Matching Wine and Food

For this contentious subject, we defer to an expert in the field, Joanna Simon.

About Joanna Simon

Winner of both the Glenfiddich Writer and Quantas Wine Writer of the Year in 1992 and the 1997 Wines of France Premier Cru prize for wine writing. Joanna started her interest in wine at Nottingham University. In 1981, she joined the trade journal, Wine & Spirit and later became its editor and that of the consumer publication, WINE.

Since 1987, she has been wine correspondent for the Sunday Times and contributes to a number of publications such as House & Garden and Science Now. She has also written a number of books, including Discovering Wine and Wine with Food.

Wine & Food

Any discussion about matching wine and food has to start with the Two Great Disclaimers.

First, there is no right and wrong, no absolutes, whether you are matching wine to match food or vice versa. If you like a particular match, no matter how bizarre, it's perfectly okay to indulge with any other consenting adults. But, it's equally the case that there are combinations which are far more likely to please more of the people more of the time and combinations for which it would be hard to raise a single vote. You won't find people queuing up for Sancerre with chocolate, and you can't expect a show of hands for muscular red wines with oily or smoked fish.

Second Great Disclaimer: most of the time you are not looking for the one perfect match. There are a few celebrated partnerships (see Marriages made in heaven below), which seem impossible to improve upon, but most dishes can be enjoyably partnered by several different, often contrasting types of wine.

Choosing used to be easier

Disclaimers out of the way, how do you find the crowd pleasers and avoid the no-votes? In the past it was certainly simpler. Our choices of both wine and food were so much more restricted. The wine map was less extensive; a far greater proportion of wine was made merely for local consumption - with local food of course; and wines were more regionally type-cast. Nowadays, wine styles, grape varieties, processes and winemakers all globe-trot. At one time, you could only find the Viognier grape in a small area of the northern Rhône centred on Condrieu. Now it's established in Languedoc, California, South Australia, Argentina and elsewhere.

Food has been subject to even more exchange and interplay. It's not just that we think nothing of cooking Tuscan, eating Thai, or creating an authentic couscous; we think nothing of mixing, matching and borrowing flavours, especially spices, and methods from any number of cuisines: hence Pacific Rim, MediterAsian and other so-called fusion cuisines.

The 'Colour Code' and other old rules

When food and wine were simpler, so were the guidelines for pairing them. There was white wine with fish and white meat; red wine with red meat and game (and if you were vegetarian, I suppose it was tough luck). It was a restrictive, unimaginative little formula, but in fact it was founded on sound principles.

You drank white wine with fish because most fish makes red wine taste metallic or bitter, and in the past this would have been even more evident, because tannin is the culprit and red wines used to be more tannic. With white meat, you drank white wines because they were mostly lighter-bodied than reds (this was before the days of 14% alcohol, oaky Chardonnays) and white meat is lighter than red meat. That left red wines (fuller bodied) for red meats (heavier). It also left tannin (in red wine) to work its magical moderating effect on the chewy, substantial texture of red meats, especially steak. All very neat.

Today, it seems very old-fashioned and limiting but, if you're at a loss, the colour code can be a useful starting point. But that's all it is. You'll soon find that chicken goes with as many reds as it does whites; relatively low-tannin red wines, especially Pinot Noir, can go well with fish, particularly meaty fish, like tuna, and any fish cooked in a red wine sauce; and, if wine is a significant ingredient in a dish, its colour will usually dictate that of the accompanying wine, whatever the colour of the protein. You may also find that you prefer red wine with roast turkey (as I do), and that you can enjoy a full-bodied Chardonnay with steak (I have).

Cooking methods and sauces

Whether or not you apply the colour code, the main consideration when choosing an accompanying wine is the weight of the dish - which comes down to the ingredients involved and how they were put together, cooked and sauced. Poaching, steaming and stir frying, for example, produce lighter results than frying, braising and roasting. Marinading intensifies flavours. Sauces can be light, dairy rich, heavily reduced and concentrated, acid-sharp, spicy-hot, herby, salty and sweet among other things. Ignore them at your peril.

