How to Spice Up Wine Drinking with an Accompaniment

A good wine tasting party is one that has a well assorted food platter to go with it. But how would you know what goes well with what kind of wine? Say you’ve dialled up the best wine delivery Calgary service, and are now looking to host a wine tasting party, how would you know exactly what kind of food to look for?

There are some tried and tested methods for accompanying wine with food, acquired over the years from numerous cultures across the world, where winemaking and culinary traditions have evolved side by side. A well trained and knowledgeable sommelier will tell you that the amount of sugar, acid, alcohol, and tannins in wine, as well the texture, taste, and “weight” of the food involved, all play a very important role in creating the perfect pairing. Some basic rules you must keep in mind are:

• The food should be less acidic as well as less sweet than the wine.
• The food and the wine should have a similar intensity of flavours.
• Red wine works well with bold and intense flavours.
• White wine works better with lighter flavours and meats.
• It is smarter to match the wine with the sauce rather than the meat.
• Consuming cheese can greatly improve the perception of fruity aromas.
• Cheese works particularly well in cutting through and relieving the bitter aftertaste of red wine.

Cheese Board

Properly curating a perfectly assorted cheese board for your chosen wine(s) can be quite a task, especially when you consider the incredible varieties you have to choose from:

Fresh and unripened cheese such as Feta, Ricotta, and Mozzarella - These differ in taste and texture from one another, but generally combine well light-bodied, crisp, and citrusy wines like Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. Wines with high tannin content would not go well with such cheeses. 

Hard cheese such as Monterey Jack, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Asiago - These cheeses tend to have a crunch to them, accompanied with nutty aromas. They are usually aged well, and work very well with similarly aged full-bodied red wines such as Burgundy or a Passito dessert wine.

“Washed rind” pungent cheese like Époisses, Stinking Bishop, Gruyere, Munster, and Morbier - These cheeses are stinky, but also some of the best tasting of the lot. They go best with fruity wines with a more taste friendly acidity, such as whites like Riesling and Chenin Blanc, as well as reds like Gamay and Cabernet Franc.

Blue cheese such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Cabrales - These are richly flavoured cheeses that may range from sweet to sharp-tasting, but will not work well with red wines that are also high in flavour or acidity. Such cheeses pair best with sweet and honeyed wines like Tokaji, Vin Santo, Chenin Blanc, or a good and light port.

Conclusion

If you wish to serve multiple kinds of food items, then you must first consider what kind of wine you are going to pair them with, how it tastes, and what the acidity is. You need to be careful to not mix mismatching flavours on your palate. Contact Dial A Bottle Calgary to get the freshest and best wine delivered right to your doorstep, and begin preparing for your next wine tasting party.