Have you ever sat down to an incredible meal and taken a sip of wine that completely enhanced your dining experience? Enter the art of food and wine pairing. When it comes to wine pairings, there’s two routes you can take – complementary or contrasting. Both have their merits, but you’ll want to know a little bit more about the basics of these kinds of pairings before you dive into a decision during your next pairing adventure.
Complementary pairings
Everyone loves a complement! Complementary pairings involve the selection of a wine with like flavors to that of your food. Reading the wine label will tell you the flavor profile of the wine. You can use this to guide you in understanding what flavor characteristics you’ll also want to have in your chosen dish when making a complementary pairing.
Example
For instance, if you have your heart set on a chicken dish with cream sauce, pairing that dish with a wine that has similar rich flavor notes would be a complementary pairing. Choosing a Chardonnay for your pairing would be a great complementary choice. The creamy and buttery characteristics of the wine would go along well with those of the chicken dish.
Contrasting pairings
Opposites attract, right? Contrasting pairings involve the selection of a wine with opposing flavors to that of your food. A wine’s label will lay out the flavor profile of the wine that you will want to make sure to stay away from in your chosen dish when making a contrasting pairing.
Example
Your chicken dish with cream sauce is ready to go. Selecting a wine with a completely opposite flavor profile would be a contrasting pairing. Choosing a Sauvignon Blanc or our Viognier with brighter and more acidic profiles would make an excellent contrasting pairing with your chicken’s buttery and fatty cream sauce.
So there you have it – a quick look at two different ways to pair food and wine. Which road will you take with your next meal?
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