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 Nothing
is as classic as the pairing of food and wine.
The Stoney Ridge phillosophy is that wine
should not be considered as an accompaniment
to a meal but rather an integral part of a
fine meal. To view the latest culinary creation
from a highly rocommended area restaurant
click
here.
Food and Wine Pairing Building Blocks
Every person's tastes and flavour experiences
are highly personalized and individual; therefore
it's no wonder that food and wine pairing
seems such a mystery to so many people! Probably
the best thing to keep in mind when attempting
to match food with wine is that there are
no rules; go with the match you enjoy the
most. Remember: if it tastes good do it! If
you would like some basic guidelines, esteemed
wine educator Dr. Linda Bramble has excellent
guidelines to follow; see how they work for
you.
There are basically three strategies you can
use in making suggestions on wine and food
pairing. They are not mutually exclusive.
Each has a valid basis in practice; however,
each has its limitations and should be used
as a guide and not an immutable rule.
Enjoy
Stoney Ridge wines at these fine restaurants.
The
Ancaster Old Mill Inn
548 Old Dundas Road, Ancaster
Celebrates 26th Anniversary
in 2005.
Owned & operated by the Ciancone family
the Inn is located in a restored flour
mill that dates back to 1789. Many
couples that have celebrated their
marriage, engagements and graduations
at the Mill return with their families
to dine at this hugely popular restaurant.
The Sunday Brunch continues to draw
in record numbers of diners. Stoney
Ridge wishes The Ancaster Old Mill
Inn many more years of success.
Topper’s
Pizza
Wine & Pizza Promotion
Topper’s Pizza is looking to enhance
the dine-in pizza experience with
menus that recommend Ontario VQA Wines
paired with their specialty pizzas.
Stoney Ridge Bench Riesling paired
with Pizza Primavera. Enjoy!
The
Benmiller Inn
RR # 4, Goderich
Celebrates the Wines of Niagara November
25th, 2005.
The Ben Miller Inn & Stoney Ridge
Estate Winery celebrate at a Wine
& Dine (4 course) Special Evening
on Friday November 25th, 2005. Stoney
Ridge Winemaker Liubomir Popovici
will be at the dinner to discuss and
introduce his wines. |
Strategy
I: White wine with fish (and light meats);
red with meat.
This is a good place to start but there are
fuller-bodied whites such as Chardonnay, that
pair well with steak, and red wines such as
Pinot Noir that sing with salmon.
Strategy II: Balance of weight
Another useful guide is to pair lighter foods
with lighter wines; heavier foods with heavier
wines. Weight in wine is defined by the amount
of alcohol and extract the wine contains.
Weight in food is usually defined according
to the amount of protein and/or fat. Some
wines of moderate alcohol can feel fuller
in the mouth because of higher glycerol content.
Let your palate be your guide. A lobster,
being a heavier kind of seafood, would pair
nicely with a fuller-bodied Viognier. Dry
Riesling would complement a lightly baked
filet of sole.
Strategy III: Component interactions
This strategy, although seemingly more complicated
at first, once you understand the underlying
ideas, is more accurate and more useful than
the other two strategies. It is based on the
premise that there are certain interactions
that you can predict between wine and food
based on the basic components that form their
taste structure. Some interactions are complementary
and others wreck havoc with the wine. Food
is seldom noticeably affected by the taste
of wine, except when it comes to alcohol.
(see below) The taste components of wine are:
sugar, tannin (bitter), acidity and alcohol.
The taste components of food are sweetness,
bitterness, acidity and salt. When the taste
components of food and wine interact in positive
ways, the match works, with no attention to
flavour. When they are not complementary,
the match may have adverse effects on the
wine.
There are two taste components about which
you need to be concerned: sweetness and bitterness.
Sugar levels in foods that are higher than
the wine could make the wine taste flat, muted
or even coarse. This is especially important
when you're making recommendations for Late
Harvest wines, especially Icewine. Make sure
the food is less sweet than the wine.
Bitterness in food, such as in green vegetables,
when paired with bitterness in wine, as in
a young Cabernet Sauvignon with lots of tannin,
could make the wine taste flat, muted, coarse
and very astringent. However, it can be ameliorated
by suggesting a little bit of salt, whether
from a shaker or in cheese such as parmesan
or in a sauce, such as soy sauce. Adding salt
will soften the initial coarsening effect
of bitterness and even make the wine taste
slightly sweet and round.
Acidity. Oddly enough, a wine high in acidity
will pair well with just about any food, and
will taste slightly sweeter when served with
foods high in acidity, such as a fresh tomato
sauce.
Alcohol. Although alcohol is not a basic taste
component, it is included here because of
its effect on food. Low to moderate alcohol
(10% -13%) has little effect on food, but
when it is high (14% -17%) there is little
that will pair well without overpowering the
dish. Suggest it be served on its own as a
sipping wine, perhaps as an aperitif or after
dinner as you might serve port or brandy.
If a food pairing idea is the customer's desire,
suggest very robust foods that can stand up
to the heat of the alcohol.
A Problematic Pairing:
Foods with peppery, spicy heat, such as some
Asian dishes will seem even hotter if paired
with a wine that is high in alcohol or low
in acidity and sugar. Many mistakes are made
by well-meaning writers and merchandisers
when they suggest pairing Gewurztraminer with
spicy food. Classic Gewurztraminer is low
in acidity and sugar, and high in alcohol.
Suggest a wine that is off-dry and low in
alcohol. If it happens to be Gewurztraminer,
that's fine, but chances are it will not be.
A touch of sweetness and low alcohol is the
real key. |
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