Wine and Food: How To Get It Right When Ordering

There are some basic wine and food pairing rules that will help you mix together the right combination of flavors that will improve your dining experience. A great wine pairing can make your dining memorable and a wrong combination can contribute to a poor dining experience. Of the basic wine and food pairing rules, the number one rule for you to remember is to pick a wine that you will enjoy. If you really have a preference for white wines versus red wines, then its okay for you to choose your favorite type of wine with your meal.

To choose the right wine for dining, consider these four questions.

When you are considering which wine to order for your meal, keep in mind the following four questions. (1) What is the main dish? Is it fish, chicken or beef? (2) Will it be roasted, grilled or pan-fried? (3) Is the main dish accompanied by a sauce and if so, what kind of sauce and what are its flavors? (4) What are the sides dishes being served and how will their flavors impact the wine? There are many different types of wine choices available today, so the basic wine rules may not always apply, but generally speaking these rules remain for the most part, still accurate for helping you make the right wine choice: white wines with poultry and fish, and red wines with beef.

Keep "wine power," in mind, when choosing your wines.

Generally speaking, red wines will work best with dishes that are rich, heavy and have a big flavor. When choosing a beef dish, you should consider the powerful strength of beef and choose a wine that has equal power. This rule also is effective for dishes that are served in rich, thick, heavy, full-of-herbs types of sauces. The reason why red wines and beef goes well together is that red wines contains tannins which mixes with proteins, allowing the flavors to blend well together. White wines do not contain tannins and therefore generally do not work well with red meats.

White wines works best with light foods, such as chicken, turkey or fish. Color and the aromatic smells of the flavors influence taste buds and wines that are lighter, such as white wines, will complement the meal and not overpower the flavors of the foods. Sometimes even foods that are light in nature, can be paired with a sauce that is heavy or spicy. This changes the definition of light, and now that dish might be better paired with a red wine or Rose or a wine that has a bit more spice.

A multiple choice meal, requires more than one wine choice.

To truly experience the proper pairing of wines with a multiple course dinner, you should pair your wines to the many courses of the meal. To make one wine work for an multiple course meal would be difficult because of the multiple of flavors. If your wine budget permits, consider ordering by the glass for appetizers and then order a bottle of wine with the main dish and then finish off by the glass again with a sweet wine for desert pairing.

Start off with a lighter wine (usually white, or light tasting wines) and then move to the more full-bodied types of wine (red wines and burgundy's) and then move to the dessert wines (ports & muscats.) Keep in mind that wines that are low in acid can often overwhelmed foods even those foods that are deemed light in taste. Wines that are high in acid works best with most foods, even though in some occasions they may not work well as a sipping wine without being accompanied by food. The following examples of going from light to more full-bodied wines are: White Zinfandel, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewrztraminer and Chardonnay. In the red wines, go from the lighter tasting red wines to red wines that are more full-bodied: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

You can't go wrong, when you choose a wine that you know you like.

The four questions guideline will help you to pair the right wine with your meal selection. When in doubt ask your table server to suggest appropriate wine choices for you. Be sure and tell them the type of wine you prefer, so they can keep that in mind before coming up with their recommendations. They should be able to provide you with three to four appropriate wine recommendations in varying price ranges that should work well with your meal. If you get a bottle or a glass of wine that you don't like, then feel comfortable in sending it back and requesting a new bottle or a new wine pour. Of all the wines rules to follow when it comes to wine and food pairing, the number one rule to remember, is to always choose the wine that you like.

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