Watch the weight

In most cases, your goal will be to have the weight of wine and food balanced, so that one doesn't overwhelm the other. A richly constituted casserole flavoured with red wine, bacon, garlic and mushrooms deserves a full-bodied red wine, whether the basis of the dish is chicken, beans or beef. A light, fresh-tasting stir fry or a salad will be flattered by a light-bodied wine and flattened by something big and strapping. Chicken in a rich cream sauce will want a fuller, fatter white wine (such as Chardonnay) than chicken steamed with lemon grass.

The exceptions that contrast

Inevitably, there is the odd exception. Light, crisp, fruity wines can sometimes work as a foil for rich foods. Riesling Spatlese and Auslese are traditionally served in Germany with roast goose and duck. The wines not only cut through the fatty meat, but can handle the sweet fruit accompaniments and sauces that would make many red wines taste dry and lean. Another example of opposites attracting is light, frothy Asti - a winner with heavyweight Christmas pudding.

Match intensity

Intensity of flavour is another element. Light foods can be intense in flavour and need correspondingly intense-flavoured, but not heavy, wines. Asparagus finds its match in the assertive Sauvignon Blanc grape. Similarly, the spices and herbs of the Far East can give even the lightest dishes very intense flavours. Grape varieties such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and dry versions of Muscat, with good natural acidity, well-defined fruit and no need of oak influence or buttery malolactic fermentation (when sharp malic acid - as in green apples - is converted into softer lactic acid - as in milk), are often best. Gewurztraminer is so powerfully and exotically flavoured that it needs caution, but it often goes with the sweet spicy Chinese sauces, hoisin and sweet bean, and can be useful with highly-spiced Indian dishes that are proving difficult to match. Sauces based on heavily-reduced meat glazes are another source of intense, concentrated flavours, even when joined with a relatively light meat like guinea fowl.

The effect of acidity

As well as intense and assertive flavours, you need to be aware of acidity and sweetness. In a nutshell, acidity on the plate, whether a generous squeeze of lemon, apple sauce, vinaigrette or the wine in a beurre blanc, needs to be matched by acidity in the glass. If it isn't, the wine will taste flat and flabby. Bear in mind that acidity is higher in white wines than in reds; in wines from cooler regions (the principal white wine regions of France such as the Loire and, in the New World, areas such as Casablanca, Eden Valley, Yarra Valley and Marlborough); in grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Chenin Blanc, rather than Chardonnay; and in Champagne and its closest imitators. High-acid reds are few, but Beaujolais and any light-bodied reds are often good bets when acid is making its presence felt in the food.

Sweetness

With sweetness, there is a refreshingly simple rule of thumb for puddings: the wine must be as sweet, or sweeter than, the food. If not, it will taste tart and mean. A sweet element (usually fruit or vegetable) in a savoury dish is less straightforward. You don't want a sweet wine with your rabbit or lamb just because it's being served with a sweet onion marmalade or jelly, but the concentrated sweetness of the relish will make most red wines seem thinner, drier and more tannic or bitter. Traditonal European reds tend to suffer most, so one answer is to opt for the riper, fruitier flavours, fuller body and softer tannins of New World reds, or to head south in Europe to warmer climates, such as Puglia in the far south of Italy.

Food to watch out for

This brings us on to ingredients that you should regard as bearing a warning label along the lines of “this item may damage your wine” - flavours, and sometimes textures, that can distort the taste of wine. I'm not suggesting you avoid them, but, if you're aware of them, you should be able to avoid spoiling any treasured bottles (or treasured friendships). Remember also that bread and water are useful palate clearers in the event of a clash, and additions of cream and butter can usefully soften edges, of spinach for example (which can bring out a bitter or metallic taste in wine) or the assertive flavour of fennel.

• Artichokes - Globe These make wine taste either strangely sweet or metallic/bitter. Dress with lemon, lemony home-made mayonnaise or vinaigrette, then choose a high-acid white wine. Greek whites from indigenous grape varieties are notably successful.



