How to pair wines with different foods

We all know the rule of thumb to pair wines with specific dishes: whites with fish and reds with meat. But pairing a wine to compliment your dish takes so much more than that. The most successful food and wine pairings occur when the flavors from the food and the wine reflect each other. When making the match to perfectly complement a dish, you must keep in mind the weight, texture, and flavors in both the food and the wine.

Before putting together your final table, consider the flavors you are trying to highlight.  For example, with lighter meats remember to pair the wine with the sauce, if that is going to be the flavor debuted in your dish. The goal is to compliment the salts, sugars, fats, and spices in our food. The key components of wine that we need identify before pairing it to your meal are: sugar, acid, fruit, tannin, and even alcohol levels. An unoaked wine is more likely to be lighter-bodied than its oaked counterpart.  An oaked wine aged in barrels contains more flavors and aromas with vanilla, cedar, spice and smoky notes.  An unoaked crisp and fresh Chardonnay or a refreshing, crisp, and fruity Pinot Grigio are great to cut through a sweet creamy sauce over pasta, chicken or a flaky fish dish.

An easy way to remember how to pair a wine to a dish is to describe each to yourself and consider how similar they are or are not.  If the two seem pretty comparable then you can safely assume that you’ve got your match.  But where should you start? One of the easiest ways to start pairing your wine is to try to match the color of the wine to the color of your food. Consider the popular pairings of a pale yellow Sauvignon Blanc with citrus flavors and a dark cabernet with a steak.  Light wines, light foods; dark wine, rich foods.  We pair foods and wines in order to enhance our dining experience, these compliments actually go further than just the flavor. For example the bitter tasting tannins in dark red wines actually cut through the coating that fat leaves in the mouth and crisper sparkling wines cleanse the pallet from salty foods. Just  remember, its worth the time to choose a good wine and there is no better place to do this than at La Bottega of Farmingdale.