 Wine that goes with…Cheese Nothing goes together like the right wine served with the right cheese. The trick, as you might expect, is to avoid selecting wines and cheeses not meant for each other. And, happily, you need not be a distinguished wine enthusiast to select wines with confidence. Simply keep the following guidelines in mind and heed your own instincts for flavor, body and character. 1. The softer or finer a cheese, the more quality and age you should seek in a wine. 2. The stronger or fattier a cheese, the more you should lean to either a full-bodied red wine or a sweet white. 3. The milder or subtler a cheese, the more restrained a wine should be in its character. In some countries, wines and cheeses are produced in the same areas, often making fitting companions. As a result, a local wine, or a Vin de pays, seems to make a much better partnership with country fare than some of its cousins from the great wine growing regions. As for port wines, it is wise to serve a vintage port all by itself. On the other hand, a cheese with strong character, such as Blue Stilton, goes well with the sweetness of a relatively young Tawny Port. It should be noted that our list suggests beers and ciders as well as wines to accompany certain cheeses. While the ingredients of fine dining are always in our first thoughts, there is one suggestions we strongly make. Responsible drinking sometimes requires no alcoholic beverages at all. In no case, however, should you serve water with cheese; the combination is not at all compatible.
Wine that goes with…Chinese Food Roses and soft fruity reds are frequently better than whites. Though Champagne, sparkling and some whites do get a look in. 1. Bordeaux - Roses from Bergerac surprisingly good across the board. 2. Rhone - From the Rhone, decent Cru Beaujolais or Beaujolais-villages. 3. Pinot Noir - By far the best thing, bar none, to drink with that crispy, duck. 4. Champagne - Great with steamed and deep-fried dim sum. Preferably it should be a blanc de blancs - light and crisp. 5. Mosel - Goes with light chicken or scallop dishes and stir-fries. 6. Sauvignon Blanc - Soft, citrussy Sauvignons from California and Chile (rather than the more piercing herbaceous style that you get from New Zealand and the Loire) work particularly well with deep fried foods like spring rolls and prawn toasts. 7. Colombard - Australian Colombard or blends including the Colombard grape generally have enough residual sugar in them to stand up to sweet and sour dishes.
8. Zinfandel - Zinfandel comes into its own with meaty dishes like char siu pork.
Think of rich flavorful wines whose complex flavors will match up well with rich, decadent chocolate. 1. The Unusual -Vins doux naturels from the Languedoc, Banyuls and Maury are particularly good with rich chocolate desserts. 2. Vintage Character Port - Compare weight to weight. Save Vintage Port as a match with heavier chocolates cakes. 3. Recioto - The buzz name for Recioto della Valpolicella is known these days. It will even stand up to a stab of Black Forest gateau. 4. Framboise - Brilliant poured over a dessert where a raspberry coulis is called for. 5. Californian Black Muscat - Try Andrew Quady's rose-scented Elysium. Marvelous with a really dark chocolate mousse. 6. Californian Orange Muscat - Try Andrew Quady's Essencia. Stronger than the Brown Brother's orange Muscat so more suitable for chocolate. 7. Australian Liqueur Muscat - A bit of a sugar overload but it's one of the few wines that will stand up to the chocolate nemesis type of dessert.
8. Asti - Trying is believing. Asti is a winner of a dessert wine and pairs well with milk or white chocolate mousses especially is there is fruit in accompaniment.
As interesting as the dish may be, so should the wine pairing. The single most important component to be considered with these pairings is the heat level of the meal. 1. French Vin de Pays - Inexpensive crisp dry white vin de pays like Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne are fine with milder curries. Try the popular Domaine de Pouy. 2. Roses - Inexpensive rose works on the same principle. 3. Spain's Tempranillo - Young reds from the Tempranillo varietal is pretty good with meaty lamb-based curries such as Rogan Josh. 4. Aussie blends (reds) - Inexpensive Australian reds - particularly Cabernet-Shiraz blends - are great with moderately hot curries like chicken tikka masala. 5. Zinfandels - Big California Zins are manly enough to handle scorching vindaloo. 6. Blends (whites) - California & Aussie Semillon-Chardonnays are the most successful whites we've come across. 7. Chardonnay - Especially from Australia, New Zealand and California - also work well with chicken curries if you stir in a spoonful of cream. 8. Sparklers - Not all the way though but great with deep fried, crispy starters like bhajis, pakoras and samosas.
