Le Cordon Bleu - Wine Essentials #2

Pairing wine with food was the focus of tonight’s class.

In general you pair like wines with like food.

Simple food – simple wine.
Earthy food – earthy wine.
Rich food – rich wine.

The theory is easy. The application a bit more complex.

To help establish a foundation we first created a hierarchy of meats. Then overlapped a hierarchy of wines – creating some pairings.

We did something similar with fish. Starting with fresh-water fish (separated into oily and non-oily fish). Then sea-fish (oily and non-oily). Crustaceans. And finally Mollusks. Paired with white Burgundy, Pessac-Léognan, Meursault, and Muscadet, respectively.

Here are some of the other items to take into consideration.

• Haute cuisine with grands crus
• Fatty food goes with acidic wines
• Neither food nor cuisine should dominate (you’ll know a perfect combination when you can’t tell which is in your mouth)
• Rich and robust wines with stronger foods (i.e. strong marinades with Châteauneuf-du-Pape)
• Buttery white, fresh and aromatic whites with sweet and sour dishes (i.e. Asian cuisine with Mâcon-fuissé)
• Marry all sensory receptors in food and wine – sweet, salty, bitter, and sour
• Champagne with desserts

Marrying food and wine is more important than just making the meal taste good. Other components happen when paired poorly. For example, the delicate flavor of seafood is destroyed when the tannins of red wine come in contact with the food’s iodine. Making the seafood taste bitter. This is why no red wine with seafood. Another example - sweetness increases the sensitivity of the palate to sourness, only medium-dry, mellow wines should be drunk with dessert. Ideally, Champagne-brut.

Finally, we were reminded that wine is not refreshing. Water is. Water should be drunk to cleanse and refresh the palate, not wine. With that said - if poured properly - you should be getting 8 glasses of wine out of one bottle.

Session #2 Tastes

• Viré Clessé (chardonny) by Bichot, 2008
• Saunur (chenin) by Berrye, 2002
• Côtes de Duras (merlot, cabernet-franc) by Les Hautes de Riquet, 2006
• Côtes de Bordeaux (merlot, cabernet-sauvignon, cabernet-franc) by Château Canteloup, 2005