Pairing drinks with meals is a refined art that enhances the flavor of both the beverage and the meal. Sommeliers who work in fancy restaurants train for years to master this art.
You don’t need to go to a fancy training program to learn the basics of matching dishes with the perfect drink, especially if you’re just planning to use this skill at home. Understanding the basics is all you need to impress friends at a dinner party or add an extra touch to date night.
Here are a few fundamentals of drink pairing that can help you understand how to apply this art to your own daily life.
Understand the Flavor Profiles of Different Drinks
When you look at guides to different drinks, they’ll usually mention the different flavor profiles. Some wines are fruity, others are earthy, while other vintners describe their wines as full-bodied. Learn some of the basic terms for wine and drink flavors so that you can navigate listings more easily.
While understanding terminology gives you more insight into how liquor stores and producers categorize their drinks, there is no substitute for actually trying different drinks. Find a trusted retailer with a good wine and champagne selection and try a few different types of wine. While you drink them, pay attention to the flavor notes and note how they match up with the label and description.
You need to get a good understanding of how different drinks taste before you can begin pairing them with food. Most drink pairing guides reference these terms for flavor profiles. Knowing what they refer to is a shortcut when it comes to figuring out which drinks to buy for a dinner party.
In Food and Wine Pairings, Opposites Attract
The maxim “opposites attract” doesn’t just apply to dating. It’s also a good guide to understanding matching dishes with drinks for a fancy dinner.
The purpose of drink pairings is to complement the food that you are eating. The drink adds a different flavor that may be missing or dormant in the meal that you are eating, creating a rounded dining experience. A drink pairing also helps balance out dominant flavors in the meal so that they’re not overwhelming.
Since the purpose of a drink pairing is to add balance to a meal, experts usually recommend finding a drink that has a complementary flavor compared to the dominant notes of your meal. Think of it as a flavor wheel similar to a color wheel. You don’t want to find flavor notes that are totally opposite to the point that they clash with your meal (a sweet wine and fish probably won’t go well together), but different flavors that complement each other will make for a great meal.
Basic flavor pairings to remember are sweet and spicy, sour and rich, and acidic and heavy. For example, a tannin-rich red wine that feels acidic on the tongue will go well with a rich stew.
Pair Drinks and Meals From the Same Cuisine Together
Another thing to keep in mind when creating drink pairings is to try to pair drinks and food from similar cuisines together. This doesn’t need to be a hard-and-fast rule. For example, many European wines pair beautifully with Japanese food. However, sticking to a similar region of the world makes pairing drinks easier.
When you’re just learning the fundamentals of matching dishes with beverages, you don’t want to start from scratch. Beverage makers in a certain part of the world have spent centuries developing drinks with the same terroir as the local cuisine and trying out the same pairings you are now thinking about for dinner. Their flavors are going to work better with meals from local cuisines.
Try It Out Yourself
There are countless guides online to different drink pairings. Some guide you through basic categories, others offer specific suggestions for certain wines and drinks that go together.
All of these guides are useful, but there is no better way to learn drink and dining pairings than trying it yourself. Pick a few wines that you enjoy from your trusted wine retailer and cook a few different dishes. See which ones go best with the wines you picked out. This is the best way to learn drink pairing, and the most fun.
The Basics of Pairing Drinks and Dining
Drink pairing is a refined art that takes years to master, but only some effort to understand its basics. Start with a good foundational knowledge of different flavor profiles in drinks, and then you can understand which ones complement certain flavors in food. The best way to learn is to find a liquor store you trust, go through some of their recommended wines, and try pairing them yourself!
