DON’T BE AFRAID TO ADD SPARKLE TO DINNER
Ever wonder what a wine critic means when they say “this is a food wine?”
It’s been suggested it’s a derogatory term because food wines have a reputation of needing food to make them taste better. I like to think of food wines as those wines that have special attributes that can make food taste better.
For the most part it is a twoway street. For example, certain foods can be used to ameliorate the tannin, acidity and/or alcohol in certain wines, and some wines, say full of acidity or tannin, can be used to brighten up a flat dish or to counter a piece of protein.
If experience tells me anything, it’s that most food is better with wine and, curiously, wines that have all the necessary attributes to enhance certain foods end up profiting from such a union and taste even better.
Today we explore but a handful of the better-known grapes that work well with food. I’m not sure there is better food wine than Champagne, and the best of its sparkling imitators. The acidity is bitingly fresh, and the mix of flavours from nuts to brioche to complex yeasty notes along with moderate alcohol and practically no oak, conspire to make sparkling wine a far better food wine than you might ever think.
There was a time when Chardonnay meant only white Burgundy and all its incumbent flavours. Citrus, tree fruits, nuts, yeast and often a stony minerality flecked with grilled toast and butter.
After 50 years of experience, New World Chardonnay is beginning to exhibit similar qualities, making it equally compelling with certain foods. Think lobster, crab, chicken, quail, turkey, pork and veal; your job is not to mess up the match with a dish too big or too rich that will overpower the wine.
A century ago Riesling was the go-to wine adorning just about any table in the world. What we know now is that Riesling is all about sugar, or lack of it. When it is bone dry you can use it like a squeeze of lemon to freshen dishes. As the residual sugar increases Riesling can tame the spice/ heat and smoke in dishes until, in its sweetest incarnation, it can work magic on rich fruity desserts and cakes.
Pinot Noir bursting with ripe fruit and lower tannins is a poster child for food matching. Cheese and Pinot is a wondrous match, and the fruitier the Pinot the better. In this case it doesn’t matter if the cheese is young or old, soft or hard. Simplicity is the key to great pairings, with Pinots, especially older French bottlings. Think roast veal loin, roast chicken, grilled lamb. It’s also a great wine for mushroom dishes, be they risotto or pasta. In fact, any earthy vegetable dish can come to life with a glass of Pinot Noir.
Syrah, or Shiraz if you prefer, is an underrated food wine if you match the right one with the right dish. Little or no new oak is the key to allowing this big red to best express its origin and its big rich peppery, meaty flavours. Fresh, earthy and fruity with bits of pepper, they seem to blend effortlessly with comfort foods such as grilled or roasted lamb, beef and poultry, coq au vin, game, duck, pork or a variety of cheeses. Shiraz is also a wine that can tame rusticity, so think stews and cassoulet along with wild boar and/or barbecue.
Sangiovese, the obscure grape name behind many more famous wine names (Chianti Classico, Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello di Montalcino), may be the best bottle of all to take to the dinner table. What makes it such a fabulous food wine is its healthy level of natural acidity, medium tannins and alcohol. Steak, roasted game birds, beans, mushrooms and more — they all work with Sangiovese.
It’s time to make friends with food wines.