Popular Wine and Food Pairings Combinations

Achieving the perfect pair of wine and food requires balance. Generally, wine is a versatile drink that can be paired with any type of food, as long as you achieve harmony. The wine shouldn’t be superior to the food’s taste, but the food shouldn’t be too much for the wine either. To find the perfect combination, you of course need to know about the different types of wine, and you can do this by visiting informative resource sites like ilovewine.com for various guides and tips.

To give you some ideas, here are the most popular food and wine pairings considered by experts and gastronomes:

Spicy Indian Dishes + Sweet Riesling

Spicy and piquant dishes are customary to the Indian cuisine. Their love for spices can be attributed to the hot climate in India, which makes food spoil easier. While having a spicy meal, your tongue needs something to quell the heat and pain from the food, and Riesling can take care of that. Riesling wines are crisp and fruity, with sweetness ranging from very dry to very sweet depending on the grapes’ ripeness and how the wine was produced.

Through having a glass of Riesling with Indian food, your palate can feel some relief from the spiciness of the dish as it is replaced by fruity flavors, a floral aroma, and balanced acidity that gives the wine a sharp but natural kick. Riesling wines, especially German Rieslings, are one of the best sweet wines in the world. Its rich mineral content combined with the balance of acidity and fruitiness is due to the soil where the grapes are grown in Germany.

Salty Chips + Sparkling Champagne

It’s crazy—who would try store-bought salty potato chips with a fancy sparkling champagne? Unknown to most people, salty chips and sparkling champagne actually make a good combination if you want a break from the classic caviar and oysters. Champagnes are classified under “sparkling” wines because they’re carbonated through the process of secondary fermentation, which doesn’t exist with other types of wine. Even though champagne is a versatile drink that goes well with different flavors, salty and briny foods are perfect for their minerality, bubbly texture, and yeasty kick. The delicacy of fruit in champagnes are enhanced with the saltiness of chips and, on the other hand, the champagne’s acidity will tone down.

Juicy Lambs + Cabernet Sauvignon

Typically, dishes consisting of red, juicy meat are automatically served with red wine. Why? This is because juicy meat perfectly complements red wine, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. This red wine is known for its strong tannin content, full body, dark color, and a firm alcohol content of over 13.5%. Cabernet Sauvignon generally has two opposite profiles that are dominant around the globe. In the cooler regions of Australia like Coonawarra and Margaret River, the Cabernet Sauvignon has hints of leafiness like black pepper and dried herbs. Meanwhile, the second wine profile from the warmer areas of Australia such as the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale are noticeable with an earthy, ripe plum taste infused with pure chocolate.

Compared to chicken, lambs are meatier, fatter, and stronger, making them the perfect partner for the intense Cabernet Sauvignon. Not only do these two have perfect flavors, but they’re both beneficial for the body’s overall health as well. Red wine can help with exercising due to its high resveratrol level, which can combat sedentary lifestyles, and a rich and perfectly-textured lamb can be a good source of high-quality protein, zinc, iron, and vitamin B12.

Fresh Salmon + Pinot Noir

One of the most famous light-bodied red wines, the Pinot Noir is characterized by its earthy, fruity, and savory flavors that are mainly derived from the taste of vanilla, mushroom, raspberry, hibiscus, and cherry. Pinot Noir is extremely versatile for different foods, but salmon could be its true soulmate. This is because of its high acidity, which cuts through the salmon’s oiliness, and low tannin, which makes the wine taste dry and lighter. Altogether, the taste of light-bodied Pinot Noir and oily salmon is the ultimate epitome of balance.

The Final Verdict

Due to the versatility of fermented grapes, you can find a specific type of wine that can be partnered with even the most playful flavors of food. Simply put, wine just makes every dish taste better, and it never forgets to tell the story of its origin. Wine has been popularly served in tables dating back from the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and every drop of it highlights a beautiful tale of history and tradition.