But wine isn’t something most people take to easily.
At the expense of sounding snobbish, wine is an acquired taste. Most people who
turn away from Wine do so because they lack the skill to mix it with the food
they have. True or False: White wine is to be drunk with white meats and fish,
red wine goes with red meat, and sweet wines go with desserts, period, and to
do it any other way is courting a visit from the Wine Police. The answer is
False, but the truth is that until a couple decades ago this is how people
decided what to drink with dinner. Thankfully, our minds have broadened. The
current thinking is that since food can be every bit as complex as wine, the
options for creating rich pairings are staggering. And it cannot be stressed
enough: a successful pairing is one that you find pleasing -- maybe nobody else
on the planet likes Champagne with liverwurst, but you happen to find the
combination absolutely transporting. If there is a rule of thumb it would be
either to go for complementary flavours or flavours that contrast. For example,
a dish with citrus would be complemented by a fruity wine; a hearty stew would
go well with a full-bodied wine; and a delicately flavoured dish, such as
poached Beckti, would be in good company with a dry, crisp wine. Whereas a rich
cream sauce would contrast nicely with a highly acidic dry wine; and a simple
snack of bread and cheese would turn positively ambrosial when paired with a
complex full-bodied red. The best advice of all is to experiment,
open-mindedly, and frequently.
Here are some truths about how wine can react with
food: -
A wine high in tannins (Bordeaux, for instance) mated
with a food high in tannins (like walnuts) will render the wine almost
undrinkably dry and astringent.
Protein tends to calm tannins, so a very tannic wine
might be rendered glorious when enjoyed with red meat. Delicate foods - filet
of Beckti or even Chicken for example - will be overwhelmed by a full-bodied
red wine. By the same token, a hearty lasagne will virtually cancel out a dry,
medium-bodied Sauvignon Blanc. A wine can add its primary flavour to a dish,
giving food a layer it didn't start out with.
Some wine and food combinations result in a flavour
that was not present in either one and is not meant to be, metal for instance.
Try white turkey meat with red Bordeaux if you doubt this. Sometimes it's as
though this wine has been searching all its life for this food and fireworks
ensue. Tannic wines make sweet foods taste less sweet; salty foods emphasize
tannin. Salty foods mute the sweetness and enhance the fruitiness of a sweet
wine. Wines that are high in acid taste less acidic with salty or sweet food;
acidic wines also can offset oily foods. You can, for instance enjoy a
Cabernet-Sauvignon with bitter/dark chocolate. Similarly much more suited to
our Indian cuisine is the Shiraz. Try having Shiraz with spicy Indian food or
if you are adventurous, with some chopped green chillies & onions.
Tasting the wine fills in some blanks, mainly with
regard to a wine's "balance." Take a generous sip and swirl it in
your mouth. The weight of the wine in your mouth will tell you whether it's
light-, medium- or full-bodied. It also tells you how much sweetness, acidity,
alcohol and tannin it contains. The object is for these elements to harmonise
pleasantly. The ultimate moment in tasting is just before the wine is
swallowed, when the vapours hit the upper nasal cavities. In France, the
concept of aftertaste has been quantified in the form of a
"caudalie." If the flavour of the wine stays in your mouth after
swallowing for one second, that wine has achieved one caudalie; the more
caudalies the better, especially with the wines of Burgundy. Really good wines
make the strongest impressions with their smell and their aftertaste.
So the next time you raise a glass, give your health
and your taste buds a thought, have a glass of wine.
Ambarish Singh Roy
