Tips for Pairing Wine at Home
Although it can be a complex subject, you don’t have to be a sommelier to try your hand at wine pairings. The first step is to understand the basic tastes found in food and wine. From there you can work on pairing the two to create either a congruent or contrasting pairing. While there are traditional “rules” for food and wine pairings, the most important thing is to find pairings that you enjoy – and have fun!
Understanding Tastes
There are more than 20 different tastes found in food. The average cook or foodie may be familiar with sweet, sour, bitter, fat, spicy and maybe even umami (a Japanese term that loosely translates to the essence of deliciousness). Fortunately, you only need to focus on six tastes when pairing food and wine: Salt, Acid, Sweet, Bitter, Fat, and Spice.
Wine contains the tastes of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness in varying degrees. You can group wines into three different categories based on the taste:
Red wines have more bitterness.
White, rosé and sparkling wines have more acidity.
Sweet wines, as you might expect, have more sweetness
Exploring Pairings
Now that you have a basic understanding of tastes, we can start to explore pairings. There are two types of pairings: contrasting and congruent.
A contrasting pairing creates balance by contrasting tastes and flavors.
A congruent (think “mirroring”) pairing creates balance by amplifying shared flavor compounds.
If you’re still unsure about how to pair, the best way to learn is through trial and error. A charcuterie board offers a variety of different food tastes that you can pair with a flight of wine from our Taste of New Brunswick Sample Pack. For example, the Cuvée White would pair beautifully with a local goat cheese.
For dessert, you could offer both a contrasting and congruent paring. A cheesecake could pair with something sweet like our Noble Blue Dessert Wine for a congruent pairing, or try our L’Acadie Blanc for a contrasting pairing.
More Tips to Get Started
The wine should be more acidic than the food.
The wine should be sweeter than the food.
The wine should have the same flavor intensity as the food.
Red wines pair best with bold flavoured meats.
White wines pair best with light-intensity meats.
Bitter wines (e.g. red wines) are best balanced with fat.
It is better to match the wine with the sauce in the dish.
Why not come visit the store when we reopen next month and pick from a unique selection of wines and spirits for your next wine / spirit pairing house party. We are on standby to make suggestions and help you make the right decision for a successful tasting event.