8 minute read
How to Pair Food & Wine like a Pro
Rebecca Pitcairn pairs cool climate wines with a range of dishes, Susy Atkins looks at the best foods to pair with wine from hot climates.
Until I started learning about wine, I found being given the wine list in a restaurant quite intimidating. I'd either hand it straight to whoever else I was dining with or stare at it blankly before ordering a glass of something familiar.
Things are a little different now and I enjoy sitting with food and wine menus side by side, considering what members of the party are eating and trying to seek out the most unusual pairing.
In saying that, if there is a sommelier to hand, I always ask their opinion. They should know the menus and understand better than anyone what marries well together. They usually have some pretty good tales about the origin or maker of the wine too, which just adds to the experience.
It's another story, of course, when you're looking to buy wines for a meal you might be planning at home. Understanding the climate of a wine region and how it influences the style and characteristics of the wine produced is a good place to start when picking wines to complement specific foods.
Acidity plays a key part in this "Freshness in wine can really help in pairing with food - ideally the wine's acidity should match or exceed the acidity in the dish, otherwise the wine can feel a little flabby," explains Laura Rhys, who is one of less than 300 Master Sommeliers in the world and ambassador for English wine brand Gusbourne.
Wines from cooler climates, such as Alsace, New Zealand and Great Britain, tend to be fresher so that makes them perfect partners for lighter meals but equally, they can cut through dishes with a fatty, buttery element. More heavily flavoured dishes often require a richer, fuller flavoured wine and these will usually come from warmer climates, such as Argentina, Tuscany and southern France.
Over the next couple of pages, I will share some of my top cool climate food and wine pairings from England, while Susy At kins has chosen some dishes paired with wines from France's warm climate Southern Rhône region.
Sharpham Dart Valley Reserve 2022
This ripe and fruit driven white wine from Devon's Sandridge Barton Vineyard is a real crowd pleaser. It's made from Madeleine Angevine, a grape originally from the Loire Valley that was brought to the UK in the 1950s and grows well here because it doesn't require particularly warm or dry conditions. Similar in style to an Alsatian Pinot Blanc, its light floral notes and crisp acidity make it a great pairing for seafood, particularly crab and oyster, but its apricot notes and slightly off-dry style also make it a good match for cheese.
Buy Sharpham Dart Valley Reserve
Calancombe Pinot Noir Rosé 2019
While rosé has a reputation as a wine for quaffing in the sunshine, these days, it's completely socially acceptable to drink it with food and I for one encourage it, if you can find the right pairing. In my opinion, rosés that are warmer in colour and slightly fuller in body usually work better than the pale pink Provence-style rosés - or at least give more options for food pairings. This one, from Devon, is made from 100 per cent Pinot Noir and has plenty of summer fruit on the nose and a peachy palate. It works particularly well with poached salmon, but I think could also pair with a feta and walnut salad starter.
Buy Calancombe Pinot Noir Rosé
Huxbear Orange Bear 2021
While trendy now, Orange wine has been around pretty much since wine began - a tribute to how the Georgian's made wine in qvevris (an egg-shaped clay vessel buried in the ground) thousands of years ago. 21st century orange - or 'skin contact' - wines come in a variety of styles - most are low intervention, some are more refined, but all have a distinct, weightier mouthfeel than white wine and have tannins, so match a variety of foods. This one from Lucy and Ben Hulland in Devon is a great match for the after-dinner cheese plate (blue cheese particularly) but also makes a cracking accompaniment to a Moroccan tagine or stew.
Lyme Bay Martin's Lane Chardonnay 2021
One of the driest and warmest parts of the UK, the Crouch Valley in Essex is gaining a reputation as the best place to grow grapes for still English wines and this Chardonnay is a prime example. Made from Burgundian clones and lightly oaked, this is full of flavour and texture but retains the nuances of a cool climate Chardonnay. Lots of red apple, peach and lemon with a hint of almond on the nose and a well-rounded stone fruit and soft buttery palate, this pairs amazingly well with creamy garlic chicken but would also be beautiful alongside monkfish with lemon and parsley butter.
