Be the Hostess with the Mostess
Planning a formal dinner party or casual get-together
isn't nearly as hard as you may think. Don't worry about
obeying any hard and fast laws of food and wine
compatibility: just learn a little something about the
nature of each wine variety and keep one simple
guideline in mind: Match the wine with the sauce, or
with the dominant flavor of the dish. Here's a simple
example: If your chicken recipe uses a
lemony/buttery/creamy sauce, serve white wine. If it's a
cacciatore or parmesan with robust tomato sauce, serve
red wine, because in either case, what you taste most is
the sauce and not the chicken.
Ditto the whole "white wine with fish" thing. If the
fish is a delicate stuffed sole or scallop, white wine
would be great. But if you're doing salmon with a hoisin
glaze, pinot noir will be a big hit. You can skip all
the educational stuff and use the links below to jump
right to the food items you plan to serve. But you may
want a little information about what makes certain wines
the best match for certain foods.
Fish Issues:
Ever wondered why everyone says, "Red wine with
meat, white wine with fish?" Red wines have a
substance in their skins and seeds called
tannins, which give a wine age-ability but also
impart that drying, "bitter" component to reds.
Tannin also clashes terribly with fish and
seafood: it brings out that nasty metallic,
"fishy" taste. Fish is also traditionally
prepared with lemony/buttery/creamy sauces whose
relatively delicate flavors are overpowered by
most red wines. So white wine was considered the
safe choice until recently. A hot new trend is
to serve salmon with pinot noir, and it works
beautifully. The salmon has a more robust flavor
than other fish, and it's often prepared with
ingredients such |
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| as soy sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, or pesto.
Now enter pinot noir: it has almost no tannic
structure, and a soft, velvety style that's a
perfect foil to the fish. So don't be afraid to
experiment and risk breaking a few "rules." |
Wine on the Hoof:
That tannin we just mentioned may wreck havoc with fish,
but with red meat it's the match made in heaven. The fat
in red meat tones down the dry sensation, while the
tannin gives enough structure to stand up to the this
heavy protein. Of all the red grapes, cabernet sauvignon
contains the most tannin, so that makes a big grilled
steak and glass of California cab a food/wine pairing to
die for.
Sweets for the Sweet:
Dessert is no time to stop the wine service. In fact,
you can win your guests' undying admiration by serving
the simplest dessert ever: red wine and chocolate. The
guideline here is very simple: keep your wine just a
little sweeter than your dessert. Even "dry" wines can
work, like chunks of bittersweet chocolate (or dark
chocolate/raspberry) served with a glass of cabernet.
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If you want to serve a true dessert wine, ice wine or
late-harvest Riesling is luscious with tiramisu or
cheesecake, and any kind of chocolate cake is decadent
with reserve or late-bottled vintage port. For tawny
port, something like crème brûlée or caramel anything
will be a huge hit. Are you hungry yet? On the Lighter Side - Appetizers, Salads, and
Brunches
The right wine can start your evening off with a bang.
Aperitif wines should perk up your palate to prepare you
for the goodies to follow, so crisp, snappy whites such
as pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc are best, or if you
want to be more exotic, French sancerre, Alsatian
gewürztraminer, or Italian gavi. They all work well with
most finger foods or can even be sipped solo.
If you want to go way out on a limb with American
guests, try our favorite aperitif wine - a crisp
sparkling wine from California or New Mexico (really!).
A cold glass of bubbly is the absolute best
accompaniment to smoked salmon or soft cheeses.
As for salads, they can be notoriously difficult to pair
with wine because the vinegar used in most dressings
makes almost any wine taste sour. Try a white with lots
of acid (to match the acid in the dressing), such as
sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio or pinot blanc.
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Here's a simple guideline, and its even color-coded!
Orange cheeses are usually full-flavored and tangy, and
match best with red wines. Soft white cheeses are creamy
and go best with white wines. Easy, right? For advanced
cheese pairing, think of the "moldy" ones such as bleu
or stilton - you can go all the way to port to find a
wine bold enough for their pungent flavor. |
