Part VIII · In practice · 2 min
Food and wine
A few pairing rules have real mechanisms behind them. Those are the ones I have found work.
Pairing is less about matching flavours than about what the food does to the wine. Four interactions do nearly all the work.
The four that actually work
- Tannin binds protein. A tannic red against a fatty steak: the tannin binds to the protein in the meat instead of to your saliva, so the wine tastes softer and the meat tastes cleaner. The oldest rule there is, and a chemical one.
- Acid cuts fat, and has to match acid. A high acid wine refreshes the palate through rich food. It also has to be at least as acidic as the dish, or it tastes flat next to it - a low acid wine beside a vinaigrette is the usual example.
- Sweet has to beat sweet. The wine must be sweeter than the pudding or it tastes sour and thin. It’s also why Sauternes works better with foie gras or blue cheese than with dessert.
- Salt softens everything. Salt suppresses bitterness and tannin and lifts fruit, which makes it the most forgiving thing on the table.
The traps
| Problem | Why | Instead |
|---|---|---|
| Chilli with high alcohol red | Alcohol amplifies burn and capsaicin amplifies alcohol | Low-alcohol, off-dry, aromatic white - Riesling or Gewürztraminer |
| Artichoke, asparagus | Cynarin and sulphur compounds make wine taste metallic or oddly sweet | High-acid, herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc |
| Egg yolk | Coats the palate and flattens tannin and acid | Sparkling wine - the bubbles and acid scrub through |
| Very sweet dessert with dry wine | Sugar makes any drier wine taste sour and hollow | A wine sweeter than the dish, or skip it |
| Oily fish with tannic red | Tannin plus fish oil produces a distinct metallic taste | Crisp white, or a very light chilled red |
The two heuristics worth keeping
Match weight before flavour. A delicate dish is flattened by a heavy wine and a rich dish makes a light wine disappear. Get the weight right and most pairings work adequately; get it wrong and no cleverness rescues it.
What grows together goes together. Sancerre with Loire goat’s cheese, Chianti with tomato and olive oil, Muscadet with Atlantic oysters, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with green lipped mussels. Local pairings have had a long time to be worked out, which makes this a reliable shortcut when you have no better idea.