Pairing Wine and Food is an Art! A Balancing Act!

Everything's been organized for the dinner: the friends have been invited, the menu decided, the colour of the table cloth chosen to match the candles .. and the wine? How many times have you had to stop when the time comes to choosing the right wine? Red or white? Full-bodied or light? Aromatic or fruity? The best solution would be to try out the dishes with various wines but you can't always do that. And there isn't the time either to do a course to become a sommelier! So here's our advice!

We can fully assure you that finding a wine to blend perfectly with your menu and to bring out its flavors is easy, you just have to know a few tricks! Here they are revealed in five easy-to-follow suggestions.

1. Keep it Classic

Italy has a deep-rooted culinary history with the ingredients and recipes being strongly connected to the places they come from. The same goes for the pairings: they originate in time-honored customs which are passed down from generation to generation. The recipes for both the food and the wines have perhaps changed a little down the years but it doesn't matter much, they just have to be taken and enjoyed as they are: Tuscan soup Ribollita and Chianti, Amarone risotto with Ripasso or Amarone, roast lamb Abbacchio and Frascati or almond biscuits Cantucci with Vin Santo! Who would dare to break with such traditions?

2. Keep it Seasonal

It's fairly obvious that you need different dishes depending on the season and so wines are also adapted for the purpose. In summer light dishes are preferred with crisp whites like Muller Thurgau or a Ribolla or rosé wines. On the other hand in winter you need warm and warming dishes of a certain substance with more full-bodied and complex red wines like a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or a Rosso di Toscana.

3. Keep it Consistent

The aim of pairing is to create a harmonious union between wine and food, able to bring out the qualities of both but, above all, to balance them. The body of the wine should be proportional to the substance of the dish and the same goes for aromas. So with simple and delicate courses, steamed dishes and mild seasoning we can try to use wines with restrained aromas; an elaborate and rich cuisine requires similarly complex and structured wines.

The aromatic complexity of some oriental dishes based on curry go very well, for example, with the aromatic quality of Gewurztraminer and meats cooked in a special way and well seasoned require full-bodied reds, you just have to think of the classic braised meat that you can match with a Barolo. The principle of consistency is also used for desserts: you only pair sweet dishes with sweet wine! We're sorry if you're used to drinking a Spumante Brut with panettone: don't do it!

4. Keep It Different

Except in the case of desserts, the principle of contrast is used. Let's consider the main flavors and sensations of food and see which wine to choose to obtain a balance between the two.Here are the most well-known pairings:

Fattiness: some ingredients have a significant element of fat and some cooking has substantial seasoning. These dishes need wines with high acidity or effervescence to clean away the fat. Zampone and Lambrusco should immediately come to mind.

Tendency to sweetness: dishes like risottos or ingredients like pumpkin create sensations of sweetness. Full-flavoured wines or those with good acidity or even sparkling ones can compensate for this very well; pumpkin tortelli are perfect with Grasparossa Lambrusco!

Succulence: in other words, the presence of liquids in the mouth, is balanced out by the "drying" effect of alcohol and tannins. Here we're thinking of soups or of how much our mouth waters chewing grilled meat: slices of Florentine steak and Chianti! Another perfect match!

Greasiness: found in some seasoning and cooking: again alcohol and tannin content help to attenuate this. Roast game and baked meats are the better for full-bodied reds such as wines from Valtellina or from the Aglianico grape.

Persistent flavor or a tendency to bitterness or sourness: are harsh sensations which require soft wines. Let's take a look at two examples: the brackish flavor of fish clashes with tannins and this is why we prefer white wines with moderate acidity, a Cattaratto or a Chardonnay; bitter and sour sensations, for example of some vegetables, can be countered by red wines provided they are graceful and rounded, for example by a Governo Chianti or a Valpolicella Ripasso.

5. Keep it Safe

Even the most expert of sommeliers tremble at the thought of some dishes or ingredients. You have to be very careful because some dishes not only attack and overpower the wine but also the two together can create a disagreeable result. So, if you have a wine you love and that you absolutely don't want to be put in the shade by anything, watch out for the following ingredients and dishes which should be used with discretion:

• Ice and ice cream stunt your taste buds and after eating them you can't taste anything else.
• Vinegar, citrus fruits and anything marinated: avoid wines that are too acidic or tannic.
• Very bitter chocolate: an alcoholic or fortified wine might help, but watch out for the tannins if it's a red wine.
• Artichokes: these can be really acerbic! But in the Roman culinary tradition artichokes have always been paired in optimal fashion with the white wines of Lazio.

Finally, remember that rules are useful but, in the end, pairing is also subjective. Tastes, the sensory capacity of each person, the experiences, the associations that our memory makes, are all different …. we can start off from some principles but then we should let ourselves be led by our senses and by our very own personal taste!

Try our wines with your cooking and create magical combinations!