Kosher Wine & Food

Matching Food & Wine

There's nothing better than a well-cooked meal matched with the right wine, surrounded by friends and family. The art of matching wine with food, and it really is more art than science, is really not that hard.

While there are basic rules that everyone has heard a thousand times, like red wine with meat & white wine with fish or fowl, there are always exceptions. And the exceptions are always more fun! Just remember that wine interacts with food the way any other spice would in any recipe. As every good cook knows, it's all about balance. If the food is sweet, the wine should be sweet too. Otherwise it will taste bitter in contrast. A strong red wine eaten with something sweet makes the wine bitter. Instead, try a slightly sweeter wine, like a Riesling, Zinfandel or Chenin Blanc to balance it out.

Foods high in acid, maybe with vinegar, lemon or soy sauce or a vinaigrette, call for a wine with the same kind of acidity like a Sauvignon Blanc or even a Pinot Grigio. If you want a red wine with high acidity, try a Pinot Noir or Chianti. Matching the wine to the sauce is always a safe strategy for any dish.

If the dish has bitterness to it, like a green salad or grilled steak, try a wine high in tannins, which give wine its bitterness. These would include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Red Zinfandel.

The most important thing to remember is that you should drink what you like. The chart below is nothing more than a guide to get you started. It shows the types of wines most people like with certain foods. If you really like Cabernet Sauvignon and you want to have it with broiled bluefish, then that's what you should do. Don't let some wine snob with a chart tell you what to do! They don't know what you like. Always be willing to try new things, but trust your own instincts. Don't use the chart as a way of limiting your own choices, that's not the point. Use it to get yourself thinking about different wines with different foods. Experiment!

And, as always, enjoy!

The Food & Wine Chart

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