First and foremost look at PERSONAL TASTE and remember that the main reason for wine and food matching is to ENHANCE THE OVERALL experience of a dish or meal.
Here’s our 8 Top Tips as a Guide…
1) SELECT LIGHT BODIED WINES to accompany lighter food, and fuller bodied wines with heavier more flavoursome dishes.
For example Pinot Noir is a light wine to match with grilled salmon. Light with light. A heavier wine will overpower a light delicate dish.
2) CONSIDER HOW THE FOOD IS PREPARED
Is it grilled, roasted or fried? What sauce or spices are there?
For example plain grilled Chicken needs a lighter wine than Chicken Italienne (lots of tomatoes and Italian spices)
3) SWEET FOODS
Such as honey-mustard glaze, Teriyaki sauce, Italian tomato sauce make your wine seem drier than it really is, so you need an off-dry wine such as Niel Joubert Chenin Blanc or Elementos Chardonnay-Viognier.
4) HIGH ACID FOODS
Such as salads with vinaigrette dressing, soy sauce and goats cheese. Food served with fresh lemon go well with wines higher in acidity such as Exodus Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio etc.
5) EVERY FOOD REACTION CREATES A WINE REACTION
Drink a wine by itself and it tastes one way, but when you bite food the wine tastes different. Wine is like a spice and elements in the wine interact with the food to provide different taste sensations.
6) SALT
Salt is not a flavour that you will find in wine, but salty foods are enhanced by wines with a hint of sweetness.
7) TANNINS
This is the stuff that tends to make your gums pucker up and go dry. They come predominantly from red wines.
To give you the Science bit, wine tannins are attracted to fatty Proteins. Your saliva is full of protein molecules and that’s why your gums pucker when drinking tannic wines.
Lamb is an ideal food to match to tannic wines as it has a high-fatty protein content which when you eat it coats the mouth. The tannin molecules attach themselves to the protein molecules and strip them from your mouth making it feel refreshed.
8) BITTER AND ASTRINGENT FOODS
For example mixed green salad with bitter greens, olives and charbroiled meats accentuate a wine's bitterness so complement it with a big fruity wine such as Crystal Brook Unoaked Chardonnay, Pico Alto Merlot etc
And finally – Have Fun, Be Brave and Experiment! Download our Wine Taste Chart.