As I travel about the country talking about wine, I find there is a widespread mystique surrounding the pairing of wine with food.  So it seems like a good time to share with you some common-sense guidelines to help demystify this exciting art.

First of all, keep in mind that our sense of taste is much more focused than our sense of smell.  You can actually taste on the tongue only four things:  sweetness, acidity, bitterness and saltiness.  Unless you're drinking cooking sherry, you will not come across saltiness in wines.   So by working with the other three tastes (sweetness, acidity and bitterness) and their presence in the foods and wines you are matching, you can create very good pairings.

The surest and easiest way to match foods with wines is to look for sweetness, acidity and bitterness in the food and serve wines that share the same characteristics as the food.  For instance, if your food has an element of sweetness, your wine should also be sweet; otherwise, the wine may seem sour.  If your dish has bitter flavors (like the char on a steak), the best match is a wine that has bitterness (from tannins in the case of red wines).  When it comes to acidity, it is sometimes easier to think of foods that benefit from the addition of acidity when selecting wines.  For instance, if you would consider squeezing lemon on a dish – such as seafood – then you may want to match the dish with a wine that has a higher acid content.

Following is a list of common red and white wines in the three taste categories:

• White wines with high acid include: Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, White Bordeaux and almost all sparkling wines.  These wines usually pair well with most seafood
• White wines that have an amount of sweetness include:  most German wines, Vouvray, Chenin Blanc, Asti Spumante and many Rieslings; White Zinfandel is a pink wine that has sweetness and high acidity
• Red wines with high acid levels include:  Pinot Noir (including Red Burgundies), Sangiovese (including Chiantis) and Gamay (including Beaujolais); these wines are usually very good pairings with grilled seafood and with most red, tomato-based sauces
• Red wines with an amount of sweetness include:  Lambrusco and Port (very sweet)
• Red wines with bitterness include:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Red Bordeaux and Red Zinfandel

In addition to matching the taste characteristics of wine and food, there are also some other general guidelines or concepts you may find helpful when selecting a wine to enhance your meal:

• Select light-bodied wines to pair with lighter food and fuller-bodied wines to go with heartier, more flavorful dishes.  For example, Pinot Noir works beautifully with fish because you are matching light to light whereas a full-bodied, heavier wine overpowers a light, delicate fish.  Similarly, a lighter style wine does not register on your personal flavor meter when sipped along side a hearty roast…in cases such as this, you may as well drink water.
• Consider how the food is prepared.  Is it grilled, roasted or fried?  What type of sauce or spice is used?  For example, chicken with a lemon butter sauce will call for a different more delicate wine to play off the sauce than chicken cacciatore with all of the tomato and Italian spices, or a grilled chicken breast.
• Remember, for every food action, there is a wine reaction. When you drink wine by itself it tastes one way, but when you take a bite of food, the wine tastes different. This is because wine is like a spice.  Elements in the wine interact with the food to provide a different taste sensation like these basic reactions:

• Sweet foods like Italian tomato sauces, Japanese teriyakis, and honey-mustard glazes make your wine seem drier than it really is, so try an off-dry (slightly sweet) wine to balance the flavor (Chenin Blanc, White Zinfandel, Riesling)
• High acid foods like salads with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, soy sauce or fish served with a squeeze of lemon go well with wines higher in acid (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Noir)
• White Zinfandel, although not as high in acid as some white wines, can provide a nice contrast to high acid foods as well
• Bitter and astringent foods, like a mixed green salad of bitter greens, Greek kalamata olives and charbroiled meats, accentuate a wine's bitterness, so full-flavored fruity wines are the perfect complement (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot). Big tannic red wines (like many red Zinfandels, and Shiraz or Syrah wines) go best with classic grilled steak or lamb chops as the fat in the meat tones down the tannin (bitterness) in the wine
  
  
• In a pinch, remember these classic food pairings:
• Smoked salmon is best with Champagne, California sparkling wine, Riesling, or Sauvignon Blanc
• Grilled fish is best with Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Loire Valley whites, Riesling, or champagne
• Pork is best with Pinot Noir, red Burgundy, Chianti, Dolcetto, or a spicy Gewürztraminer
• Lamb is best with Cabernet, Merlot, red Bordeaux, red Rhones, Barolo, or a Rioja Reservas
• Roast chicken is complemented with Pinot Noir, red Burgundy, Chianti, Zinfandel, or Spanish reds
• Steak is best with Cabernet, Merlot, red Bordeaux, red Rhones, or Chilean reds
• Salads are best with Sauvignon Blanc, or Loire Valley whites
• Oysters taste best with Chablis
• Scallops are best when served with a sparkling wine
• Spicy-hot foods like Mexican, Indian, Thai and some Chinese dishes are best paired with sparkling wines

Ultimately, ALL food and wine pairings depend on your individual taste preferences. Please remember that the above lists are guidelines only and not rules.  Use these guidelines to get started and then experiment to find what YOU like best with a particular dish.

Next time: Food pairing with cheeses

Chuck Blethen, Vigneron in Residence, Mountaintop Vineyard, Marshall NC