Wine and Food Matching

This is one of those topics which always get a lot of debate. There are a lot of opinions in the wine world about what wines should be drunk with which food, and a quick Google search will produce a couple of million search results.

The basic rule of 'red wine with red meat, and white wine with white meat' is a good basis to go by, but that does not mean it is always right. That rule was thought up years ago before the use of stainless steel and the fresh aromatic unoaked wines that are so popular today.

With the multicultual world we now all live in we have a wider range of international wine and foods than ever before. Wines like Spanish Albarino and Argentinian Torrontes are perfect with a lot of Asia Pacific cuisines. And some of these Spicey intense new world red blends are perfect with a lot of traditional european cuisines.

The main point with wine matching is to match the intensity of flavours, rather than trying to match particular flavours. This is a much better basic rule than 'red with red, and white with white.'

I personally enjoy a good strong flavoured New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a steak on a summers day. This works very well as the pungent grassy asparagus flavours are easily strong enough to match a BBQ steak, and chilled white wine is always better at a hot sunny BBQ.

Another favourite of mine are a New World Pinot Noir with a roast chicken dinner. The vegetables, gravy, stuffing and thigh meat of a chicken definitely make up more of the meal than the white meat on the breast, so a light and fruity pinot goes down a treat.

The main thing is to enjoy both your food and wine. Experimentation can uncover some truly amazing matches, and can make it much easier to match wine and food correctly every time.