Playing Matchmaker
Selecting the perfect wine for dinner
Wine Rules: Which wines for which foods?
The kindest of critics might say that pairing wine with food is utterly subjective — combine the two any way you please. The do-it-yourself approach, however, has its limitations. If you’ve chased down a raw oyster with Amarone, for instance, the fishy, metallic aftertaste is your clue that the experts do have something special to offer.
Enter Natalie MacLean, the best-selling author of Red, White and Drunk All Over (Doubleday Canada) and the “World's Best Drink Writer.”
The anything-goes attitude, says Maclean, is a new school of thought. “But most of us don't put ketchup on ice cream for the same reason we don't drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or pair a powerful red wine with sole — it’s a mismatch of flavours and textures.”
The perfect couple
Like finding an ideal mate, the perfect food-and-wine pair requires the right chemistry to make the relationship work. “When the marriage of food and wine works well,” says MacLean, “each enhances the other, making the meal greater than if you had consumed them separately.”
Food and wine in harmony
Harmonizing the flavours is part of the task and the pleasure in pairing food and wine, explains MacLean. And while you can line up specific dishes and wines, there are some general guidelines to help guide your palate.
- Pasta with tomato sauce: This classic combination requires a wine with matching acidity. Otherwise, says MacLean, the partner with lower acidity will taste flabby and dull and the contrasting acidic element will taste too tart.
- Seafood: Choose a sparkling wine from California, a Spanish cava or French champagne, which refresh and cleanse your palate when eating fish.
- Spicy foods: The hot spices in Asian, Thai, curry and chili pepper dishes can numb the palate. Many of these foods also combine high acidity from citrus ingredients, such as lime juice, with sweetness. Balance the flavours with an off-dry California sparkling wine with lots of fruit. It will provide both an acidic backbone and a touch of sweetness.
- Red meats: The bitter, dark-fruit flavours and mouth-drying tannins of cabernet sauvignons pair up nicely with a rare steak. “The protein softens the tannin, making the wine taste smooth and fruity,” says MacLean.
- Cheese: Hard cheeses, such as blue, work well with red wines because they can accommodate the tannins. In contrast, soft cheeses with creamier textures, such as brie and camembert, benefit from the acidity of white wines.
- Dessert: A safe bet for your rich, chocolately Valentine’s Day dessert is a sweeter wine. Sauternes, Canadian icewine, late-harvest wines and port all match well thanks to their sweet, rich texture.
Special tips for a full wine experience
Bring out the best your wine has to offer by treating it right:
- Temperature: You numb the complexity and aroma of wine when it is served too cold; too hot, and it tastes alcoholic and flabby, says MacLean. Serve red wine at about 17° C, although you can go slightly cooler for some light reds, such as Beaujolais, to capture the freshness. Serve white wine chilled to about 13° C. It should feel cool, but not ice cold, and your glass shouldn't mist over.
- First-class glass: “It's like using the right screwdriver to do the job,” jokes MacLean. “The right glass accentuates a wine's aroma. White wine glasses tend to have smaller, narrower bowls that concentrate the wine's freshness. Wide-bowled red wine glasses allow room for the robust aromas to collect.” While there's a glass for every type of wine, these four styles will do it all:
- sauvignon blanc glasses work for most whites
- cabernet sauvignon for most reds
- flutes for champagne preserve the bubbles
- smaller glasses for dessert wines
- Decanting: Once you’ve opened a bottle of wine, you still need to let the wine “open up.” While a wine decanter adds style, it also lets headier wines “breathe” and gets rid of sediment, especially common in mature reds.
Natalie MacLean is one of the most widely published wine writers in North America. She contributes to wine publications internationally and is the syndicated wine columnist for CBC Radio’s national drive-home shows. Natalie also is a regular wine commentator on Canada’s largest weekend radio show for CFRB. Visit her at www.nataliemaclean.com
