Wine and food

There is a lot of column space among wine writers on this aspect of wine culture. Many writers include food suggestions with each wine review. Of course, the food always tends to be the sort of stuff that a 50's housewife would slave over a hot stove to prepare for an English Lord of the Manor!

Really, there is not a lot of secret to matching food with wine. There are some simple guidelines that you can follow that will not send you wrong.

Again, like with like is the rule to follow. Fish with a lemon sauce? Then find a wine with good citric acid content. Roast chicken with a plum sauce? Maybe a red wine with stewed fruit flavour. Like with like. (Sensing a theme here?)

Ever heard the old chestnut of white wine with fish, red wine with beef? Well, largely that stands true. But remember - a big thick oily salmon steak may not be a good match for that petite-bodied Sauvignon Blanc, whereas a Pinot Noir with relatively high acid might cut through the oil nicely. Conversely, a nice big side of beef could be matched with a larger bodied, maybe wooded white wine, like an Californian Chardonnay.

Chocolate, coffee and good Port or Muscat - it works.

Eggs + 99.9% of wine = crap taste sensation!

Indian curries - apart from beer, try a medium bodied white wine with good acid and a neutral, simple fruit flavour. Perhaps a good one for the latest "in vogue" grape variety, Viognier?

Spicy Asian such as Thai, Malaysian etc. means you need to reach for a lighter wine with a fair acid, but not one that will cause the chilli to burn too much! Try Semillon, a "green" Sauvignon Blanc, or a Riesling.

Australian red wines, like our Shiraz and Cabernet, are categorized by worldly wise critics as unfriendly with food. What they mean is our wines tend to be overly ripe in fruit, stewed, heavily oaked, big bodied, tannic and high in alcohol making them taste too "sweet". This makes these wines overpower food. Since this is all fairly true, drink them with simple food and enjoy the wine! Red wine for really good food tends to be medium bodied, a little lower in alcohol, not so ripe, and complex. That's one of the reasons aged wine is so prized for prestigious dinner parties.

When all else fails - Riesling goes with everything!

Like almost any rule, food and wine is all about discovery. There will always be combinations of wine and food that surprise.

My wife's family swear by dipping crusty white bread into good Cabernet or Merlot - I myself don't see the attraction. Really dry sparkling and lemon sorbet works wonders which does not really work with the like for like rule. And why does Pizza with Anchovies go so well with heavy fruit cakey Merlot?

So, follow the rules when you really need to hit a winning but untried combination, but feel free to drink what you want with whatever food you want to eat. If it works for you, then it works!