9. Pale ale. High hopped Pale Ales are probably the most flexible choice when matching with a wide variety of Indian food.
Didn't think you can enjoy wine with a salad? According to John Ash of Fetzer, salads that aren't too sharply dressed are the easiest to match with wine. He suggests replacing all or part of the vinegar component with balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, fruit juice or wine. Avoid the obvious vinegar based salads and read on. 1. Less oak - In general, salads go with a wine with some acidity and not too much (if any) oak. Crisp Sauvignon Blanc is he obvious candidate. 2. Caesar Salad - Chardonnay works particularly well with Caesar salad because of the parmesan and the eggy dressing. 3. Salade Nicoise - A Provencal rose has the right Mediterranean feel. 4. Tricolor - Avodaco, mozzarella and tomato salad: a smooth dry Italian white, or a decent Soave, Bianco di Custoza or Lugana. The avodaco and mozzarella seem to offset the acidity of the tomatoes which can sometimes cause a problem with salads. 5. Artichoke salad - Not as much of a wine nightmare as you might imagine. Earthy, dry Italian whites such as Verdicchio and Orvieto do the trick. Put a little lemon peel in the dressing. 6. Warm salads with scallops - Scallops and Chardonnay are a match made in heaven. But given it's a salad make it unoaked chardonnay. 7. Warm game salads - An elegant light Pinot Noir from California, Oregon or New Zealand.
8. Fruit salad - Moscato d'Asti is the one.
We're talking natural, unadorned plateau-de-fruits-de-mer-type shellfish here rather than dressed or rich dishes like crab bisque or lobster thermidor. 1. Simplicity is the key -Crisp dry whites, there's no doubt about it. Young crisp dry whites at that. 2. Perfect match - for example, Muscadet which is made for shellfish. Not the cheapest bottle you can lay you hands on, obviously. A Muscadet Serve-et-Maine is preferable. 3. Alternative - Another high acid white is a Picpoul de Pinet, a Muscadet drink-alike from the Bassin de Thau, the oyster-growing region of the South of France. 4. Less expensive Chablis - Chablis is a fine choice but sometimes expensive. Try Petit Chablis the underrated youngster of Chablis. 5. Other French Country wines - Quincy, or Mentou-Salon. Refreshing to go for something much less obvious than its cousins Sancerre or Pouilly-Fume, even if it isn't a lot cheaper these days. 6. Bubbles make it special - Champagne is always a good choice for us. And even some of the higher acid sparklers from the Loire and the USA. Don't look for any sparklers that are too rich or honeyed. 7. Bargain of the Year …Verdicchio dei Castelli de Jesi. Lively, lemony and so cheap it's an absolute steal. (It's great with fritto misto too.) 8. A fruity little number - New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. 1998 was a bit tropical fruity for shellfish so hang on for the 1999s. Surprisingly good with oysters. 9. Spain - The new frontier - From the heavy consuming fish area of the Galicia region in Spain comes Albarino. Medium to Full bodied with a crisp finish. Much more exciting than Muscadet.
10. And from Portugal…Vinho Verde. Definitely worth tasting again if you have not tried it recently. Much less acidic than it used to be and as good with shellfish as it is with sardines.
Which Wines goes Best with Smoked Foods? 1. Nice cuppa fino - With some of them (most notoriously, smoked mackerel and kippers) not much will really go except a strong cup of tea. Dry Fino sherry is the obvious option but a Sercial Madeira would be a much more interesting choice. 2. Light smoker - some people are adamant Champagne doesn't go with smoked salmon. It does, provided the salmon is thinly sliced and not too heavily smoked. 3. Passive smokier Loire Sauvignons like Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume are probably the next best option with smoked salmon. Their firm crisp acidity acts like a squeeze of lemon. 4. Bigger, more powerful Sauvignons such as those from new Zealand will really come into their own with less delicate smoked fish. 5. Pour on petrol - the slight oiliness of a mature Riesling is an obvious link, so long as it's not too petrolly. Mosel Kabinett Riesling works well with good quality smoked salmon. New Zealand or Australian Riesling make good partners with smoked salmon pate or mousses. Chardonnay is another surprisingly good match with smoked salmon - Premier Cru Chablis is included in this relationship. 6. Up in smoke - Lighter Chardonnays (Alsatian or Pinot Blanc) also work with smoked haddock or cod particularly where there are eggs involved as in omelette Arnold Bennett or kedgeree… 7. First smoke of the day - …along with your breakfast of smoked salmon - try sparkling Chardonnays - or even Cava if you're feeling generally impoverished. Add some freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.
