Wine guide

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THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO

UNDERSTANDING WINE

Major red varieties

What is green wine anyway?

Major white varieties

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INTRODUCTION One of the many wonderful things about wine is the way it enhances food and can help elevate a great meal to an exceptional one. Beyond that, there is something truly wonderful about a host or hostess who knows how to effortlessly choose the right wine for any meal. If you're a wine lover keen to hone this skill, look no further.

Within these pages, you'll find all the tools you need to serve up perfect pairings every night of the week and for all of life's occasions. You'll discover the basics components of how and why certain wines go so beautifully with specific

dishes, learn about major grape varieties, styles of wine, and once and for all, get a handy breakdown of just what exactly the difference is between organic, biodynamic, and natural wines.

Follow this easy guide and you'll find that although it may seem challenging at first, in reality pairing food and wine is something absolutely anyone can do. So sit back, pour yourself a glass of your favourite wine, and enjoy!

There is something truly wonderful about a host or hostess who knows how to effortlessly choose the right wine for any meal.

A Beginner’s Guide to Pairing Food & Wine

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THE MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS When pairing food with wine, there are few key things to bear in mind while choosing a bottle: acid, alcohol, sweetness, tannins, and oak.

These are the major components which will

play a direct role in how your vino will interact with a meal. Here’s a breakdown of the meaning of these terms and how they influence a wine’s pairing potential.

ACID

ALCOHOL

A term that wine novices can find a bit offputting, acidity in wine is actually one of the most important pairing points. Acid is what will refresh your palate after each sip so you never become overwhelmed by either the richness of a dish or the wine itself. It helps create balance within a wine, especially when considered with the rest of a wine's characteristics. A good wine will make your mouth water. Wines with high acid are particularly good with rich, creamy, or fatty dishes but are also a must when the dish itself is tart.

Alcohol, as you may have guessed, refers to the overall alcohol content in your bottle of wine.

This will be expressed on the label as a percent followed by the letters “ABV” which stand for “alcohol by volume.” Here are a few tips for pairing when it comes to alcohol levels: 1. High alcohol and spice are not friends.

Drinking a 15 or 16 percent alcohol Shiraz or Zinfandel with a spicy vindaloo is a recipe for eye-watering fire. Alcohol makes spice feel hotter on the tongue and if the purpose of having a glass of wine with dinner is to enhance both the food and the drink, this is the wrong way to go about it. The same is true for salty dishes.

Alcohol makes spice feel hotter on the tongue and if the purpose of having a glass of wine with dinner is to enhance both the food and the drink, this is the wrong way to go about it.

2. Higher alcohol levels also give a wine a rounder, richer mouthfeel. This makes these wines wonderful with hearty meals like steaks, stews, and savoury pies.

A Beginner’s Guide to Pairing Food & Wine

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TANNINS

OAK VERSUS UNOAKED

Tannins come from the skin, seeds, and stems of a grape, but grapes aren’t the only food in which you’ll encounter them. Tea, chocolate, cranberries, and coffee all have tannins. Red wines are more tannin-heavy as red grapes have significantly higher tannin levels than white. On the palate, tannins will have an astringent affect and even taste a little bit bitter to your taste buds. But they are vital for providing structure in red wines and helping to give them greater potential to age. Tannin is also imparted into a wine via oak ageing but at a much lesser degree.

Some people really love oak; they just can’t get enough of the toasty, vanilla, smoke and spice that it brings to a wine. And many of the world’s best (and most expensive) wines are in fact oak aged. There’s just one small thing; wines aged in new oak for lengths of time can be a bit more tricky to pair. Oak is intense. A wine with heavy oak notes will overwhelm food that’s too delicate. Stick with grilled foods, richer dishes and anything smoked. Since the oak imparts a touch of smoke to a wine that’s been aged in new barrel, it makes for a great like for like pairing. An oaky Chardonnay is lovely with grilled fish, but you wouldn’t want to drink that same wine with oysters on the half shell. It would make the oysters taste metallic.

Unoaked wines are aged in neutral containers like stainless steel or concrete eggs. They retain their primary flavours and are fresher and more vibrant than oaked wines. Oak tends to mellow wines out. Wine can also be aged in neutral oak barrels. These barrels have been used several times and no longer impart the characteristic oak flavours.

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DRY TO SWEET

A FINAL WORD: LIKE WITH LIKE

A wine’s sweetness depends on the amount of residual sugar present in it after fermentation completes. Wine is made at every notch in the spectrum of sweetness. You’ll find excellent wines that are bone dry, or without any residual sugar. An off-dry (demi-sec in French) wine is semi-sweet. Then, of course, there are the luscious sweet wines made the world over from Italy and France and Portugal to Australia and South Africa. Off-dry or sweet wines pair beautifully with spicy food. The sweetness helps temper the heat of chillies and peppers.

It can also help balance out tart dishes, the way the Chinese do with their famous sweet and sour sauce.

You can also choose your wines based on common flavour characteristics shared between the wine and the dish being served. Herbs with herbaceous wines, game meats with gamey wines, citrus-based dishes with citrusy wines are all examples. Think of mushrooms and a lovely earthy Pinot Noir.

Sweet with heat is on par with the Golden Rule for those who eat a lot of spicy food but want to enjoy wine with their dinner. They also make a far better pairing than beer.

Herbs with herbaceous wines, game meats with gamey wines, citrusbased dishes with citrusy wines.

When in doubt remember this: what grows together goes together. Consider classic pairings like goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc which are both from the Loire Valley or a savoury Sangiovese with a tomato-based bolognese sauce. Of course, when it doubt, try it out!

A Beginner’s Guide to Pairing Food & Wine

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When in doubt remember this: what grows together goes together.

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