Is There A Wine For Every Dish?

[GordonCooks]

I think the more interesting question is whether or not there's a dish for every wine and if there isn't, well, why does that wine exist?

I feel the same way about men's suits.

What about denim shirts ?

[Christopher]

I could live happily pairing food and wine with only three varietals:

Riesling/Pinot Noir/Nebbiolo

IMO there is no other white wine grape that can even play in the same sandlot with Riesling on a consistent basis.

Of course the brews of the Rhone Valley are mind numbingly good, and I've enjoyed mature Bordeaux and Vega Sicilia at the hands of generous hosts, but overall I find I have a far greater flexibility with my three.

[Anna N]

I was kinda hoping that I could learn something from this thread about matching wines and food. As a complete neophyte in the wine world it would help a lot to have a sort of table - like pick your dish from table A and match it with a wine from table

B (or something easy for a neophyte to follow.

For instance, is there a wine that doesn't get wiped out by a garlicky caesar salad? What about a really spicy dish - is there a wine that will work there?

I'm not into vintages or costly wines but would love to know what to aim for. Maybe there is a thread that addresses such questions? Can anyone direct me to it if it exists?

Thanks,

Anna N

[JAZ]

I was kinda hoping that I could learn something from this thread about matching wines and food.  As a complete neophyte in the wine world it would help a lot to have a sort of table - like pick your dish from table A and match it with a wine from table

B (or something easy for a neophyte to follow.

I'm not into vintages or costly wines but would love to know what to aim for.  Maybe there is a thread that addresses such questions?  Can anyone direct me to it if it exists?

Thanks,

Anna N

If you want to do a little reading, Andrea Immer's book Great Tastes Made Simple is a very good resource on matching food and wine. You would probably get more out of it with a little basic knowledge about wines, but I think it would be helpful even for a real beginner. And if you can find a copy of a book called Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein (I don't think it's in print anymore, but I could be wrong), there's a section in the beginning on matching foods and wines. It's written by Joyce's son, Evan, who is holds the Master Sommelier designation. He does provide a chart of sorts with wines broken down into categories, which you can then use to match wines with the recipes in the book (all of which have a Mediterranean flavor profile, so it's not going to help directly with other cuisines, but at least it's a start).

[tommy]

anna n,

try this thread and this one.

[Anna N]

Thank you, JAZ and Tommy. I will put Great Tastes made Simple on my wish list and the sites will keep me occupied for quite some time! I appreciate your help.

Anna N

[Deacon]

[W]hat dish shouldn't be had with wine?

What kind of wine goes with durian?

[Ron Johnson]

I think that my three to live with would be:

riesling/sangiovese/syrah (only from Rhone)

As far as a wine for every food, I think that it is very hard, if not impossible to pair a wine with Mexican or Tex-mex food.

[Tonyfinch]

What kind of wine goes with durian? 

Durian would go OK with any wine which goes with sweet and sweetish fruits. The best combination I've had recently was Torcolato with peaches. Tokaij would go well, as might a chilled 10 y.o Tawny Port.

Whether one wants to be drinking wine with fresh fruits is another question.

[jaybee]

I like wine.

Mostly, I prefer good wine.

[jaybee]

What kind of wine goes with durian? 

Durian would go OK with any wine which goes with sweet and sweetish fruits. The best combination I've had recently was Torcolato with peaches. Tokaij would go well, as might a chilled 10 y.o Tawny Port.

Whether one wants to be drinking wine with fresh fruits is another question.

Tony, if they were perfect peaches, you wouldn't need wine.

[Steve Plotnicki]

I find that you have the best success in matching food and wine when you concentrate on matching the sauce and spicing routine. It is more important to match acidity and level of sweetness then anything else. For example, I would never choose anything other then red wine with my Pot au Feu but if you make it in a Mittleeuropa style with a creamy horseradish sauce, I would want a rich, spicy white wine because of the sauce. There are hundreds of examples like these I could offer. The other thing that you have to match is sweetness. If you are going to eat a very sweet dish, Sauteed Foie gras with grapes and cumquats, you need a wine that has sufficient sweetness to stand up to the sweetness from the fruits. Another factor is the texture of the food. Have a pot of mussels and you can have a nice stony and flinty, acid heavy sauvignon blanc or muscadet. But add a cup of cream and a pinch of curry to the broth and you will do well with a drier Alsatian Vendage Tardive that has some viscosity to it. Or take tomatoes, extrmely problematic for wine. But if you find an extremely dry, intensely acidic white wine like a pinot grigio or pinot bianco you will find that it pairs nicely. To match wine to peaches you need to find a sweet wine that has a requisite amount of residual sugar with peaches or a similar fruit in the flavor profile. Not that difficult to find.

The pairings are endless. And like the original question asks, if you care to spend the time, you can find a wine for anything. But I find that you quickly reach a point of limited returns and I am quite happy switching beverages over pulling my hair out looking for the perfect wine. A mismatch can ruin a meal. Mineral water never does.