8. Fire water - Malt whisky is an underrated option - delicate Lowland malts go well with fine smoked salmon. Peaty island Malts with kippers.
While the best choices here are from the vineyards of a neighbor - Australia, there are many other matches from the Old World. 1. Alsace - A floral-nosed Gewurztraminer actually goes better with Thai than either Indian or Chinese food. Alsace would be our preference but some of the new New Zealand Gewutztraminers are good too. Try also a Pinot Gris from Alsace. 2. Australian Sauvignon Blanc - Improving all the time and just as good with the zesty flavors of Thai food as the more obvious choice of New Zealand (or to be more precise) Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. 3. Australian Semillon - Again a very good match for Thai food dishes- works either on its own or blended with Chardonnay. 4. California Viognier - A wine with a perfect combination of firm body and fruit. Can stand up to any amount of lime, coriander and chilli. 5. Gruner Veltliner - Where have all the Austrian wines gone? Go find some. This wine is surprisingly good with Vietnamese food.
6. Riesling - Another strong candidate with Vietnamese food. German Kabinett Riesling can cope with the milder dishes - while with the hotter ones go for Australian or New Zealand Riesling.
Since every country has their favorite and worthwhile choices, this discussion can go on for years. Let us join the fray with our choices. 1. Rhone - France's best, although you might say Bordeaux. But for our money the Northern Rhone has the best steak wines. Cote-Rotie for preference. Cornas if you're feeling a little less extravagant. 2. Italy - Italy's best pairing: a new wave Nebbiolo or another of Piemonte's exciting young reds from producers such as Roberto Voerzio. 3. Spain - Spain's best excuse for cracking open a bottle of Priorato. 4. Portugal - Portugal's wine in number one position would have to be a Douro. Given the choice it would be from Quinta do Crasto. 5. Argentina -This South American country produces the best steaks in the world and potentially one of the best steak wines- the wine varietal: Malbec. Try the Malbec from Norton. 6. Australia - The choice from Down Under would be the Shiraz. It's a toss up between the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale but we would probably go for the latter. 7. The Left Coast - California's staple: Zinfandel - red that is - big and briary. There are a number of vineyards to choose from - try Voss if you can find it. 8. Chile - Chile's chosen red: one of those flashy new Bordeaux blends. But tuck it away for a year or two. They're all released far too young. 9. South Africa - It's the historic Pinotage. They can be a bit rough and ready but they're just great for a barbecue.
10. Washington State - Cabernets to rival those of the Napa Valley. A Leonetti if you can twist someone's arm to let you have some.
1. First hand experience -It is the best way, because then you discover what works for you. Keep notes of successful combinations. 2. Carp diem - Capitalize on every opportunity by ordering wine by the glass where ever you can so you can try as many different wines a possible with whatever you are eating. 3. Be bold - Make a point of ordering wines you don't know. Don't settle for the safe and predictable. 4. Ask advice - Trust the sommelier. Most good ones jump at the chance to show off their food and wine matching skills. 5. Wine tasting dinners - Go to winemaker dinners and wine and food pairing meals, where the food is designed round the wines. Watch byoguide.com's Events pages for opportunities. 6. Read, Read, Read - Read a book like John Ash's From the Earth to the Table, Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze, Joanna Simon's Wine with Food, Tom and Frances Bissell's A-Z of Food and Wine 7. Go E -Surf the net. Everyone and every business who has a wine site has a view on food and wine matching. You may not agree with them but you might get some ideas. 8. Travel & learn - Add an aspect of Food & Wine to all of your trips. If traveling in the U.S., see the byoguide.com National Events list.
9. Start with the byoguide.com site - Read our new articles regularly.
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