Wine and Food Pairing Tips

You really don’t have to know much about wine to enjoy it - just open the bottle and pour!  But if you’d like to learn more, the best way to begin exploring is to try out a range.  Red, white, sweet, dry - the more you taste, the more you’ll discover an infinite variety of colors, aromas and flavors.  

Here’s a brief introduction to tasting wine, serving wine and pairing wine with food - a quick-start guide to a life-long love affair with one of the world’s greatest pleasures.

Tasting

To fully appreciate the complexity of wine, use all of your senses: sight, smell, taste and even touch. Use the four "S’s" guidelines for tasting: see, swirl, sniff and sip.
  • * See and note the color and clarity of the wine.

  • * Swirl the wine in the glass to release the distinctive scent of the grape variety expressed in the wine. 

  • * Next, bring the wine close to your nose and sniff. The nose makes thousands of discriminations.  Try telling your friends what the wine’s smells remind you of.

  • * Now take a small sip and hold the wine in your mouth.  Gently draw air through your teeth to direct aromas to the nasal passages. Note any tartness or sweetness.  Four sensations - sweet, sour, bitterness and salt - are all perceived through taste.  Temperature, tannins (astringency) and the effervescence (bubbles) of sparkling wines are also experienced through the sense of touch in the mouth. 
Serving Wine

There are only two hard-and-fast rules when serving wine: don’t spill; and enjoy in moderation. However, these guidelines may help you get the most out of sharing wine with your friends and family:

Temperature
  • * White and blush wines taste best chilled, but not too cold.  When wine is too cold, its aromas and flavors are harder to enjoy.

  • * Red wines reveal their richness when served at "cool" room temperatures of 55° to 65°.  To help wine reach this temperature, place the bottle in the refrigerator for a short time. Again, don’t let the wine get too cold - cold red wines can taste excessively tart.

  • * Like white wines, blush wines (rosés) and lighter red wines, with their lower alcohol levels, taste better chilled.

  • * Sparkling wines are traditionally chilled to 45° or lower to slow the release of bubbles and encourage the fruit aromas to linger.

  • * Dessert wines reveal their unique personalities when served at temperatures similar to those of red wines.  
Pairing Wine with Food

A magical melding of aromas, flavors and textures occurs when a sip of wine follows a bite of food. We’ve included a few strategies for delicious wine and food pairing below.  Keep in mind that "white wines with fish and red wines with meat" is no longer a hard-and-fast rule.  The growing influence of ethnic foods and American regional cuisines has paved the way for new considerations.  And at the end of the day, the most important rule for wine and food pairing is to follow your own taste preferences.  If you like it, the pairing works.
  • * Wine and food should complement one another, or offer a pleasant contrast with one another.  When choosing a wine to enjoy with food, consider the style and ingredients of the dish; for example, highly seasoned ethnic dishes, such as those of many Asian cuisines, need wines that can stand up to assertive flavors.  Try lively Gewurztraminer, Viognier or Pinot Grigio. A lightly sweet Riesling might offer a pleasing contrast to spicy foods, as well.

  • * Lighter foods, such as grilled fish or chicken, work well with more delicate whites, such as Sauvignon Blanc or a light Chardonnay.  Heavier red wines would overpower the complex flavors of these foods - and that’s what the "white wines with fish, red wines with meat" rule is based on.  But lighter reds - a slightly earthy Pinot Noir, for example - can bring out the rich flavors of grilled fish like salmon or tuna.

  • * Heavy roasted meats, such as a rosemary-scented Sonoma lamb or barbecued Santa Maria tri-tip, are ideally accompanied by a moderately spicy Merlot or smoky Syrah.  Hearty beef stew or succulent, well-grilled, marbled T-bone steaks stand up to intense and complex Cabernet Sauvignon or Petite Sirah.