A good start is to think about the dish or meal as a whole and ask yourself this:
What are its dominant characteristics?
With these characteristics in mind the key now is to select a wine that will help keep the key flavors of the dish in balance.
So, put simply, match mild foods with mild wines. Match big, flavorful foods with big, flavorful wines. Too easy right? Well it can be, particularly in some key examples and that's why your tender cut of quality Sirloin steak will go superbly with a spicy, generous Shiraz and will continue to do so whilst cows are cows and shiraz grapes grow on old vines in South Australia.
In the same way, and following the same basic rule of thumb you also want to match the richness of food to the richness of the wine. A modern style Chardonnay for example will only improve freshly pan seared chicken breast and say, a creamy sauce.
Rich, 'fatty' dishes leave much to enjoy on the palette...sometimes too much! And that's where good wine really steps up. Why? Because the sip of wine you take that immediately follows the last bite size morsel of beef or chicken you've just swallowed literally helps you to keep on enjoying your meal.
How? By cleansing your palette. As you eat, and drink, the tannins (found in red wine) and crisp acidity of white wines literally cleanse your palet te, helping you to taste more. And unless something has gone horribly wrong in the kitchen, the more you taste, the more you should enjoy!
So, if you're eating a very rich, 'fatty' dish and thinking about drinking a white wine, the idea is to contrast the meal with a refreshingly crisp acidic wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling for example. Keep in mind though, that this rule holds true just as long as the wine can match or keep up with the key flavours of the dish.
If you're about to enjoy a meal with a strong acidic content like Italian pasta with tomato sauce or grilled fish with lemon, put it with an acidic wine that can stand alongside with the acids in the food. Let's be clear about the idea of a 'sauce' here though...acidic wines and cream don't like each other...at all!
For this reason, rich cream sauces will usually clash with an acidic wine like a Sem Sav Blanc or even a straight Sauvignon Blanc. What to do? Go the Chardonnay or Verdelho instead.
Strong spices, such as chili in Asian inspired or Indian food can clash and literally ruin the flavors in wine. With foods such as these, beer almost always does well. However, many new world varieties such as Pinot Gris, Tempranillo, Vermintino and the like are helping food lovers all over Australia enjoy their favourite Thai and Vietnamese and more, along with a lovely glass of red or white and that's great news for foodies.
Still having trouble matching your favourite mushroom risotto with a good white? Don't panic. With the fabulous variety of cultures around Australia it can get confusing but the broad rules of matching wine to food will serve you well in most cases.
One clever way to keep within the right taste universe is to remember that foods generally go best with the wines they grew up with (an oldie but a goodie) so, if you're eating Italian food, think about having an Italian wine or perhaps more accurately a wine that features an Italian variety or grape style.
In Australia this is becoming easier by the day as more and more new wine styles become available to the public. So get out there, buy some wine and get busy in the kitchen! Oh, and watch this space for more updates on getting the very best from food, wine and life with the team at Winextras.
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