{"id":5857,"date":"2011-11-02T09:30:30","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T13:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/?p=5857"},"modified":"2011-11-02T09:30:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T13:30:30","slug":"wine-food-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/wine-food-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Wine & Food Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

White with fish.\u00a0 Red with meat.\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n

Well\u2026maybe.<\/p>\n

\"\"Today, the creativity emerging from kitchens—both professional and in-home—is turning one of the oldest cooking chestnuts into a thing of the past.\u00a0 More than ever, thinking outside the conventional wine & food box can be rewarded with wonderful matches that seemingly defy conventions of just a few years back.<\/p>\n

The successful uniting of wine & food is analogous to an episode of Dancing With<\/em> The Stars<\/em>.\u00a0 Shortly after the dance competitors\u2019 take to the floor, they separate and perform tightly choreographed moves, independent of each other.\u00a0 But, as the performance evolves, they increasingly embrace and begin displaying a singularly beautiful oneness. When the dance ends, the partners are breathlessly locked in each other\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

OK, that’s\u00a0stretching\u00a0it a bit. \u00a0But that is what a perfect wine & food match should seek to achieve. Of course, it won\u2019t happen every time. But when it does, you will have enjoyed a memorable dining experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fusion cooking has gained popularity in the last decade or so.\u00a0 This style of food preparation seeks to blend and contrast a number of ingredients and flavors to increase the overall palate complexity of an entr\u00e9e.\u00a0 It also presents a wider range of wine pairing opportunities. Often, it\u2019s the sauces and spices that drive a wine companion decision, rather than the main entr\u00e9e itself.\u00a0 In the past, much of our dining was simply a meat and potatoes approach to eating.\u00a0 Nourishing, yes.\u00a0 But also a bit boring.<\/p>\n

The availability of everyday cuisine meals has even been extended to the frozen food aisle of our favorite grocery store.\u00a0 Boxes and bags of intriguing Thai, Asian, Mediterranean, and other ethnic foods have become widely available.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this is great news for our dinner tables as it offers more exciting wine pairing possibilities.<\/p>\n

Much of the wine\/food advice from the past tended to limit, rather than expand, our gastronomical delights.\u00a0 In reality, it\u2019s harder to mismatch a wine and food pairing than to create synergy at the table.\u00a0 A wide variety of wines can go perfectly fine with a wide variety of entrees.\u00a0 The key is to look for the melding of the two components that results in something greater than just the wine and just the food.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to understand the art of marrying wine and food is to picture an obvious pairing clash.\u00a0 What would be your reaction to dining on a tender, flaky serving of Mahi Mahi while sipping a glass of jammy, spicy, high alcohol Zinfandel?\u00a0 Eeeeyew.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 The wine would crush the flavors of the delicate fish. \u00a0To better match a wine with food simply think\u2026compatibility.<\/p>\n

To enhance the pairing of the vine and the table, let\u2019s first examine some simple, time proven strategies that can brighten your next dining experience.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Match the color, weight\u00a0 & texture of the food with the color, weight & texture of the wine.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 If the main dish is a succulent, baked chicken breast with mushroom sauce, try pairing it with a white wine displaying a creamy mouth feel.\u00a0 A nice match would be a full-bodied, oaked California chardonnay, which typically shows these characteristics. If you are having the gang over for an evening of spicy chili, grab a couple of bottles of rich, full-throttled Californian Zinfandel at your local wine shop. Or, consider melding the flavors beef stroganoff with Merlot.\u00a0 Here both components display soft, medium textures that nicely compliment each other.<\/p>\n

Match acidity in the wine with acidity in the food.<\/em>\u00a0 Shrimp Orzo with lemon zest and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc would nicely showcase the acidity of each component.\u00a0 Or, duck with orange sauce would be enhanced with a glass of dry Riesling from Alsace or Australia.\u00a0 The acidity in the food needs to be matched with acidity in the wine; otherwise, the wine will come off flat and dull.<\/p>\n

Match salty or spicy foods with an off-dry, or slightly sweet, wine.<\/em>\u00a0 Thai or Asian dishes offer wonderful, zesty spices that would clash with a higher acidic wine.\u00a0 Rather, seek out a nice off-dry Riesling.\u00a0 The slightly sweet wine will tame each mouthful of the spicy food.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s fun to experience how such a pairing actually diminishes the sweet effect of the wine, almost transforming into a dry wine.\u00a0 Each bite of the spicy dish is followed by a sip of wine, cleansing and softening the palate, and setting it up for the next bite of food.<\/p>\n

Match the food of a country with its wine. <\/em>This is an easily remembered pairing.\u00a0 Italian food with Italian wine.\u00a0 French food with French wine. California cuisine with California wine.\u00a0 We could go on with numerous examples, but you get the idea. What\u2019s the reasoning here?\u00a0 Local wines have been matched with local foods for extended periods, in some cases, centuries.\u00a0 The natives long ago figured out what dishes go best with their local wines.\u00a0 No need for us to try and reinvent these classic matches.\u00a0 So yes, veal parmigiana will swoon with a bottle of Chianti Classico\u2014the Sangiovese grape\u2014simply because our Italian brothers figured out long ago that the medium-bodied, higher acidity wine blends nicely with the meat, cheese and tomato sauce of the veal.<\/p>\n

\"\"Let\u2019s wrap up our culinary discussion with some not so obvious pairings.\u00a0 Rather than set out any rules here, let\u2019s just go with some recommended matches.<\/p>\n