Wine and Food Pairing with CIA Wine & Spirits Professor, Michael Weiss
Part III of
To pick up where the last post left off –
In any pairing attempt, another important thing to remember is to match the power of the wine and the food. This is probably the rule from which red with steak, white with fish was originally derived, but Weiss points out that this rule has enough exceptions that we should probably disregard it completely. He suggests that when you select a wine to complement a particular food, you should look for a good match, so that the integrity of both the wine and food are preserved.
To illustrate the point, provided a kind of escalating scale of the power of certain foods:
Oysters, sole or tubot: very mild flavors call for milder wines. A is a good match.
Crab, shrimp, snapper and bass: still mild, with stronger flavors a nice fit with a or .
Sturgeon, mackerel, salmon or tuna: these possess more oil and fat, so stand up well to a or a light red, such as a light-bodied . Choose too deep of a red, and youll find that your meal delivers a metallic taste that probably isnt what youd intended.
Not a seafood fan? Looking for some rules for pairing meats? Consider the cut. The more marbling and fat a piece of meat has, the better it will pair with bigger red wines. Lean cuts need lighter matches. Its a matter of texture, Weiss says. Consider the cut are you serving a carpaccio or a steak? You wouldnt use the same wine with both. A will overpower the carpaccio but might be a good match for a fatty ribeye.
And a final tip from Mr. Weiss: If everyone at the table is ordering a different entre, never fear. Your default wines are as follows: Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, sparkling wine or ros.
