Wine pairing: It’s about balance

By Trystan Brown, Sommellier by Trystan Brown, Sommellier

With spring well underway and summer right around the corner, it’s a great time to chat about the basics of wine pairing before all the barbecues, cookouts, and social get-togethers start.

It’s all about the balance of the meal: complementary or opposing wine and food flavors can make a memorable meal for those long summer evenings.

What creates a good pairing? That depends on a couple of questions: Is the wine pairing congruent? That is to say, matching two very similar things. Or is the pairing contrasting? In other words, a combination of opposite flavors. Either works; there is no “correct” method. Either choice should create a sense of balance between the selected wine and the dish.

I have two personal beliefs based on this philosophy. The wine adds to the dish with a similar, yet heightened, level of flavor, or the wine contrasts with the food by refreshing palates and mitigating any “palate fatigue’ between each bite.

One of my all-time favorite contrasting pairings to reduce palate fatigue is to have Champagne with fried chicken.

With barbecue grills firing up around the Springs during the next few months, another great wine suggestion is the Chilean red wine, Carmenere. This wine matches the meats as well as any roasted vegetables on the grill. It’s generally light enough to be a real crowd pleaser.

The other core component with pairing is to make sure flavors of both wine and food are at similar intensity levels. For example, when pairing ham with a cabernet, the power of the cabernet will be obvious, but the ham will be somewhat “lost” behind it.

When preparing a summer cookout with friends, be sure to pop open a few options before they arrive, give each of them a try with the food you are cooking. Decide what you like. Remember — If it tastes good; it is good. The name of the pairing game is balance.

If you want to try out some wine options or have more questions about how to choose the wine for your favorite summer meal, drop in and see me at Vine and Wheel.

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