VINSIGHTS

Outside of fancy restaurants and dinner parties, pairing specific wines to specific foods is rarely necessary. Basing wine choices on broader factors such as time of day, time of year or an occasion’ s degree of formality often makes more sense. However, since customers frequently shop for a wine that pairs well with a particular cuisine style, type of protein or even a certain recipe, it’ s helpful to understand the basics of recommending suitable wine options that are likely to be flattering.

Drinking wine with dinner is a balancing act in which the food and wine both compete for our attention. When one is heavier or tastes stronger than the other, it can detract from our appreciation of the lighter partner, and the dining experience suffers. Sticking to drinks of similar weight and flavor density levels the playing field, like organizing wrestlers by weight class. The ideal is for neither element to overpower the other, allowing the sensory experiences to mix and mingle on equal terms. While“ matching” wines and foods by how they rank in weight and flavor level is not the only way to pair successfully, it is the simplest method to land on combinations that taste great together. •

Marnie Old is one of the country’ s leading wine educators and content marketers. Formerly the director of wine studies for Manhattan’ s French Culinary Institute, she is best known for her visually engaging books published by DK such as Wine: A Tasting Course and her popular Wine Simplified series of wine tutorials on YouTube.

MATCHING BY WEIGHT Fat in food and alcohol in wine both register as texture in the mouth; fatty meats and high-alcohol wines both seem richer and heavier than low-fat salads and low-alcohol wines. As a result, the most delicate foods, like raw shellfish or vegetables, usually taste best with the lightest wines, such as sparkling whites, while the heaviest foods, like red meats or stews, usually taste better with stronger, heavier wines, like intense reds.

MATCHING BY FLAVOR INTENSITY & COLOR Understated foods with mild flavor, like oysters or omelettes, generally taste best with the mildest white wines, such as albariño or pinot grigio. Foods that are bolder in flavor, like smoked sausages or blue cheeses, tend to taste better with wines of similar aromatic amplitude, like gewurztraminer or cabernet sauvignon. While there are many exceptions, flavor intensity can also correlate with color in a helpful way. The difference in flavor power between flounder and tuna, or between chicken and duck, is driven in part by flavor compounds that contribute color in much the same way that darker wines often have a stronger taste.

WHEN IN DOUBT, LIGHTEN UP When you are not sure what to recommend, it’ s always a safe bet to err on the side of suggesting lighter, milder wines as food partners. Generally speaking, the heavier the wine, the less flexible it will be with food. Not only do lighter wines – whether white or red, rosé or sparkling- flatter lighter, milder foods, they can also provide a refreshing counterpoint for more robust dishes in a way that heavier wines cannot.