• Chilli and other hot spices - Chilli doesn't distort wine flavours so much as numb and burn the palate; so don't waste anything special, subtle or old. Crisp, young, moderately aromatic whites are best (see the paragraph about intensity of flavour above). Tannic reds are the worst.



• Chocolate - Not just sweet, but mouthcoating; you need a very sweet, powerful wine to stand up to chocolate. Sweet Muscat is the key, whether Vins doux naturel such as Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, orange muscats from California and Australia, or fortified, aged Australian Muscats from Rutherglen.



• Eggs - Soufflés, quiches and egg emulsion sauces are fine (for example, with Chardonnays, including white Burgundy, and Alsace Pinot Blanc, depending on the other ingredients), but the mouth-coating texture of runny yolk is tricky, so try Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc, but not your best bottles.



• Fish - Oily Very few wines go with sardines and mackerel, but fairly neutral, crisp, dry whites tend to survive intact. Try Muscadet and young Italian whites, such as Soave (in which the grape, unspecified on the front label, is likely to be largely the neutral Trebbiano).



• Fish - Smoked Kippers deserve an Islay malt whisky, but smoked salmon is an excuse, should you need one, for Champagne, ideally vintage Blanc de Blancs, or a fine Chablis. Smoked mackerel is difficult, but will accommodate a good Mosel Kabinett or an Australian Riesling if you give it a light coating of cracked black peppercorns and plenty of lemon.



• Ice cream - Fortified Australian Muscats and PX (Pedro Ximenez) sherry are the only wines invariably powerful enough to cope with the numbing effects of ice cream.



• Horseradish - A killer. Use plenty of cream in horseradish sauce. Or avoid it. Lemon and Vinegar We've talked about acidity, so this is just a reminder about the vinegar in the vinaigrette, the capers, the Japanese pickles, the mint sauce, chutneys and other relishes, the béarnaise and tartare sauce, the lemon in the hollandaise and the lemon in the tarte au citron (a botrytised Riesling, with its higher acidity, is likely to work better with a sharpish lemon tart than a botrytised Semillon, whether New World or Sauternes).



• Mustard - Avoid very hot, vinegary or sweet mustards. Dijon is fine.



• Soy sauce - The saltiness of soy needs white wine with good acidity, but, if the dish calls for red, steak for example, choose a full-bodied, fruity New World or Mediterranean red.



• Tomato - Don't underestimate the acidity of tomato. If it is the principal flavour, choose Sauvignon Blanc. If it is a strong presence in a dish that otherwise seems to call for red wine, try a Barbera or other young Italian red or something with a Mediterranean flavour from Languedoc-Roussillon.



• Vinegar - see Lemon



• Cheese - Sadly, cheese is not the friend of dry red wine we would all like it to be. When tannin and cheese clash, the wine suffers. In fact, dry whites are often better, and sweet wines the friendliest of all - think of Sauternes with Roquefort and port with Stilton.

If you want to drink red wine, choose hard cheeses, such as Manchego, Brebis (French ewe's milk cheeses), English ewe's cheeses (eg Berkswell), Parmesan, Cantal, English cheddar and Double Gloucester, and bear in mind that reds with some maturity and complexity work better with most cheeses than young, fruit-driven wines.

Soft cheeses, such as Camembert, Brie and Pont l'Evêque are the most difficult, especially if they are mature and runny. Try a Côte d'Or white Burgundy with Brie, and a mature red Burgundy, Saint-Emilion or Chianti Classico Riserva with Camembert.

With blue cheese, follow the sweet wine/port example set by Roquefort and Stilton.

With goat's cheese, Sauvignon, especially Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, is hard to beat, but it's worth trying Loire Cabernet Francs, such as Bourgueil.

And remember, you can never be wrong. Bon appetit.

Marriages made in heaven

• Oysters - blanc de blancs Champagne or premier cru Chablis
• Plateau de fruits de mer - Muscadet sur lie
• Charcuterie - cru or good villages Beaujolais
• Roast lamb - Médoc, especially Pauillac and Saint-Julien
• Roquefort - Sauternes
• Stilton - vintage port
• Goat's cheese - Sancerre