Guidelines for Successful Food and Wine Pairings

The Culinary Choices You Make Can Bring Out the Best in Your Wines or Shut Them Down Completely

The Problem

What happens if the wine you love so much suddenly tastes like it came from a horse trough with certain foods? You've got to ask yourself if you're getting the most out of your expensive wine.

The truth is, there are some wines that get more interesting with food, and there are wines—many our most celebrated and expensive favorites—that collapse like a house of cards when food is introduced. Knowing when to drink which is the true mark of connoisseurship.

Of course, many people don't even notice when food mangles their favorite wines. I once saw a couple of guys drinking Silver Oak Cabernet with sushi and wasabi. They appeared to be very happy to be drinking their favorite red wine while eating their favorite food.

But how could they be? I'm certainly not happy when my expensive wine reeks after I've been served a wine killer like wasabi.

Another incident closer to home helps illustrate the problem of great wine—wrong food.

Our friend Pam Taylor had just finished perfectly grilling some juicy rib eyes over an oak wood fire on her authentic backyard Santa Maria barbecue. Her husband Carl went to his cellar and pulled out two Napa reds, a 1995 Beringer Knight's Valley Cabernet and a 1999 Joseph Phelps Insignia—two celebrated and popular wines—and decanted them both.

Both had the sweet cedary scent of American oak. I tasted them both. One had a bigger mouthfeel than the other. "That must be the Insignia," I said. It was full of what you want Insignia to offer: rich, sweet fruit, oak and a lush, sexy mouthfeel. It did everything you wanted it to do.

Except one.

Instead of blossoming in their respective glasses after the first bite of Pam's juicy steak, everything about both wines diminished right there before our very lips. Wonderfully full flavored and complex before we had eaten, both reds suddenly transformed into a sort of clumsy grapey, oaky slurry. From Arnold Schwarzeneggar to Pee Wee Herman. Not bad, really, but not particularly inspiring. Insignia—at well over $100 a bottle—should always inspire.

After our meal was over, there was still some wine left in the carafes. As we sipped them alone, both wines put weight back on, each to their pre-meal stature. Clearly they were good, but not the right wines for this meal.

If these things happen to you more often than not, perhaps a little guidance is in order. We've compiled a list of fundamentals that should provide some insight when you seek to pair wine and food effectively.

The Solution

1. Understand why you are serving wine rather than another beverage with your meal. [read more]
2. Seek harmony between your wine and your food, or offer a complementary contrast. [read more]
3. What grows together, goes together. [read more]
4. Often there is no one wine that is best for a particular food. Two different wines can have equally satisfying, but very different results. [read more]
5. Serve food that will allow wines to fully express themselves. Use this rule of thumb: Simple Wine with Complex Food, Complex Wine with Simple Food. [read more]
6. Salty Food Brings Out the Fruit in a Wine [read more]
7. To pair wine, key off your sauce rather than what’s under it. [read more]
8. Except for pairings with spicy foods, wine should have sturdy acidity when accompanied by food. [read more]
9. High alcohol and oaky flavors are great fun for sipping, but they rarely taste good with food. For that reason, you will have more success matching inexpensive, simple wine with food than expensive, overly-manipulated wine most of the time. [read more]
10. Matching sweet wines with desserts is most often a recipe for disaster [read more]

The Conclusion

German wine importer Rudi Wiest is said to have remarked, "the food is already dead. We don't need to kill it again."

Think about these principles and apply them to your daily lives. Don't be afraid to experiment, even on a limited budget. The good news is that more often than not, inexpensive wines make better food wines than expensive ones. Most of all, pay attention to the effects of your wine and your food with each bite. You will be surprised at what you learn.

And remember that some wines are just not made for food. Many modern, potent wines from Spain and the New World are best enjoyed on their own. That's O.K. In fact, that's more than O.K. It's the way it should be.

Also, an older wine out of your cellar may be too delicate for most food. You may want to drink it by itself to appreciate every nuance that age has bestowed upon it.

Successful wine pairing will differ with each individual doing it. No matter how perfect I think Beaujolais is with turkey dinner or a pork roast, it's not the right choice for our general manager Samantha Dugan, who just doesn't like Gamay. She has to discover another wine that works for her.

For some a particular wine is not palatable or enjoyable—don't force the issue. There are plenty of other wines out there.

