One of the great pleasures of a culinary experience is serving the perfect wine with your meal. Europeans have known this for centuries; Americans are finally catching on.
It's a welcome change to the strange practice we have of picking up a bottle of wine on the way home from work, having a glass or two as a social beverage, and then carrying it to the dinner table almost as an afterthought to the overall dining experience.
Explaining the food-and-wine pairing process has the potential to be complicated ... and lengthy. But today and next week I'll give you the basics, and if you arm yourself with these simple guidelines, you can take most of the guesswork out of selecting a wine that will naturally enhance the food you serve with it.
The first step is almost a no-brainer, and that is to look for natural affinities between the food and the wine. A natural affinity is simply an inherent similarity a food and wine share that could be used as the basis for serving them together. Wine aficionados refer to this as the "complement rule."
Think about, for example, the briny, mineral-like characteristics of some shellfish, such as mussels or oysters. Then consider the possible chalky, slate and mineral characteristics you might find in a sauvignon blanc. Put them together and you've got a potentially awesome food/wine match.
Other complimentary combinations might include pairing savory mushrooms with an earthy pinot noir, pork sausage or lamb with a zinfandel or a slightly smoky syrah, or a big, hearty cabernet sauvignon with venison or beefsteak.
There's one caveat to the complement rule, and it's a big one. The rule only takes into account the food itself, not the manner in which it's prepared. If you factor in the cooking method (say, barbequing your chicken versus baking), the sauces or seasonings used in preparation can substantially change your wine choice.
That's because heavily sauced, seasoned or spicy dishes can, what I call, "raise the bar" for the food and overwhelm the wine's flavors. A common result is a flat and tasteless wine or, worse yet, one with accentuated alcohol or acidity levels.
Fortunately there's a second option that will help the wine clear that hurdle: the contrast rule. This rule doesn't always seem as apparent to some wine drinkers, and yet when you consider how food contrasts work, it makes perfect sense.
Next week I'll explore food and wine contrasts in more detail, along with specific combinations and wine recommendations.
Dan Radil is a wine enthusiast who lives in Bellingham. Reach him at www.danthewineguy.com.