Buy Lyme Bay Martin's Lane Chardonnay
While Rebecca is enjoying England's cool climate wines, I'm sunning myself in hot southern France! The contrast makes for some very different food and wine matching tips.
This part of the world delivers riper grapes and more powerful and richly textured reds, so I need heartier, more robust dishes to match with them. The best whites retain wonderful freshness but have a bit more roundness and ripe fruit than their cooler climate equivalents.
Here are some pairings with my selection of Wickham's southern French range and note, they are all organic wines.
Château Coujan Roc & Rolle 2022
The ground where the Rolle (aka Vermentino) grapes grow for this wine is rocky, hence Roc & Rolle!
There's juicy citrus, a hint of apricot and a dab of creaminess to the texture of this wine (it's not oaky though). It can take on a homemade fish pie, tried and tested, or pair it with an autumnal butternut squash risotto.
Buy Château Coujan Roc & Rolle 2022
Château Font Barriele "L'Essentiel est Invisible pour les Yeux" Blanc 2021
"Important things cannot be seen by the eye" says the label on this distinctive white from Château Font Barriele. A blend of Clairette and Roussanne, it has a peachy heart with good minerally acidity, medium texture and a subtle note of ground ginger. Just lovely with roast chicken or creamy chicken, prawn or vegetable korma, it punches above its relatively low price point.
Buy Château Font Barriele "L'Essentiel est Invisible pour les Yeux" Blanc
Domaine Maby "Prima Donna" Tavel 2023
The deep cerise hue of this premium rosé tells you immediately that this is not in the classic pallid Provencal style! It's rich with cranberry and Victoria plum but retains a youthful freshness and the finish is long and ripe but dry. Tavel rosés like this are renowned for their ability to match spicy seafood (grilled tuna steaks with Asian spiced crust, anyone?) and do try it with Moroccan-inspired dishes like tomato couscous.
Buy Domaine Maby "Prima Donna" Tavel
Domaine Les Caizergues "Les Tisserands" 2020
A hugely useful blend of syrah, merlot and grenache, uoaked and easy to enjoy. Look out for cassis and cherries, a herbal hint and match it with peppery sausages, pork chop or a bubbling cheese pizza (and pepperoni is best with this). The "Tisserands" in the title are the silk workers of the region where it is produced.
Buy Domaine Les Caizergues "Les Tisserands"
Domaine Maby "Nessun Dorma" Lirac 2021
I love this Grenache/Syrah blend from opera fan Richard Maby so much that I almost want the Autumn to draw in more quickly so I can pair it with cold-weather food.
Its savoury depths and big twist of black pepper over spiced blackberries, red plums and cassis make for a warming and satisfying treat. It chimes in brilliantly with a beef casserole with plenty of mushrooms and bay leaves or a splendid rib of beef and all the trimmings.
Buy Domaine Maby "Nessun Dorma" Lirac
Abbaye de Valmagne "Cardinal de Bonzi" 2020
A deeply aromatic red from just four hectares of very old Languedoc vines, this is a blend of four grapes and it is wonderfully complex, with woody herbals jostling with forest fruits, especially wild brambles, and a fresher raspberry note lifting it on the finish. This is just the mouthfilling but balanced wine to appreciate while lingering over a top-notch cheeseboard, especially when full-flavoured cheeses like mature Cheddar, Gouda and Munster take centre stage.
Buy Abbaye de Valmagne "Cardinal de Bonzi"
Food & Wine Pairing - Top Tips
1. Match the intensity of the wine and food
Big, bold foods should be paired with big bold wines. Delicate foods should be paired with delicate wines.
2. Pair fruity wines with fruity dishes
Cranberry with turkey? Pork with apple? Use classic combinations to guide you. Green, clean, appley Chablis makes a perfect partner for pork; and fruity Beaujolais works a treat with Turkey
3. Complement or contrast
The best pairing can be the perfect complement - rich, unctuous lobster with buttery Californian Chardonnay. Or it can be a contrast, the acidity in a crisp, dry, Riesling would cut through the richness of a lobster.
4. Go sweeter than sweet
To prevent dessert wine from tasting a little flat, the wine should be sweeter than the dessert. Often the best option is to go for a not-too-sweet dessert such as a fruit tart.