Most importantly, think about what you want that bottle of wine to do. Do you want to present a great food and wine pairing? Well, then, you now are equipped with ten great tips for how to do that.

But if you simply love the wine you love—whether it's a bold Napa Cab or a beautifully crafted oaky California Chardonnay—keep in mind its purpose.

Maybe its purpose is to sit in your cellar for a couple of years until you pull it out for guests to enjoy with a simple slice of cheese while you discuss the merits of the winemaker.

There are lots of wines out there, and there's something for everyone.

1. Understand why you are serving wine rather than another beverage with your meal

The European tradition of drinking wine with meals wasn't created to make diners feel more elegant. Wine actually serves a purpose in the traditional European diet. It provides fruit and acidity to a plate that needs both to complete it.

Selecting a particular wine for dinner because you like its taste seems reasonable. But effective selection is more complicated than merely "liking" its taste.

In Chinese restaurants they serve tea and plum wine with their meals. In Thai restaurants they offer a sweet tea and condensed milk beverage. In Japanese restaurants they serve saké. Mexicans drink horchata and beer with their food. Indian restaurants offer tea and beer. Tropical fruit drinks are served with Hawaiian foods.

What does all of that tell us? There are many beverages other than wine that work best with certain foods. The wine authority Oz Clarke, in his Wine Guide, writes that "wasabi is a wine killer." Even the greatest wine fanatic -- the guy who thinks he can find a wine somewhere on earth to go with any food -- is fooling himself if he thinks wine wants certain foods.

Sometimes iced tea is the right choice, and sometimes it is wine. Know your wine's limitations and its strengths. You want your meal to benefit from the fruit and acidity in your wine. You don't want to serve a special wine that'll be destroyed by an offending spice or fruit. It's a little like chemistry, but don't be scared. It's simple and we all do it, subconsciously all the time. It's why we serve orange juice with eggs and bacon, or fruit with cheese. You wouldn't serve milk with cheese, would you?

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2. Seek harmony between your wine and your food, or offer a complementary contrast

When food and wine have seamless flavors while consumed together, they are said to harmonize. The wine seems to melt into the food. A savory Bordelaise sauce on your filet is an example of flavors that harmonize. A French Chablis and a whitefish in butter sauce harmonize beautifully.

A complementary contrast is an opposing flavor that adds a needed dimension to your food. Think of how cranberry sauce brightens the taste of a turkey dinner. Riesling and sausages provide a complementary contrast. Apples and cheese. Roast chicken and Beaujolais.

There are many examples of familiar cuisine that contrast fruit with savory dishes without wine. The old German custom of placing applesauce on pork chops was developed so the fruit and acidity in the apples would provide the complementary contrast needed by the greasy meat. This dish must have been thought up in the cold, beer-drinking part of Germany where apple trees grow instead of vines.

Such a dish isn't likely in the country's wine growing regions, like the Mosel or the Rheingau. There, Riesling provides the complementary contrast of fruit and acidity, rendering applesauce redundant and unnecessary. Applesauce is no substitute for good German Riesling when you can get it.

Swordfish and mango salsa has become such a cliché I once saw it on the menu of a coffee shop chain. This is another example of complementary contrast, and it is also a dish that makes wine irrelevant.

If you think of wine as fruit juice instead of flavored booze, you may find that you reach for wines that are different from the ones you drink when you are watching T.V. Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Beaujolais and Barbera make splendid food wines because they have the kind of accessible fruit savory food often needs.

Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay, on the other hand, rely on oak flavors to finish them. While oak adds complexity to a wine, it often dominates the flavor, consigning its fruit to second-class status.

Wine critic Robert Parker agrees. "America's, and I suppose the wine world's, two favorite grapes, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, can produce majestic wines of exceptional complexity and flavor depth. As food wines, however, they are remarkably one-dimensional."

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3. What grows together, goes together

This isn't an inviolable law. Think of this phrase as more of a jumping off point.

Wine is originally a European creation, evolved to accompany European foods of a simpler time. Even powerful wines have a certain subtlety in their construction that doesn't permit an all out assault on the taste buds from things like hot peppers. Even if you find a soft, fruity wine like a sweet California Riesling or white Zinfandel, the best you can hope for is that the wine "tolerates" the food. This is a far cry from bringing out the best in your wine. Chiles and grapes don't grow in the same places and jalapeños are never going to bring out the best in your wine.

