A Guide to Wine and Food Pairings

Drinking and eating--we all love both. Let's look at why certain foods pair well with certain wines.

There are six elements you should consider when pairing wine and food. These elements are fat, acid, salt, sweetness, bitterness, and texture. 

You want to balance the fat of some foods with the acidity of wines. Or you can also try to cut the fat with the tannins of the wine, or match the rich taste with alcohol content. 

As for acidity as an element and a main component of a dish, you want to balance the acidity of the wine with the acidity of whatever you're eating, or else the wine will taste bland. 

For salt, sparkling and acidic wines balance salty foods well. 

For sweetness, foods with only hints of sweetness go well with rich white wines. When the foods are sweeter, however, you want to make sure the wine is sweeter than the food. Otherwise, the wine will taste bitter. Keep in mind that higher alcohol contents tend to give you a stronger impression of sweetness. 

For bitterness, that of the wine and the food combine, unlike for sweetness--so be careful of overloading your palette! 

As for texture, generally you want to pair light foods with light wines, and heavy foods with heavy wines, but if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to experiment light with heavy and vice versa.

If you don't feel confident enough to try to find pairing of your own, here's a list of food/wine pairings, extracted from winemag.com.

Red wines:

Pork Chops with Pinot Noir Demi-Glace with Oregon Pinot Noir
Wild Rice Salad with Mushrooms with Cabernet Franc
Duck Breast with Caramelized Apples and Red Burgundy
Lamb Shanks with Olives and Beaujolais
Portobello and Red Pepper Burgers and Carneros Pinot Noir
Grilled Salmon with Olive Butter and Orzo and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Lamb with Apricots and St-Joseph
Spicy Grilled Shrimp Stew and Mencia
Moussaka and Agiorgitiko
Roasted Asparagus with Aceto Balsamico and Chianti Classico
Steak Frites and Sonoma Zinfandel
Penne with Bacon, Swiss Chard, Jack Cheese and Pecans and Washington Syrah
Roast Duckling with Merlot-Chocolate Sauce and Roasted Beets and Long Island Merlot
Baked Rigatoni with Eggplant and Sausage and Primitivo
Slow-Cooked Rack of Lamb and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

White wines:

Avocado, Tomato and Spinach Crepes with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
Mussels Provencal and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc
Chicken Sate Burgers and Australian Chardonnay
Spaghetti with Cockles and Greco di Tufo
Wild Mushroom Soup and California Sauvignon Blanc
Cucumber Soup and New York Riesling
Vietnamese Steak Salad and Gewurztraminer
Chicken Tostadas and Vouvray
Chicken and Mushroom Paellas and Albarino
Linguine with Shrimp, Scallops and Clams and Tocai Friulano
Pork Loin with Cider-Madeira Sauce and Pinot Blanc
Crispy Artichokes and Soave
Pesto Pasta and Vermentino
Chilled Corn Soup with Crab and Australian Chardonnay
Tomato Gazpacho with Avocado and Lobster and White Bordeaux
Squash Soup with Basil and White Burgundy
Grilled Whole Red Snapper and Ratatouille with a White Rhone Blend

Bon appétit and safe drinking!