Food & Wine Pairing

A Simple Guide

Red wine with meat. White wine with fish. Champagne when somebody gets married.

Food and wine pairing used to sound relatively straightforward.

Then somebody started telling us about acidity, tannins, umami and flavour intensity, and suddenly choosing a bottle to go with dinner required considerably more thought than actually cooking it.

The good news is that food and wine pairing really doesn't need to be complicated.

There are a handful of simple reasons why some combinations work particularly well together — and once you understand them, choosing a wine becomes a lot easier.

So forget the rule book. Here's our Four Non-Farmers' guide to putting food and wine together without needing a sommelier at the dinner table.

🍋 Acidity – Fresh Loves Fresh

Acidity is one of the most useful things to think about when pairing wine with food.

A wine with good acidity can cut through rich or fatty foods, cleanse your palate and leave you ready for the next mouthful.

It's why crisp wines work so well with creamy sauces, oily fish and rich cheeses.

There's also one very useful rule:

Try to make sure your wine is at least as acidic as the food.

Serve a soft, low-acid wine with a sharp tomato or citrus-based dish and the wine can suddenly taste rather flat.

Think: Sauvignon Blanc with goat's cheese, crisp English sparkling with fish & chips, or a fresh rosé with a tomato-based dish.

And yes, fish & chips with sparkling wine is genuinely an excellent pairing.

This is going to be an educational series after all. 🥂

🧈 Fat – Bring on the Bubbles & Tannins

Rich, fatty foods coat your mouth.

Wine can provide the contrast that clears everything away.

High-acid wines and sparkling wines are brilliant at this, which is why bubbles work beautifully with fried food, creamy cheese and buttery dishes.

With red meat, tannin can do a similar job. Tannins interact with proteins and fats, softening the sensation of the wine while making the food seem richer and more succulent.

That's one reason a tannic red and a juicy steak are such old friends.

So the traditional red wine + steak rule isn't entirely wine snobbery.

There is actually some logic behind it.

🧂 Salt – Wine's Best Friend

Salt is wonderfully forgiving when it comes to wine.

It can soften the perception of tannin and bitterness and make a wine seem fruitier and smoother.

Which explains some rather fabulous combinations:

• Champagne & salted crisps.

• Sparkling wine & fish and chips.

• Port & salty blue cheese.

You may have noticed that two of those involve bubbles - we consider this important research.😂

🌶️ Spice – Handle With Care

Here's where a big powerful wine isn't necessarily your friend.

Very spicy food can make high alcohol and tannin feel even hotter and more aggressive.

Instead, spicy dishes often work beautifully with fresh, fruity wines, particularly those with lower alcohol and perhaps a little sweetness.

Think aromatic whites, off-dry Riesling or fruity rosé.

And if you're eating a seriously hot curry, this probably isn't the moment to open the enormous Cabernet Sauvignon you've been saving.

Your taste buds already have enough to contend with. 😂😂😂

🍯 Sweetness – The Wine Needs to Keep Up

Dessert presents one of the easiest pairing rules to remember:

The wine should generally be at least as sweet as the food.

Pair a dry wine with a very sweet dessert and the wine can suddenly taste thin, sharp or bitter.

A sweeter wine, however, can complement the dessert rather than fighting against it.

Think dessert wine with fruit tarts, Sauternes with something rich and creamy, or Port with chocolate.

Although chocolate is one of those foods that can be surprisingly tricky to pair.

Fortunately, extensive experimentation is permitted.�🍰🍫😋�

🍄 Umami – The Awkward One

Umami is that savoury, mouth-filling taste found in foods such as mushrooms, Parmesan, cured meats, soy sauce and tomatoes.  And it can be a little troublesome with wine.

Umami can make tannins and bitterness seem stronger while making the wine's fruit seem less obvious.

The trick is to look at what else is on the plate.

Salty umami-rich foods such as Parmesan or cured meats are much easier wine partners because the salt helps balance things out.

Which rather conveniently explains why a board piled with cheese, charcuterie and a bottle of wine is such a successful arrangement.

Science has spoken.

⚖️ Match the Weight – Delicate With Delicate

Sometimes the easiest way to pair food and wine has nothing to do with colour.

Think about weight and intensity.

A delicate dish can easily be overwhelmed by a huge, powerful wine. Equally, a light, subtle wine may completely disappear alongside a rich casserole or heavily flavoured steak.

So try:

• Light food → lighter wine
• Rich, powerful food → fuller, more intense wine

A delicate fish dish might suit a fresh white wine, while slow-cooked beef can stand up to something considerably bigger.

It's less about red versus white and more about making sure neither the food nor the wine is shouting over the other.

🍷 The Four Non-Farmers' Cheat Sheet

If you remember absolutely nothing else from this page, remember these:

Rich or fatty food? → Look for acidity, bubbles or tannin.

Salty food? → You're already halfway there.

Spicy food? → Fruity, refreshing and lower alcohol.

Sweet food? → Make sure the wine is sweeter.

Delicate food? → Don't overpower it.

Big, rich food? → Give it a wine that can fight back.

But perhaps the most important rule of all:

Drink What You Like.

There are some genuinely good reasons why particular wines and foods complement each other, and understanding them can lead you to some brilliant combinations.

But if somebody tells you that you can't drink your favourite red with fish, or that your favourite white is completely wrong with steak...

...and you love them together?

Carry on.

It's your dinner afterall. 🍷

Coming Next...

In Food & Wine – Pt 2, we'll put all this theory into practice with our simple guide to white wine and food — what to pair with everything from fish and seafood to chicken, cheese, pasta and a Friday-night takeaway.

There may even be a few surprises.

Cheers from the Four Non-Farmers! 🍷