Choosing a wine that best suits a meal can sometime seem like a challenge, especially if you are entertaining and looking to impress your guests. But it’s not as hard as you think if you keep in mind some simple guidelines.
A good wine match should cleanse the palette between mouthfuls, helping you to better taste the dish and enhance its flavours.
Think about the dish you’re serving and try and pinpoint its dominant characteristics. Is it mild? Spicy? Creamy? Rich or acidic?
These characteristics are the key to selecting a wine that will help keep the flavours of the meal in balance.
The basic idea is to match like with like. Mild foods go with mild wines. Match flavour-packed foods with big, flavourful wines. Also look to match the richness of the food to the richness of the wine.
Spicy food can be tricky to match with wines, as strong spices can ruin the flavours in some wines. With these foods you may consider a crisp, cold beer or look to new world wine varieties like Pinot Gris, Tempranillo or Vermintino.
If you’re still in doubt, another way to find the right wine is to remember that foods generally go best with wines they grew up with. So if you’re whipping up an Italian feast, look towards Italian wines or a wine featuring an Italian variety or style.
For more information on wine matching techniques, visit Winextras.
Winextras have put together three wine packs for RACQ members, all great quality wines at prices available only to RACQ members and delivered anywhere in Australia free of charge. For more information, click here.
