Wine and food pairing.

While there are no hard-set rules about pairing wine with food, there are a few guidelines that you may wish to follow when selecting the perfect mate for your tasty dish.

You can decide whether you would like to compliment or contrast your wine to your meal. Both can make for excellent pairings. For example, if you were having sea salt and pepper chicken wings, you could pair the wings with a sweet riesling. The sweetness of the wine would provide a nice contrast while toning down the saltiness of the wings or you could also pair the same sweet riesling with cheesecake where the cheesecake would bring out the less sweet flavours of the riesling that you may not have noticed otherwise.

The old rule: Red wine with red meat, White wine with white meat does not always apply today.
If you are having steak and potatoes you will probably want to enjoy a wine that will stand up to the steak in terms of flavour and weight. You would not put Steve Urkel in a boxing ring with Mike Tyson so why would you pair a big meaty steak with a wimpy wine? Just like in a boxing match, heavy goes with heavy, light goes with light.

For steak, you might want to go with a big Cabernet Sauvignon from California, an Italian Brunello Di Montalcino, or a french Côtes du Rhône. These big wines can handle a hearty, flavourful steak.

If you are eating a mildly spicy dish, I would suggest pairing the food with a sweet or off-dry wine such as a Gewürztraminer from Germany or Alsace. The sweetness in the wine will "cut" the spice of the food making for a delicious pair. If your dinner is spicy enough to make you sweat, or make your nose run, I suggest drinking something other than wine all together. Maybe some refreshing mojitos!

When you are finished your entrée and are ready to move onto dessert remember this; your wine should be sweeter than the dessert. If you have a wine that is not as sweet as the dessert, the sugar in the dish will make the wine taste tart. For my fellow chocolate lovers, I strongly suggest you try port with your next chocolate treat, the match is heavenly!

At the end of the day, you should always follow your palate. If one of my suggestions does not jive with your tastebuds, then it may not be right for your palate. Something I love you may think tastes like spicy dirt, and vice versa. There are no right or wrong answers with wine, it is 100% personal.