Food & Wine Matching: my Top Tips for Success

Food & wine matching isn’t an exact science. Granted when you get it right the results are amazing (and when wrong it’s horrendous – try smoked salmon with a tannic red, it makes the salmon taste like tin foil bleeeurgh).

So here follows my Top 10 rules for food & wine matching. It's pretty concise (I'll go into more depth in future posts) but I hope it's a good starting point from which to plan your next dinner party menu:

1.       Sauvignon Blanc is perfect with light fish dishes: Sauvignon Blanc, especially European Sauvignon, has a very high level of citrussy acidity which makes it fantastic with light fish dishes, where it acts like a wedge of lemon. Sauvignon Blanc is also great with goats cheese (it cuts through the grassy creaminess) and grilled vegetable dishes.  

 2.       Whereas Chardonnay is best with creamier, richer dishes: Chardonnay is a richer style of white so can stand up to creamier sauces, roast chicken (with all the trimmings) and pork dishes.

3.       With Mushroom dishes, try Pinot Noir: Don’t ask me why, it must be the earthiness of this grape variety (particularly the red wines of Burgundy) that makes it so good with mushroom dishes, eg Coq au Vin. Pinot Noir (regardless of where it's from) is also the perfect accompaniment to duck.  

 4.       Champagne works brilliantly with junk food! Everyone knows that Champagne is a fantastic accompaniment to salty food such as caviar and smoked salmon, but did you know that it is also utterly delicious with more affordable food such as fish & chips, burgers, hot dogs, etc? This is mainly because of the bubbles and the acidity in Champagne which act as a fantastic palate cleanser to greasy, salty food (my Mum still fondly remembers the Dom Perignon and burgers they ate in their first flat back in the 1970s). It is such a great combination in fact that there’s now a restaurant in London called Bubbledogs that serves only hotdogs & champagne!  

 5.       Malbec& Zinfandel are perfect for BBQs: these are the only two red wines I’ve found that can stand up to all those powerful marinades and sauces, and which are also fantastic with red meat. Malbec is the classic steak wine which I’ve written about before; Zinfandel is very luscious, full of sweet ripe dark fruit and smoky notes. Both are silky smooth wines so real crowd pleasers.  

 6.       With Salty & Spicy Food, pick Sweet Wines: There's a reason why Port& Stilton is such a classic food & wine combination - the sweetness of the Port works deliciously with the saltiness of the Stilton. You can actually try blue cheese with lots of different sweet wines, you'd be surprised by how many combinations work. Then we move on to hot, spicy dishes which you would normally wash down with lager. In fact the best thing to drink is actually an off-dry white wine such as a Kabinett Riesling from Germany – the residual sugar helps battle the chilli heat while the acidity is lovely and refreshing on the palate.

7.       Red Wine is NOT a perfect match with Cheese: This is a common misconception! Actually, cheese tends to go better with white wines,  sweet wines (as above) or even Champagne. If you really want to eat cheese with your red wine, stick to hard cheeses like Cheddar and Manchego.

 8.       If you HAVE to drink wine with chocolate, go fortified: Chocolate is a nightmare to pair with wine because it has a certain bitterness to it which clashes with the tannins in wine, which gets worse the darker the chocolate is. So in truth the best wines to serve with it are high alcohol, sweet wines such as Port, sweet Madeira (look for Bual or Malmsey) or Pedro Ximenez Sherry.

9.       If in doubt, go Local: particularly with Old World wines, always remember that they were originally made to go with the local cuisine. So if you’re serving up pizza, lasagne, or similarly Italian tomato-based dishes, serve up Italian wines – both reds and whites have high acidity which works beautifully with tomato sauces. Hearty Southern France dishes like Cassoulet work brilliantly like rustic Southern French reds. It may sound basic, but it really works!

10.   Drink & Eat what you like: at the end of the day, there’s no point in me telling you to drink a Malbec with your steak if you don’t like Malbec! So while you can take all my advice on board, don’t feel that you have to stick to it rigidly – above all make sure you eat and drink what you enjoy.  

Happy Swigging!