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Matching Food With Wine

Forget all that business about red wine with meat, white with fish.  Ultimately, it is your palate that dictates food and wine pairings.  There are no hard and fast rules on matching food and wine, just some basic principles:
  •  Always match your wine to the strongest flavour on the plate.
  •  Balance the weight of the dish with wine.  Simple dishes,  simple wines.
  •  Fatty, greasy and salty dishes need a dry wine with good acidity to clean the palate.
  •  Highly spiced dishes call for big, flavourful wines.
  •  Cream sauces and butter require wines with good fruit and some residual sugar.
  •  Ensure that your dessert wine is sweeter than the dessert; otherwise it will taste sharp.
  •  If you like your meal rare, choose young red wines with a touch of  tannin. For well done,  select mature or fruity reds with little discernable tannin.
  • WINE WITH DINNER
    Dining out, dinner parties or meal-time gatherings are the perfect opportunities to pair specific courses of the meal or dishes with different wines.  The following chart can serve as a guide for your wine selection:

  • Salmon, Lobster, Crab Oak-aged Chardonnay/Off-dry Riesling/Vidal/Full dry white table wine
  • White Fish :  Dry Riesling/Dry Vidal/Seyval Blanc/Medium-bodied white table wine.
  • Game :  Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc/Merlot/Baco Noir/Full dry red table wine.
  • Beef, Lamb, Duck :  Pinot Noir/Cabernet Blend/Marechal Foch/Dry red table wine.
  • Shrimps, Scallops, Oysters, Mussels :  Aligote/Auxerrois/Dry Riesling/Crisp dry white table wine.
  • Ham, Pork, Hamburger :  Gamay/Cabernet Franc/Light red table wine.
  • Veal,Chicken : Gamay/CabernetFranc/Chardonnay/Light red table wine/Off-dry white table wine.
  • Cheeses :  For Cheddar and Brick, full bodied reds (Cabernet Sauvignon/ Baco Noir).  For Brie and Colby, medium-bodied reds (Pinot Noir/ Marechal Foch).  For Oka, full bodied whites (Chardonnay).  For Chevre, crisp whites (Seyval Blanc/ Dry Riesling).
  • Got a question about food or wine?
    E-mail to: editor@thefiftybest.com

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