The wine pairing game

Playing with the compatibility of wine and food is one of the most interesting games any gourmand can play. If you don’t count food preparation. Or wine making. Or blind wine tastings. Or the moment you open a new bottle of wine. As with most games, combining food with wine is intriguing and fascinating, but the biggest plus is that if you like the taste, there are no losers. But what are the rules of the game, and do they even exist? Yes – they do, and there are many rules based on the science of gastronomy.

The simplest and safest game variation is the “traditional game”, when the appropriate wine (or other alcoholic drink) is chosen to compliment the dish, which is chosen based on the specific recipe or the home of one of the ingredients used in the dish. This is an age-old compatibility test based on generations-old traditions that rarely fail. Examples are many, such as foie gras with Sauternes, mortadella with Lambrusco, caviar with vodka, or even my grandma’s cake with Sovetskoje Šampanskoje. The main thing to remember in this game is the region your recipe comes from (or its ingredients) and the specific alcoholic beverages that are made and consumed in that region.

The next level – the “contrast game” – requires more preparation and closer research (i.e. continuous tasting and comparing). This version of the game is based on nuances we taste in foods and accompanying wines. Saltiness, tartness, sweetness, fattiness, oiliness, juiciness – these are all taste and touch sensations that we discover in food and for which we look for contrast in accompanying wines to create ideal harmony. That is, food that is distinctly tart, such as salad with a vinaigrette dressing calls for a mild and light wine or red wine with few or well developed tannins to balance the flavour. If we served that same salad with a fresh and cold white wine, the tartness of the food would be enhanced, creating a meal that is inharmonious and even unpleasant.

Saltiness is a taste that we can tell easily – such as soya sauce, salted fish, and well-aged hard cheeses. To balance the salt, you should find a wine with high alcohol content. Alcohol tastes sweet and will compliment the saltiness of food. For instance, salted fish goes well with New World Chardonnay.

Tartness can be found in various milk products, vinegar, lemon, and tomatoes. Similar to saltiness, tartness can be balanced with alcohol. A traditional mozzarella and tomato salad would go better with red wine with a high alcohol content, such as Aglianico. But beware – fresh tartness is one of wine’s biggest enemies: fresh lemons would do better with an alkaline alcoholic beverage. 

Bitterness is found in liver, truffles, artichokes, smoked and grilled foods, and sometimes in dishes that have many herbs. To balance this taste, wine should have higher alcohol content or should be slightly sweet. Grilled meat just cries for Zinfandel or a New World Cabernet Sauvignon, which are both high in alcohol (often around 15% or more) and with a distinct sweet (fruity) taste.

Natural sweetness (not to be confused with the sweetness you get by adding sugar) is found in dishes that naturally contain thickening agents: carbohydrates (pasta), moist meat dishes, bread, cheese, milk, potatoes, fruit, and fish. To balance this sweetness, the wine must be tart or salty, or with bubbles. Oven baked fish with potatoes will go well with a light Chardonnay (not aged in wooden barrels), and the simplest pasta with meat sauce suits a fresh Chianti made from Sangiovese grapes.

The fatty sensation we get when we actually eat fat, such as butter, meat, cheese, and chocolate (it has at least 30% cacao butter). To balance the fattiness, your wine must be salty or with bubbles. Remember, nothing tastes better than prosciutto with sparkling wine!

Oiliness is, of course, associated with the addition of oil to food. If you prepare with oil, than look for wines with tannins that can stand up to cooked oil. If oil is not cooked, look for a wine with higher alcohol content.

Juiciness is literally the presence of liquid in your mouth. We find this in liquid foods, such as soups and sauces, as well as foods that require a lot of chewing – steak, game, bread, and cheese. This feeling can also be associated with the moment that your “mouth waters”. Juiciness can be complemented with tannins and alcohol levels in wine. A proper wild boar roast deserves a solid Barolo.

However, the contrast game cannot always be played, because some taste sensations do not call for contrast as an ideal partner, but rather a complimentary partner. The “complimentary game” calls for food and wine to have similar tastes and sensations. The most typical example of this is partnering dessert wines with desserts. Desserts that contain sugar, honey, or other sweeteners should be paired with wines with the highest alcohol content: a great combination is chocolate desserts and port.

Food with distinct structure (i.e. those with distinct flavours, aromas, and textures, those that need to be chewed quite vigorously, or those with a long after-taste) should be paired with highly structured, complex wines. For example, the ideal partner for braised game is Rioja red wine.

Food with lengthy after taste should be paired with an aromatic wine: blue cheese or foie gras with Sauternes.

Dishes that are especially aromatic (those with many spices) should be served with wine that has intense aroma and a long finish. Asian cuisine can be paired with aromatic Alsace white wines.

Additional games can be added to these three basic “taste games” – the “mission impossible” and “around the world” games. These are the most difficult versions of the game, because they require the most creativity. Mission Impossible incudes foods that are quite spicy (that is “hot”), very tart (foods with a lot of lemon or vinegar, such as marinated food), fresh artichokes (especially if they are flavoured with lemon), citrus, and even grapes. Distinctly spicy food you can pair with very aromatic, low alcohol content wines, and distinctly tart foods associated with fruit-based dishes are difficult to play with, and the wine bottle should be left uncorked.

Around the World is a game that includes foods or ingredients that come from parts of the world in which wine or other alcoholic drinks are not traditionally consumed, therefore, there are no traditions for pairing these foods with wine, and all the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the gourmand. Imagine North African cuisine and the well-loved couscous with cinnamon, sesame, saffron, and dates. The ideal pairing for this dish would be peppermint or hibiscus tea, but if you’re really hankering a glass of wine, experimenting is the way to go.

And for those times when you don’t want to play around, remember that a good Riesling or champagne will work with almost any dish.

By Raimonds Tomsons