How to Pair Wine with Food

If you’re wondering how to pair wine with food, you’re far from alone. Wine novices and connoisseurs alike often have questions about this all-important topic.

For truly original pairings, shop Z&M wines online, at our winery in Leavenworth, or our Lawrence vineyard.

Here are some helpful hints so you can pair wine with food like a pro!

How to Pair Wine with Food: Know The Basics

Once you know the basics of pairing wine with different dishes and foods, you can create your own pairings. Knowing the principles of pairing will give you the information you need to mix and make your own combinations!

The main thing is balance. You want the characteristics of the wine to complement the outstanding aspects of the food with which you’re serving it.

While the results can be fairly sophisticated, the underlying principles are pretty easy to grasp.

Contrasting Versus Congruent Pairings

Now, to begin with, you need to understand the difference between contrasting pairings and congruent pairings.

In a contrasting wine and food pairing, the taste of the food and the flavors of the wine differ significantly. A congruent pairing, then, is the opposite.

Know the Different Kinds of Food Tastes

There is a fairly wide spectrum of tastes. It’s helpful to know all the different varieties of taste when you’re developing your contrasting or congruent pairings. 

Although the flavor spectrum contains nearly 20 different flavors, you don’t need to know them all. Focus on these 6 basic flavors when determining wine pairings: spicy (also called piquant), fatty, bitter, sweet, acidic, and salty.

Wine Characteristics 101

When it comes to wine flavor profiles, you tend not to experience saltiness, fattiness (ew), or spiciness. Wine does exhibit bitter, acidic, and sweet flavor components, however.

Specifically, red wine tends to be bitter, and acidic wines tend to be white, rosé, or sparkling. Sweet wines are, well, sweet. 

Putting It All Together: How to Pair Wine with Food

Now that you know the 6 main flavor profiles, let’s start putting our newfound knowledge to work.

First, decide what are the dominant flavors in a certain dish. Is it salty and fatty, or acidic and bitter? A dish may also be a combination of more than two flavors, just to make things interesting.

Then, consider the flavor intensity of the food. Ask yourself, what are the really dominant flavors, and how strong are they? 

Next, do the same thing for the wine to determine its boldness. A light wine isn’t usually very bitter, although it can be acidic. A full-bodied or bold wine will have more bitterness.

Now, you can choose whether you want the flavors in the food and the wine to contrast or go together.

For example, fat and acid flavors tend to balance each other out, rather than bring out each other’s dominant qualities. If you want a contrasting or complementary pairing, then, an acidic wine with a creamy sauce is a desirable option.

In a congruent pairing, the food and the wine share similar qualities. Therefore in these instances, you would choose a creamy white to match a creamy sauce.

Simple Rules for Wine and Food Pairings

When you’re considering how to pair wine with food, there are a few simple rules of thumb you can use. Don’t sweat pairing wine with your food with these rules.

1. If you’re pairing with an acidic wine, make sure the food is less acidic than the wine.
2. When pairing food with a sweet wine, ensure that the wine is sweeter.
3. Intensity of the food flavors should match the intensity of the characteristics in the wine.
4. Pair red wines with bold flavored meats.
5. Meats with lighter, less-intense flavors include chicken and fish. White wines tend to pair best with these.
6. Balance bitter wines with fat flavors.
7. When in doubt, pair wine with the sauce rather than the meat.
8. Reds usually appear more often in congruent pairings.
9. White, rosé, and sparkling wines tend to be used in contrasting pairings.

Ultimately, if you serve light wines with light foods and heavy wines with heavier foods, you’re doing alright.

Don’t Worry About How to Pair Wine with Food

This may sound contradictory in light of the previous paragraphs, we know.

After everything we’ve just covered, let’s get something straight. These rules are to enhance your dining and wine experience if you don’t know where to start. They’re guidelines that will generally help you get the most out of your meal and your glass of wine!

If you already know what you like, then that’s the best wine and food pairing. Don’t worry about the wine police coming to your house if you like a bold red with tilapia. It might not be traditional or conventional, but if it makes your taste buds sing, it’s a good pairing for you.

Come to Z&M, the Original Twisted Pairing

At Z&M, we like to think we know a thing or two about how to pair wine with food. Curious about what goes best with Watermelon Wine, Hellfire Jalapeno Wine, or Autumn Fall Apple Wine? Then stop by our winery in Leavenworth or our Lawrence vineyard for a tasting.

Our knowledgeable staff can steer you in the right direction for an innovative wine that will match your favorite dish.

We’re not wine snobs, and we don’t want you to be intimidated by something that can be as fun as wine. In our view, the best wines are the ones you enjoy with friends, family, and the people you love.

It’s our job, then, to make sure you find a wine you absolutely love. We’re always coming up with something new and Twisted, whether it’s using grapes from our vineyard, or local produce. You’re bound to find a flavor that suits you, your style, and your favorite foods.

So don’t be a stranger! Come check us out, whether it’s online or in-person. There’s almost always something exciting going on at one of our locations.