In article >, steinau2004
@hotmail.com says...
>
>Hi all,
>
>I'm trying to understand better how food and wine is paired together,
>so I've got a few questions which I hope someone might answer:
>
>1. First, is it a pairing between a food category and a wine variety?
>(eg. beef with Merlot, chocolate with Cabernet).
>
>2. Or does it go into further detail based on the type of food? (eg.
>with cheese, Cabernet or Beaujolais is always good, but with feta
>cheese, Beaujolais is better, whilst with blue cheese, Cabernet is
>better).
>
>3. Is it enough to just specify the wine variety or do you also need
>to go into further detail specifying which wines go with a particular
>food type?
>
>4. When preparing a meal with various ingredients, these different
>ingredients pair with different wines. Do you pair the meal with one
>of these wines or could it be a completely different wine altogether?
>
>5. When preparing a complete menu (appetizer, main course, dessert),
>would you suggest to offer wines according to the course? (eg. with a
>shrimp cocktail I'd offer champagne, then maybe a Merlot with beef,
>and finally maybe a Port with chocolate)
>
>Hope someone helps!!!
>
>Max

Max,

Pairing food and wine is an inexact science, probably closely related to
alchemy. That said, there are three rough thoughts on pairing:

1.) flavor profiles of each, food and wine
2.) affinity flavors in food, which do not exist in wine, but works well
together
3.) texture of food v wine, i.e. mouthfeel. A silky textured dish will often
pair well with a silky wine.

After that, one also has to consider the additional ingredients in the food
dish, and any sauce that might accompany the dish. This is often even more
important that the dish itself.

On to the rest of your questions. I like to pair each dish with a wine.
Sometimes there is overlap, but often there is not. If dining as a couple, my
wife and I will usually look to the half-bottle selection and do the best we
can. There, and the by-the-glass selections are usually the best - for two,
that is. If we are dining with a group, or entertaining, I'll try for the best
match per dish. Now, if everyone is ordering ala'cart, it can get tricky, and
then the half-bottles are back, or I'll do a looser match for the majority and
try and zero in for the odd entree. At home, or with pre-fixe menus, it's a
lot easier. Only drawback is washing all the stemware!

With out going into any specifics, this is my take on a very simplified
version of food and wine pairing.

Hunt