Robert Parker writes, "Regional wines with regional foods should not only be a top priority when traveling in Europe but also in America's viticultural areas."

Alsace Rieslings are interesting to drink, but their fruit explodes out of the glass when you drink them with choucroute, the regional Alsace dish of sausage, ham and sauerkraut or quiche lorraine. This was proven once again at our recent Saturday tasting of wines from Alsace when the typically dry, minerally Rieslings, Pinot Gris and Sylvaners were transformed by the homemade quiche we served.

You may be indifferent to dry rosé from the south of France, but grill your vegetables, roast some potatoes and chicken and serve them all with aioli, Provence's potent garlic mayonnaise, and dry rosé will be the only thing you reach for again and again. The garlicky foods of the Mediterranean taste surprisingly good with the simpler wines of Italy, Greece and the south of France. Does any California Merlot—let alone the most expensive—taste as good with spaghetti in red sauce as a simple, unoaked Chianti, Montepulciano or Valpolicella?

Similarly, the rich cream and butter sauces of the Loire Valley are begging for the crisp acidity of the Sancerres, Pouilly-Fumés, Montlouis, Vouvrays, Saumurs and the Anjous of the region. Atlantic shellfish and Muscadet are absolutely thrilling to drink together.

Sausages and quiche with German Riesling, Spanish tapas and sherry—the list goes on and on.

That's not to say you can't experiment with non-regional options, or that a different sauce can take a wine in another direction. Let taste be your guide. Regional wine and regional food is merely a start. Again, all of this is not a science—food pairing is an individual art.

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4. Often there is no one wine that is best for a particular food. Two different wines can have equally satisfying, but very different results

German Spätlese Riesling and French Beaujolais both taste great with a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. Oregon Pinot Noir and Oregon Pinot Gris are both delicious with grilled salmon.

The character of your dish will be changed by your selection, but you needn't be confined to one choice. We once had a big argument over whether a slightly sweet Vouvray or a dry white Rhone was best with Lobster à l'Americaine. One keyed on the rich sweetness of the lobsters, the other keyed on the tomatoes and garlic in the sauce. Two completely different wines tasted good with the dish, with those at the table unable to agree on which was better. Personal preference, as always, wins the day.

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5. Serve food that will allow wines to fully express themselves. Use this rule of thumb: Simple Wine with Complex Food, Complex Wine with Simple Food.

Vin ordinaire de bouche is a term the French use to describe useful, simple wines made to accompany a wide array of foods. For red wines, they must be fruity, with no oak flavor, and just enough acidity to make the fruit bright. Most of all, they should be friendly, attractive and simple wines. These are the building blocks of dinner wine—the work horses.
Vin de Garde is a term describing wines of aspiration, wines for the cellar. They are important wines and should be served in a setting befitting their complexity and status. Sometimes they should be served by themselves, or solely with a complementary cheese.

I would rather drink a modest earthy red Chinon with a steak than young, expensive first-growth Bordeaux with its raw tannin.

No Silver Oak Cabernet and sushi for me. No Far Niente Cabernet and tempura like the Japanese fellow I saw at the New Otani hotel. No Harlan Estate Cabernet and raw oysters, and no aged Barolo and dim sum, both of which have been reported Robert Parker pairings.

No wine and mango salsa ever.

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6. Salty Food Brings Out the Fruit in a Wine

The fruit in a wine is often masked by its acidity and tannin. Salty, fatty foods absorb tannin and acidity, allowing the wine's fruity "soft center" to reveal itself. The revelation is often amazing. If a wine tastes too tart, try serving it with a slice of cured meat, like prosciutto. Notice what happens to the fruit—it pops right out. The same thing happens when you drink Alsace wine with sausages, ham and sauerkraut. Taste a Sauternes before and after a piece of Rocquefort cheese. The difference is astonishing.

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7. To pair wine, key off your sauce rather than what's under it

I once attended a lunch at the Mondavi Center where the chef paired the winery's Chardonnay with seared ahi. On paper it sounded perfectly fine. In reality, the chef topped the fish with a salsa of chopped tomato, jalapeño and mangoes. The wine tasted perfectly… awful.

Cream sauces, butter sauces, tomato sauces, Madeira sauces, tapenades, marinades, spicy sauces, fruit sauces, sweet and savory sauces all make different demands on wine regardless of whether you're putting it on chicken, fish or red meat. If you want to be sure that your wine and your sauce complement each other, make the dish beforehand and simply taste the wine with your food. There is no substitute for experience.

