"True Facts" Wine IS Food - Goes WITH Food Part IV

Like the Swiss, True Facts is synonymous with money – when it comes to saving you some you some Cheddar.  

Everyone knows that other than a loaf a bread, and Thee, what goes with a jug of wine is…CHEESE. It is such an intuitive pairing and one where it is nearly impossible to go wrong. It is however possible to do better than just “all right” in pairing a wine to a cheese. In fact, as you might have suspected, there are certain guidelines to getting the most of this duet.


There’s a well-travelled path to the perfect match and that leads to pairing wines and cheeses from the same region, when you can. The experimentation has been done for you – perhaps centuries ago – and tasting those combinations can almost transport you to faraway lands. Italian wine, Italian cheese. Basque cheese with Basque wine, etc. Easy-cheesy!


In general, harder types of cheese (i.e. Cheddar or Parmesan) can handle more tannic wines. Bolder red wines are a good match for hard cheeses and those with mild flavors. Creamy cheeses, such as Brie, typically pair better with wines that have more acidity, like a Chardonnay. Give salty cheeses a sweet wine partner (i.e. Blue Cheese and Port).


White wines and light-bodied, juicy reds pair best with soft cheeses and pungent flavors. In fact white wines fair better here than bold reds. That’s because several cheeses, particularly soft and creamy ones, coat your palate with all that luscious fat. This can mute the flavor and body in reds, rendering them monotonous and bland. Crisp white wines, rosés and even light reds (think Beaujolais) can provide a cleansing effect allowing you to enjoy both wine and cheese flavors.


Fruity wines and those with a hint of sweetness work best with a wider range of cheeses. The spicy zing of a Gewürztraminer or the peachy zip of a Riesling is ideal for wide-reaching appeal.


If you go for the stinkiest of cheeses, reach for a big wine to back it up. A busty California Cab,  Zin or an Italian Valpolicella Ripasso perhaps. The strongest of cheeses and the big blues are ideally paired with fully sweet wines. The more pungent a cheese you choose, the sweeter the wine can be. This savory and sweet pairing is simply amazing. The bold flavors and depth of Ports, and dessert wines like Sauternes make for the best choices if you like your cheese mold-covered  or streaked with blue.


As in every other category of food and wine pairing, Champagne and sparkling wine will go with most any cheese. The “sparkle” in a sparkling wine can help zip through the fat in heavier cheeses, especially.


And if there were any doubt, Velveeta goes with boxed Franzia. I’m not a hater.










Here is a great website with a widget for more cheese pairing tips - http://www.oregonwines.com/pairing.php

Last minute food and wine pairing thoughts:

• Think of wine as a condiment, essentially a sauce that you drink. It should complement your food.
• When pairing, your goal is that complimentary synergy and balance; neither wine nor food should overpower the other.
• Balance the intensity. Pair lighter-bodied wines with lighter food and fuller-bodied wines with heartier, more flavorful, richer and fattier dishes.
• When serving multiple wines during a meal, and you are able to plan it this way, pour lighter before fuller-bodied, drier before sweeter, lower alcohol before higher, and the dessert wine should be sweeter than its complementing dessert with perhaps the one exception of chocolate.
• Match the quality  of the wine to the quality of the meal and the occasion. A black tie multi-course dinner party will warrant a different wine than when grilling on the patio.

My final thought is: Don't stress over the perfect food and wine pairing. Treat wine like a food and remember, the best pairing is good food and good company. Friends and loved ones are the most important ingredients.

"True Facts" Wine IS Food - Goes WITH Food Part III

In this great big world of infinite wine and food pairing possibilities you might very well discover your own new combination; one that so totally “works”. Often such a discovery involves a special person, a far away place, and a sense of adventure and experimentation that you wouldn't attempt while safe at home or in your favorite wine bar. Let’s say that you actually want to have that experience of food and wine discovery more often…

Humans have a heritage of seeking gustatory perfection, but our fundamental aims can be summed up with this Northern Italian expression: "Pane e vino fanno un bel bambino." In English: Bread and wine make a beautiful baby. In other words, food staples and wine together, are considered the  source of nourishment and of life. You will find this sentiment all over the Old World where local wine and food culture have evolved together - over centuries in many cases.

Trust the Locals


A very simple guideline to get you through almost any wine and food pairing dilemma comes in the form of another mantra, one  that wine pros have drilled into their heads: What grows together, goes together. The bounty of a region; of the land and sea and nearby lakes and streams determines the local cuisine. What people eat there inspires the wines that are made there.

Discover a food's cultural roots and then drink with it the wines from that culture -

Why do the Tuscans love their Chianti (and Brunellos) with their pasta and tomato sauce? Hard wheat and sun-ripened tomatoes are abundant in the region. The semolina pasta is a dense medium and the tomato sauce is acidic and tangy. Chianti with its juicy dried cherry-ness, medium-body and lifting acidity helps to marry the pasta to the sauce so well that Jupiter and Bacchus themselves may have created the match.

In France fish pulled from the upper Loire river and oysters and mussels harvested from where the Loire meets the sea all beg to be washed down with crisp and minerally white wines. And it just so happens that the local whites fit that bill; fresh and light like the seafood itself and never overpowering.

There’s nothing like the Classics

Like local customs, the classic food and wine pairings are all based on tried and true tradition. Whether they work for you is personal, but we can take what we have been discussing and understand why the classic pairings work so well.

