Matching food and wine should be uncomplicated. Whether you are choosing a wine for your dinner, or planning a menu around a special bottle or a particular theme, having the food and the wine complement each other will heighten the enjoyment of both. This is true whether you are hosting a backyard cookout or enjoying an eight course dinners at a Michelin starred restaurant. While we try to avoid too many rules, a mismatch can alter the taste of the wine, and even the flavors of the dish. In this case, let’s hope the wine was not a rare bottle, or that the chef didn’t spend all day in the kitchen searching for this perfect flavor, only to have …well, you get the picture.

 A few good rules of thumb, which almost always hold true, will be enough for everyday use. Acidic dishes leave their taste in your mouth, so matching wines can be difficult. Make sure the wine has plenty of acidity when served with this type of food, or it will taste flabby or weak after vinegary foods. This includes pairings such as German Rieslings with sausage and sauerkraut, Loire or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a salad with vinaigrette, or Chianti with a tomato dish.  Salty foods tend to do the same, although there are a few classic food/wine pairings which match salty and sweet, and do it well. Think Stilton and Porto, or Champagne and caviar! Another thought to keep in mind is the old ‘red wine with meat, white wine with fish’ rule. Many wines, and many foods, straddle this rule. Heavier whites can hold up to chicken, pork and veal…so can many lighter reds. Tuna and salmon are fish, but many light to medium bodied reds, like Pinot Noir, can work as well as the whites. Lastly, with sweet wines, remember the wine needs to be sweeter than the dessert, otherwise the dessert wins, and the wine becomes lean and acidic.

-- Shayne Hebert, Wine Supervisor, Central Florida