How to Match Food With Wine - A Guide.

I was recently asked by a friend which wine goes well with chicken. A difficult question, it really depends on how you are cooking it. To say white wine goes well with chicken is broadly true, however there are a lot of white wines out there and there are also a lot of ways to cook chicken; not every white wine goes with every chicken dish.

There are many factors at play here, you do not want a wine to overpower the flavour of the food and you do not want the food to overpower the flavour of the wine. There needs to be a good balance and balance on the whole is the key to matching wine and food.

Get the balance between the weight/richness of the food and the weight/body of the wine. Rich foods such as stews, game and roasts need to be matched by a similarly full bodied wine. On the whole people tend to match full bodied reds such as Shiraz with rich food. A full bodied white wine such as an oaked Chardonnay would also be good with rich food, especially we're talking white meat in a rich creamy sauce for example. If you have subtle delicate tasting food such as poached fish or chicken then a lighter bodied delicate white wine is appropriate e.g. a Muscadet Sur Lie or even a Loire Sauvignon Blanc, maybe even a very light red wine such as a chilled Beaujolais.

Match the flavour intensity of the wine with the food. Less full bodied wine can also be light e.g. a NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is extremely intense in flavour and aroma, but is not full bodied. Slow cooked food will be more flavoursome than lightly steamed or poached food and so will need to be balanced with a wine with more flavour intensity.

Tannins need to be considered. Tannins are found in the skins of the wine and so occur in red wine and to a lesser extent rose. Never in white wine as the skins are not used during  the fermentation. Food that is high in protein goes very well with wine that is high in Tannins. Red meat such as a rare steak or lamb will be very high in protein and so will required a tannic wine such as a Syrah/Shiraz or a Cabernet Sauvignon. You can have less tannic red wines such as a Pinot Noir or a Valpolicella with white meat as it is lower in protein.

Oily food or food with a high salt content should avoid wines with high levels of tannin, this is why people rarely match red wine with fish, and never oily fish such as mackerel or sardines. Saltier food will taste better with slightly sweeter off-dry wines or even a chilled sherry. Antipasta and Tapas is great with a Fino Sherry.

Food with a lot of fat or oil from meat juices will need to high acidity wine to cut through the oil. For whites try a Riesling, for reds try a Verdicchio or if the budget will stretch that far a Barola (made from the Nebbiolo grape).

Acidic foods needs wine with acidity. Acidic food i.e. food containing ingredients such as vinegar, tomatoes and lemon juice will need to be balance with a wine with a high level of acidity. A Chianti (made from the Sangiovese grape) will invariably be high in acidity and so will white wines such as Chenin Blancs or Sauvignon Blancs.

Sweet foods need a sweet wine. When you each sweet things you mouth becomes quickly accustomed to the sweetness, the exacerbates the sourness of dry wines. Not surprising dessert wine are invariably sweet.

Spicy food: Most people want to know which wine to have with spicy food, the general rule is the wine needs to be very fruity. This could be long the lines of a good off-dry Reisling or Gewurztraminer maybe even a NZ Sauvignon Blanc or South African Chenin Blanc. A Loire Sauvnignon Blanc would most likely to be too subtle to handle the strong flavours of spicy food. If you want a red wine with your spicy food. a fruity new world Merlot should suffice, particularly with Lamb dishes.