Notes from "Pairing Food with WIne"

Decalogue of Matching Food and Wine
• No white fortified wine can be served with red meat or game
• No great red wine can be served with fish, crustaceans, or mollusks
• White wines should be served before reds
• Light wines should be served before robust ones
• Fresh wines should be served before those at room temperature

• Wines should be served according to a growing alcohol level
• Match each dish to its own wine
• Serve wines in their best season
• Separate each wine with a sip of water
• No more than one great wine should be served in a meal


Food and wine must mutually exact and complete each other

General principles that are usually applied to food and wine matching are two:

CONTRAST and CONCORDANCE

An example of a a contrast in pairing would be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the saltiness of the peanut butter is a contrast to the sweetness of the jelly. An example of concordance in paring would be s'mores, all the ingredients are sweet but difference in texture between the graham cracker, the chocolate, and the gooey marshmallow is what makes them great.

Guide to Wine Examination

•Visual Examination of Wine: color, clarity, swirling, consistency, effervescence
•Olfactory Examination: nose (bouquet and aroma)
•Tasting Examination: sweetness, fruitiness, acidity, bitterness, tannins, thickness, heaviness, finish, etc,
•Over all impressions: general qualities and balance