At the high end of haut cuisine there is the wedding of Champagne and Caviar - You might say the pairing works just because you spent a small fortune on both (!), but more so due to Champagne's brisk acidity which cuts through the caviar's salinity and fishiness. The finish is then all about those wonderful celebratory bubbles bursting on your tongue right along with the caviar.

Muscadet and Oysters, Sancerre with Mussels - Muscadet is a rather austere white that balances well with the delicate nature of the oyster. And for the same reasons, steely Chardonnay in Chablis pairs magically with Oysters. The slightly fuller and grassy Sauvignon Blanc of Sancerre hits all the right notes with the richer meatier nature of mussels. 

Chianti and Southern Italian Reds with pizza or red-sauced pasta – as mentioned above, tomato's acidity together with garlic, olive oil and herbs can give a red wine a hard time - unless it has the tartness and leathery fruitiness that Chianti and many of Italy’s traditional reds have in spades.

Riesling and Sauerkraut – In Germany it’s Kraut and across the border in France’s Alsace it’s Choucroute. Combine with the region’s sausages and smoked meats and you’ll find no better wine match than the King of white grapes – Riesling. Gewurztraminer too would have the power and grace to stand up to the tang of fermented cabbage and oily meats. However, I don’t think anyone would argue with a suggestion of BEER paired here!

Southern Spain’s bone dry and lean Fino Sherry – paired with olives, oil-fried marcona almonds, chips or other salty snacks, AKA Tapas. This is not your grandmother's sherry  and sipped by itself Fino Sherry may not impress you at first, but pair it with a salty fried snack and you will have an "aha" moment. Fino Sherry has whopping acidity and even its own briny characteristic. Pairing it with salty tapas will seem so natural once experienced.

Port and Stilton - The English are not known for having a fine food culture nor for creating smart wine pairings. But in the generations of owning the big Port houses and being Port’s biggest consumers they have certainly stumbled on a winner of a flavor/texture/power combination here. Big, big flavors from the alcoholic, sweet and berry cordial-like Port mash up against the pungent (stinky?), rich and tangy, fine English bleu cheese creating a harmony that will astound you.

The neo-classic pairing of Cabernet with Ribeye Steak – Tannins with protein and fat, yes, and also rich cassis/blackberry fruit with sweet meat juices and caramelized drippings. Thank you California! Yet this pairing is a direct descendant of the classic French pairing of Bordeaux with Lamb. The herbal earthiness and blackcurrant fruit of French Cabernet blended with Merlot is why Bordeaux is in the glass next to the platter of herb-crusted rack of lamb with its distinct rich and earthy nature.

White Burgundy with Lobster – In Burgundy the Chardonnay is not made in the New World butter-bomb style, but with just a kiss of warm and spicy French oak. The wines have a roundness that melds with the rich sweetness of a lobster claw or tail, and with enough acidity to cut through drawn butter.

Tune in next time for tips on pairing wines with cheese. It’s ALL good, isn’t it? You bet, and some pairings are especially fine!  

"True Facts" Wine IS Food - Goes WITH Food Part II

So you know a little bit about pairing wine with food now?

Say you, the acknowledged wine “expert”, are out at a restaurant with a group of friends and family. “You drink a lot of wine! Choose the wine for us to share!” What do you do if you want to order a wine to make everyone happy? Of course everyone is ordering completely different dishes – pasta, fish, chicken, beef – there is no common theme.

That old white+fish, red+meat rule could apply here, but that means ordering a bottle of red AND a white. Right there you’ve solved 50% of your dilemma! OK, which white and red from that massive wine list you now hold?

   

In spite of their “universal” appeal and being in everyone’s comfort zone, Cabernet Sauvignon (red) and Chardonnay (white) may not be your best meal pairing choices. Cabernet’s power can overwhelm many dishes and its tannins may conflict with salty or seafood dishes. And your garden variety oaky, flabby and sweet Chardonnay is often a mediocre food pairing, adding little to the experience.

Tip #1 - I offer here two wines with a bit more "universal" appeal for a table full of food choices. A dryer style Riesling (white) and Pinot Noir (red) will both have the right combination of fruit and acid to complement a wide variety of cuisine, and will certainly please most palates.

What if you really want to show off your mad wine pairing skilz?

For us here in the US, a dinner main course contains a meat, a starch and maybe a vegetable. Each of these are often accompanied by a sauce and seasonings. Finding a wine to match every single item on that one dish will drive even Bacchus crazy, and is just about impossible most of the time. What to do?

Tip #2 – Take a mental snapshot of the dish or meal and ask yourself a question: What is the a dominant or primary descriptive component?  Is the dish rich with fat or with creamy sauce? Is it a light or lean dish? Is there a theme of citrus or acidity? Sweetness? Try to describe the overall feel of the dish, rather than individual flavors. Then, we can utilize some of the general guidelines from Part I for selecting a style of wine to pair.

Next time we’ll pair specific wine styles with the following food categories:

• Fat (richness, creaminess).
• Salt (like chips, fries or cured meats).
• Piquant spice (like pepper or chili).
• Acid (like vinegar, lemon).
• Sweetness (like fruit salsas, coconut milk, brown sugar glazes).

From last week’s teaser: Moscato d’Asti might be a good quaff to wash down cotton candy. You would do well to try a late harvest dessert style wine too. And then check your insulin levels…