Welcome to part 7 of Wine for beginners: Getting started. So far you have learned about the major wine types, about the building blocks of wine and about how to taste and serve it. Now we pull the threads together and give you the most enjoyable tool of all: the art of pairing wine and food.
Forget all the rules you think you need to know by heart. Good pairing is not about memorising a long list of correct answers. It is about a few principles that you quickly get the hang of, and that free you to experiment on your own. Let us make it easy.
Hvad du lærer
- The few principles that make pairing easy and manageable
- How weight, acidity and sweetness in the wine play together with what you eat
- Why the preparation often matters more than the raw ingredient itself
- The courage to try things out yourself at the table
The most important rule: weight against weight
If you remember only one thing from this article, let it be this: match the weight of the wine with the weight of the food. A light dish thrives with a light wine, and a powerful, full-bodied dish calls for a powerful, full-bodied wine.
Think of it as a conversation between two equal partners. If one talks far too loudly, the other is drowned out. A crisp, light hvidvin with a tender, steamed fish lets both have their say. The same fish, on the other hand, is completely drowned in a big, mighty rødvin, and conversely a powerful, slow-simmered stew will make a slender wine seem almost invisible.
A good tip: how the dish is prepared often matters more than the raw ingredient itself. A chicken that is steamed is a light dish. The same chicken grilled or braised in a dark sauce suddenly becomes a powerful dish that can happily carry a fuller wine. So let the pan and the oven be your guide, not just the shopping basket.
Acidity, fat and freshness
Here comes one of the most satisfying tricks in the world of pairing. Wine with good acidity works on fat and richness just as a squeeze of lemon does on a dish. It cuts through and freshens up the whole mouthfeel.
If you have a piece of food that is rich, fatty or fried, then a fresh, crisp wine is your friend. The acidity clears the palate between each bite, so the food does not feel heavy, and you want more. Think of a crisp hvidvin with a creamy or oily dish. It is the same refreshing effect you know from the lemon beside a fried fish.
Keep an eye on the acidity in the food itself too. If the dish is very tart, for example with a fresh vinaigrette or a sharp sauce, then the wine should ideally have at least as much freshness. Otherwise the wine ends up seeming flat and dull alongside it. The rule of thumb is simple: the food should not be more acidic than the wine.
Sweetness, salt and strength
Sweetness is perhaps the area where most beginners stumble, but the principle is surprisingly straightforward: the food must not be sweeter than the wine. If you serve a sweet dessert with a dry wine, the wine ends up tasting thin and sour beside it. For something sweet you therefore choose a wine with corresponding sweetness.
On the other hand, sweetness in the wine can create some of the most beautiful contrasts there are. A wine with a slight sweetness plays wonderfully against something salty. The two opposites balance each other and create a harmony that dry wine cannot achieve in the same way. Think of a salty dish facing a wine with a little residual sweetness. They pull each other into place.
Sweetness in the wine also has an ability to tame strength and tension in the food. For dishes with hot spices or a sweet-and-spicy profile, a wine with a hint of sweetness can soften the sharpness and make the whole experience rounder. If you are in doubt about a spicy dish, a light, fruity wine with a touch of sweetness is a safe choice.
A few safe combinations
Let us make it concrete. Here are some directions you can comfortably lean on while you find your own feet:
- Fresh hvidvin with light, fatty or fried food. The acidity cuts through the fat and keeps the palate fresh.
- Full-bodied rødvin with powerful, meaty food. Weight against weight, so neither of them runs out of breath.
- Mousserende vin with light starters and salty snacks. The bubbles and the acidity are refreshing between bites.
- A wine with a little sweetness for spicy or sweet-and-spicy food. The sweetness rounds off the sharpness.
- A sweet wine for dessert. Make sure the wine is at least as sweet as the sweet thing on the plate.
One last, liberating principle: local traditions are worth their weight in gold. Wines and dishes that grew up in the same place often go together naturally, because they have been refined alongside each other over generations. When you are in doubt, let a dish meet a wine from the same region. It is rarely a poor starting point.
Kort fortalt
- The most important rule is weight against weight: light wine for light food, full-bodied wine for full-bodied food.
- The preparation often determines the weight of the food more than the raw ingredient itself.
- Acidity in the wine cuts through fat and freshens things up, just like a squeeze of lemon.
- The food should be neither more acidic nor sweeter than the wine.
- Wines and dishes from the same region are often a safe and natural match.
Ofte stillede spørgsmål
Do I always have to follow the rules?
No. The principles here are a good safety net, but your own taste always has the final say. The best pairing is the wine you like together with the food you like. Use the rules as a starting point, and then trust your palate.
What do I do if the food has many different flavours?
Look for what takes up the most space on the plate. Is the dish basically light or powerful? Tart or sweet? Choose the wine according to the dominant trait, and you will usually hit the mark, even though several things are going on.
Klar til næste skridt?
Now you have the tools that make pairing a game rather than a test. The most important thing is to dare to try things out, taste along the way and notice what happens when wine and food meet. Remember that the best pairing in the end is the wine you are fond of, with the food you are fond of.
In the next part, How to read a wine label, we dive into everything the label can tell you, so you can more easily choose the right wine for your next dish. Feel free to take a stroll through the range and find a bottle you fancy putting to the test at the table.