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Last Updated on October 4, 2022
You don’t need to be a wine expert to learn which types of wine work best with which styles of food. You may learn a lot from restaurants that serve wine, such as looking at Del Frisco’s grill menu, because they have an extensive wine selection that can be coupled with their dishes.
Although it may seem daunting to begin with, these tips should hopefully stand you in good stead.
Let’s have a look.
Keeping It Simple
First and foremost, you should always be choosing styles of wine you actually enjoy drinking. There is no point picking a light white wine that may complement your meal if you actually dislike drinking white wine.
Always pick flavors that you enjoy drinking regardless of what you are eating. Once you have decided on your meal, you can then work within the taste boundaries of the styles of wine you like to drink.
If you are eating at a restaurant, first, check to make you are eating at one of the best places to eat in Milwaukee. It’s always a great idea to ask the waiter or bar person which wine they recommend to accompany your meal. They normally will have a good knowledge of wines and can help you make the right pairing.
However remember the golden rule, pick a style of wine that you would enjoy drinking by itself, don’t just pick it as it may work well with your dinner.
Match The Wine With The Strongest Flavour on The Plate
It’s always a good idea to try and pick out the strongest flavour from your meal to pair your wine with. You can make cornish hen for a dinner party as it’s a show stopping dish and pair with a nice crisp chardonnay.
If you were to make a tikka masala then you would likely try and pair that with an earthy, hearty red wine, due to its main spicy flavouring.
Pick out the flavour that really stands out from the dish you have prepared and work out a wine that will match that main flavour. It may seem hard to begin with but with plenty of practise, and lots of wine drinking, you will soon start to find it easier.
Wine That Pairs With Steak
Although most people think that drinking beer or whiskey works best when eating steak, they are some extremely palatable wines that you can pair with that rib eye.
Cabernets work particularly well alongside a steak, helping to really bring out the juicy flavours of your meal. If you prefer slightly sweeter and lighter tasting wine, then you can go wrong with choosing a Zinfandel.
Wine That Pairs With Pork
If you have decided on a pork dish for dinner then surprisingly either a white or red wine pairs extremely well. Pork is a very versatile style of meat so can work with many variations of wine.
As always make sure you start by picking a flavour of wine that you would normally enjoy by itself before trying to pair it with the pork dish.
Try and choose an aromatic and full bodied flavour style of wine to help the dish come together. Traditional styles of wine work well should you be on holiday in europe, so try and local red wine.
Wine That Pairs With Fish
When choosing a style of wine to pair with a fish meal you should always begin with looking for very light wines. Nothing too bold or strong. White wine works particularly well either dry or sweet but something that is nice and light to complement your fish meal.
Some red wine also goes with different fish meat but again it’s always best to try and pick a lighter more delicate flavoured wine.
Rose can really help bring out the fish flavours as most rose wines are on the lighter side of things.
Wine That Works With Vegetarian Dishes
More and more of us are now becoming either vegetarian or vegan but that doesn’t mean we can’t still try and match up our wine with your meal choices.
Remember not all wines are vegetarian some may include animal products so always check the ingredients beforehand. If there is no information on the bottle a good trick is to look up the wine online to discover more information regarding it.
Both red and white wine works well with most vegetarian and vegan dishes and you would try and pair them to your meal in the same way you would with a meal that contains meat.
Try to pick out the most bold and strongest flavours from the dish to pair up and help compliment your choice of wine
Red Wine And Snacks
If you are having a little get together with friends or a social evening of drinking wine, certain snacks work better with certain wines.
If you are drinking red wine then snacks such as baked brie, roasted fruit and cheese, cheese straws and shrimp dip really complement a full bodied dark red wine.
White Wine And Snacks
If your evening of drinking wine is of the white style of wine then choosing snacks such as popcorn, dark chocolate, pita and hummus and fruit platters will really compliment the taste buds.
Remember regardless of which style of wine you choose, don’t forget it’s always important to eat when you are drinking alcohol to help you not become inebriated too soon.
As you can see, there are many different variations and ways to help you decide on the best style and flavoured wines to complement your meal.
It can be a little daunting to begin with, but lots of practise with trial and error is the way to help improve your palate.
Everyone’s taste buds are slightly different so don’t always take what you are told as gospel, you will need to find out for yourself what works best for you. As they say one person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure. And always remember a little can go a long way. Just because you have opened that bottle of wine, doesn’t mean you need to drink it all in one sitting. Savor the taste and enjoy the wine.