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8. Except for pairings with spicy foods, wine should have sturdy acidity when accompanied by food

Pleasant, soft, easy-to-sip wines often taste innocuous once food is added to the equation. Acidity is needed to add freshness to a wine, the same way acidity is needed to add freshness to a glass of grapefruit juice. Wines from warmer climates often lack the kind of acidity needed for fine foods—indeed, many winemakers in these regions must actually add artificial acid to freshen up their wines.

Similarly, wines that may be a bit "spiky" on the tongue when consumed alone, often surprise us with their ability to project their fruit with the right foods. We once drank such a wine—a simple, inexpensive Italian Barbera—at a store meeting. All agreed it was pretty unimpressive.

Our opinion changed dramatically when we were served a mushroom risotto made by one of our suppliers. The fruit in the $8 Barbera leapt out of the glass and the wine became opulent after tasting the cheese, the starch and the earthiness of the dish. The oaky, expensive Barberas we served alongside failed miserably because their fruit was pushed aside by their oak.

Beware of spicy food, though. Once your tongue has been assaulted and become raw from a dose of wasabi or Jalapeño, the normal acidity in wine can add discomfort to the burn, like pouring iodine on a cut. Besides, how much complexity in a wine are you going to be able to discern when your taste buds have been obliterated by hot spices? Good wine is a shameful waste with aggressively spiced foods.

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9. High alcohol and oaky flavors are great fun for sipping, but they rarely taste good with food. For that reason, you will have more success matching inexpensive, simple wine with food than expensive, overly-manipulated wine most of the time.

That is good news for most of us, but bad news for people who have loaded up their cellars with high scoring wines from the Wine Spectator. Try drinking dry rosé and Côtes du Rhône with your summer barbecue alongside of your usual selections. Which wines go down easier? Or faster?

Try adding wines like good Beaujolais-Villages and Vouvray to your meals and taste them alongside your favorite cocktail wines. Which wines gain in interest and complexity while you eat, and which wines lose both?

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10. Matching sweet wines with desserts is most often a recipe for disaster

Count Lur Saluces of Château d'Yquem once said drinking his family's wine with a dessert is a "disaster." The most celebrated sweet wine in France should be consumed with Rocquefort cheese, foie gras, steamed lobster or even roast chicken, he said, but never with a dessert. The reason is that desserts compete with the delicate sweetness and complexity in Yquem, one of the world's greatest wines. Why would you do that to a $200 bottle of great wine?

Wine historian Hugh Johnson once wrote about Sauternes, "The Anglo Saxon world drinks it as the richest of endings to a rich meal although it can easily be swamped by too sweet a dessert. It deserves a far more appreciative following."

Brent Wiest, co-owner of Cellars International, America's most prestigious importer of German wine, agrees. "Desserts just suck the sweetness out of your wine," he cautions us.

One of the most disastrous examples of this occurred during a wine dinner at a local prestige eatery. The chef—who earlier had paired an Italian Barbera to a green salad with mandarin orange slices and vinaigrette, made a whipped creamy, cheesy, sweet dessert to accompany the winery's Moscato d'Asti, one of the most delicate sweet wines in the world.

The owner of the winery stood before us and told us, "Moscato is the closest wine comes to the taste of fresh grapes." It was true before the dessert. After the dessert, the Moscato was dry by comparison, tasting more like a Pinot Grigio than a gently sweet Muscat.

What's the point of sweet on sweet, anyway?

Remember the last time you ate pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast? You started off with a sweet-tart glass of grapefruit juice. But if you drank it after your pancakes, your juice became screamingly sour.

If you must drink sweet wine with a dessert, keep the sweetness level in the confection lower than that of the wine. A simple butter cookie with a Muscat is fine—a whipped cream and raspberry trifle is not.

Vin Santo, Tuscany's nutty sweet wine, is a classic companion with Cantucci—small Italian biscotti.

We can take a cue from chocolate covered cherries if we must pair sweet wine and sweet food. With chocolate, a super-sweet, syrupy fruit wine, port, black Muscat, or a fruit cordial can "work," but don't expect to get much complexity from your wine. Instead, revel in the wine's simple fruitiness.

Personally, I prefer the taste of coffee with chocolate. I admire sweet wine too much to see it mugged by a black forest cake.

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