, the bitterness tends to build upon exponentially. Walnuts, bitter salad greens tend to make tannic red wines overly hard and acrid. A dash of salt can help to alleviate the problem.
Although fruit and sugar are not the same, a fruity wine can bridge the gap. For example: BBQ ribs work well with the rich and jammy Shirazes of Australia.
Poultry, veal and pork are food chameleons. The texture and flavor of these meats change according to how they are prepared. In most cases, you need to consider the preparation technique and the sauce or seasoning when making food and wine matches with these items.