One of the most important decisions before enjoying a delicious meal is choosing the wine that will accompany our dishes. Although some people would say that it is the wine that really chooses what we will eat. This decision is especially important asit can enhance or ruin our menu. Knowing which wine can accompany each dish is not an easy task and, as a general rule, it is usually the sommelier’s job to help us choose. But if we decide to be ourselves the ones to choose which wine to drink, we need to know beforehand how to achieve a perfect balance between the flavors, aromas, and textures of the food with the wine of our choice.
These are the four unwritten rules that should always be taken into account when pairing wine with our foods:
- Balance: the harmony of flavors between food and wine is important, they should enhance each other and neither should dominate over the other. Light meals usually combine well with light wines and strong ones with aged or full-bodied wines.
- Texture: wines with greater astringency combine well with fatty dishes, while the fruitier wines combine well with salty or sweet flavors.
- Sobriety: it is not necessary to serve different types of wine in the same meal as the palate may not appreciate all of them because the excess of flavors. If we opt for a single choice, we should go for a light wine according to the main course.
- Order: if we decide to taste several types of wine during the meal, it is advisable to serve first the whites and then the reds, first the dry ones and then the sweet ones, and the young ones before the old ones. The most recommended order for wines is: 1) Dry whites, Fino and Manzanilla wines 2) Rosés, cavas, and sparkling wines, 3) Young reds, 4) Crianza, 5) Reserva, 6) Gran Reserva y 7) Sweet or semi-sweet and Oloroso white wines.
The wine according to the food
If we base our decision on the food to choose the wine, it is important to consider the four principles above to opt for one choice or another.
If our wine is going to be tasted during the appetizer, the most appropriate is to pair cheeses and pickles with white, dry, or sparkling wines. If the main course of our meal is seafood, white wines are usually good companions, no matter if dry or sweet (such as Albariño).
For red meats, the best choice is a strong wine. In the case of stews, an excellent choice is Garnacha or Carignan wines. If our dish is grilled, Rioja varieties are a great choice. If our dish is white meat, it partly depends on the sauces that accompany it. For a chicken or turkey without sauce, a good dry white wine is a good choice, but for a dish with strong side dishes, young but fortified wines are a better idea.
In the case of fish, it happens somewhat like with the meat. If our dish is white fish, the most appropriate choice is a dry and acid white wine, such as a verdejo or a txakoli. If, on the other hand, it is an oily fish, such as salmon, the dish will pair better with a young red wine.
We can’t forget about rice dishes. In this case we can choose either white or light red wines.
And to finish our menu, dessertcan also be accompanied by wine. A chocolate dessert combines perfectly with fortified red wine. A dessert containing fruits could be served with muscatel wine.
The eternal question of wine lovers
But let’s go back to the question of the beginning, is it the food that accompanies the wine or is the wine that chooses the food? Either way, it is a very important decision and sometimes difficult to make, especially in those restaurants that have very extensive wine options that sometimes can be overwhelming.
Tools such as Winerimallow the customer to answer the previous question, first choosing the wine based on their preferences and then selecting the dishes with which it pairs perfectly, or vice versa, looking for the wine that best matches the menu they are going to enjoy. Whichever decision the customer makes, Winerim is designed in a way that the restaurant can visually offer its extensive wine list, with complete information on each reference and how it fits with the menu. A new way to bring the important wine cellars of the restaurants closer to the customers.
