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Perfect Pairing
you be the judge when
finding the perfect wine
BY CAROL ANDERSON
Hoping to find some wines to complement your next dinner party? Curious
about why your favourite Australian shiraz tastes odd with spinach quiche? Websites
and wine aficionados galore are eager to suggest terrific matches for everything
from crisp salads to decadent desserts, but when it comes to figuring out which
wines go with which food, there’s no substitute for your own experimentation. Why
not team up with some friends for an evening of fun and research?
First, here’s some background to help you on your way. Although our noses
detect thousands of aromas, our palates only detect five primary tastes: sour, sweet,
bitter, salty, and umami (associated with MSG). A good balance of the first three is
desirable in wines, usually manifested through the right combination of acidity,
fruit, alcohol, and tannins. Good viticulture practices and winemaking techniques
strive to optimize that balance. Even in cooking, the judicious
use of a squeeze of lemon, a dash of salt, or a pinch of sugar
can make a sauce taste perfect. When we taste wine and food
together, we’re also striving for balance. We just have more
elements to work with. For example, if the food is rich and
fatty, a crisp wine with good acidity can work to cut through
the fat and be very refreshing.
For your evening of research, try a range of food and wines
and plan to take notes. Buy different styles of wines — perhaps
a sparkling, sauvignon blanc, off-dry riesling, chardonnay, pinot
noir, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and, just for fun, a
dessert wine such as a maury or banyuls. (See our sidebar for
some low cost, widely available suggestions.) Not all bottles of
the same varietal are created equal, of course. You can spend $9
or $9,000 on a bottle of merlot, depending on the vineyard location,
grower, and vintage. But the idea is to understand some broad guidelines. Some
wines are crisp and light; others are rich and full-bodied.
Choose foods with different flavours and weights. Three or four items are
probably enough for one session, but you’ll have so much fun you’ll want to repeat
the exercise. Perhaps try some goat cheese with toasted walnuts, pan-fried garlic
shrimp, crab salad, poached chicken
with two or three different
accompaniments — a lemon
sauce, mushroom sauce, and fruity
salsa — a bit of simple grilled meat
and a rich beef stew, a lemon
dessert, a fruity dessert, and some
milk and dark chocolate.
If you have a group, ask everyone
to bring small quantities of a
particular dish and a specific bottle
of wine. Think of the slow-food
movement while you go through
this exercise. Try each wine first,
without food, starting with the
lighter wines and moving towards
the heavier and sweeter. It’s helpful
for everyone to taste together
and share observations. Is the wine
light, full, crisp, chewy, bitter,
Remember …
•Balance sweet, sour, and bitter.
•Try a range of food and wine.
•Try different flavours and weights.
•Wine first, then food.
•Taste from light to heavy.
•Think slow-food movement.
•Experiment, have fun, and become intuitive.
sweet, fruity? Don’t get too hung
up on identifying ripe mangos or
balsamic vinegar on the nose. If
something jumps out, great — but
this exercise is more about matching
food with wine.
This conscious analysis should
disclose whether you like the wine
on its own. But it might also lead to
a “gut feeling” about which food
might work with that wine. Does
that crisp, refreshing, light- to
medium-bodied sauvignon blanc
make you want to eat a big beef
stew and chocolate cake, or does it
lead you to pasta with a seafood
sauce? How about the shiraz?
Would you prefer it with an
omelette or a barbequed steak?
Offer drinking water and some
crackers or baguette to neutralize
continues on Ottawa page 8
Due West/Due East Magazine • Spring 2008 Ottawa Page 6