Fine Wine & Food Pairing can be daunting or it can be fun, it’s all your choice. The wine world can be a little intimidating at times. I mean, you have your full-bodied reds and your crisp, dry white wines; there are so many. Which ones are the best? There are some good tricks that you need to learn before starting. Don’t be intimidated by Fine Wine & Food Pairing, this is meant to be fun. Watch this Video for all the yummy facts.
Some of Our Fine Wine to Get You Started with Any Food Pairings:
These are some of the finest wines that you could be pairing with meals. We have an assortment of Whites, Reds, and some Blends that really should give you a night to remember.
- Donna Walker Cabernet Sauvignon
- Ricord Merlot
- Linda Horn Cabernet Franc
- Nile Eddy Pinot Grigio
- Tanya Ricord Moscato
- Tanya Ricord Pinot Grigio.
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chenin Blanc
- Chardonnay
We did not cut corners when producing these works of art. They are made by some of the best in their respective fields, just for people like you and me.
The first step in this is understanding and having in-depth knowledge of Fine Wine & Food Pairings. Commonly used wine terms that describe the wine and all the aspects that go into whether it’s dry, sweet, soft, or red.
Understanding the Terms:
Acidity: It has a high preservation of the wine, holding the flavors in it pure. Wines that have a more pronounced and crisp taste will have higher acidity levels.
Body: Used to describe the flavor of the wine. For example, a full-bodied wine is one with powerful flavors and a lingering aftertaste to round it out.
Dry: Wine that normally has very little to no sugar at all.
Tannin: is a chemical compound found in the seeds, skin, and shoots of grapes. In the aging of the wood barrels for the wine.
You Should Probably Know?
You should know that these basic tips will cover what you should know when you are Pairing Food and Fine Wine. So go out there armed with the knowledge that you’ve got this.
Different Flavors:
- Acidity: Acidity is more prevalent in some foods, as with wines. Never have a wine pairing that is not as acidic as your food. Because if you do, your Fine Wine will taste very dull and disinteresting.
- Bitter: If you pair a bitter wine with a bitter food, you get one of our no-no’s for our next lesson. When pairing a Fine Wine with bitter food, you should try one with more acidity, like Zinfandels.
- Fat: Tannins in wine cause the fat in meat to taste softer, which enhances the food’s taste. Let’s take the natural berry flavors of cabernet and the smoky flavors of the meat to create this taste, which is delectable.
- Salt: Common salty foods are fried foods, potatoes, sauces, and spaghetti or pasta meals. As you pair wines, make sure that they have an acidic flavor to them so they compliment the food prepared. That or a typical acidic wine would really compliment the dish’s preparation.
- Spicy: This can be difficult for the untrained pallet. You must choose a wine to decrease the acidic sweetness of the food, depending on how spicy it is. A Riesling would be a good choice in this instance. This should bring out the fruit flavors of the wine.
- Sweet: Stay away from wines that are high in tannins when choosing a wine pairing for sweet desserts. Otherwise, the food literally strips the wine of it’s sweetness, leaving an unpleasant bitterness to its flavor.
Have what you like; this is supposed to be an adventure and fun. The Fine Wine Pairing with Good Food is meant as a celebration and should be taken as just that.
White Fine Wine:
Chardonnay: This is a very Fruit Flavored Fine Wine, depending on its make and model, and a very aromatic wine. With flavors ranging from apple, pear, vanilla, and even melon, this is a very diverse wine. It can be paired with a wide range of foods. This pairs especially well with all shellfish, fish, vegetables, and dishes with deep, rich sauces. I want to know, lol.
Pinot Grigio: Pinot Grigio is a crisp, light wine that is perfect for light fish; the more delicate, the better. The hints of pear, melon, lemon, and sweet spices make this wine one of the more delicate ones out there. This delicate white wine is great with lighter fish dishes. It is great with chicken, pasta, and an assortment of dishes with fresh herbs.
Riesling: This is also a delicate fine wine like the Pinot Grigio, except the Riesling has flavors of peach, green apple, and a hint of lime mixed in. Because it has a sweet taste, it has the ability to take care of the heat from the meal. The off-dry Riesling will pair well with the shellfish, pork, ham, and vinaigrettes of salads.
Sauvignon Blanc: This is a highly acidic, light-bodied white wine with a crisp flavor. A great wine for the pairing of cheese, oysters, fresh herbs, and fish that is light and fluffy. With the high acidity of both the wine and the food, they cancel each other out, leaving you with clear tastes of both. This causes the incredible flavors of both the wine and the food to come from all the natural flavors.
Red Fine Wine:
Cabernet Sauvignon: This Full Bodied Red Fine Wine is full of blackberry, tannins, and black currant flavors. Because of the rich tannins and the dark fruity flavor, this is ideal for heavier meats. This is a great pairing with lamb chops and steak of any kind, it’s all good.
Pinot Noir: This is the wine for fatty fish because it has few tannins and flavors like dark cherries, plums, and spices. Like salmon and tuna, it also pairs well with pork chops and venison, of all things. So this is a really good wine that stands apart from the others.
Rosé: Rosé is unique in that it can be used as either a white or red wine when pairing it with food. The Rosé is a crisp pink wine that has some tannins, making it good to pair with cheese as well as grilled chicken and spicy seafood. It has a complex flavor combination of cherries, strawberries, citrus, and a hint of herbs. An all-around treat.
Syrah: A Red Wine with a Spicy Taste is the perfect pairing for your barbecued meats. But not to much, please, since if the food is too spicy, it will cause the wine to lose much of it’s flavor. There’s nothing worse than a flavorless Syrah.
Sparkling Wine:
This is a celebratory wine because of its champagne quality. In fact, it pairs well with salty foods or fried foods as well. The carbonation cuts right through the saltiness, and quite well, I might add, to give you a balanced meal. Sparkling Wine also pairs well with some fish and vegetables.
Fine Wine Terms:
- Acidity: When grapes have a sharper crispness to them, this is when the acidity levels increase.
- Aperitif: A dry wine served before a meal to stimulate the appetite.
- Body: Used by many to describe the richness or full flavors of wine. Such as The Full Body of the Red was incredible.
- Brut: Champagne and sparkling wine are Brut.
- Decanting: Normally, you do this to younger bottles of red wine before serving. It is letting the red wine breathe and getting oxygen to mix with it.
- Dry: Wine that has very little to no sugar.
- Finish: This is the taste after a sip, the finish. What does your mouth taste like after the sip is taken and swallowed?
- Mature: Fine Wine is of high quality. The older the wine, the better it is.
- Oxidize: This occurs when wine and oxygen mix together and change the flavor of the wine.
- Regional: This has to do with where the wine was produced. Burgundy, where it is produced
- Sediment: Are there little pieces left after the wine has matured.
- Sweet: White wines are usually the ones we think of when we think about sweet wines. The level of sweetness of the wine depends on what you pair it with.
- Varietal: A wine named after a region of the world. An example would be Chardonnay, which is the grape, not the wine per se.
- Vintage: A Vintage Fine Wine is one where all of the grapes from that particular harvest were all from the same year.
With these tricks of the trade, you are now able to answer most any question posed to you about wine and which food would be a good pairing, if asked.
A Great Example of Fine Wine & Food Pairing:
A great example of this is Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce is one such meal. That I have shared with my closest friends and family. Everyone brings over a big pot and the ingredients, their wine that they want to try, and then we cook. It is great fun because we have a chance to catch up, drink great Fine Wine and eat throughout the day. Sometimes there is no room for the pasta. That is how good everything is.
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