FOOD AND WINE PAIRING: DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Every lover of good wine and good food knows how important it is to pair the two correctly.
Personal taste and momentary inspiration certainly matter, but both subjective and objective factors come into play when making a choice. Experts, enthusiasts, schools, and industry associations have developed various theories and techniques for food and wine pairing. In Europe, there are three main schools of thought: English, French, and Italian.
The English school and the French school
For the English there are no rules, no suggestions or handbooks that hold: the right pairing between food and wine it's simply what favors personal taste and individual choice .
Therefore, their advice is to be brave and trust your palate , inviting you to choose your favorite type of wine and experiment how the latter would impact the scope. This approach is the freest, without any limitations or pre-established rules other than relying on the subjective evaluations.
On the contrary, the French have developed a matching technique based on 10 rules . The famous "Decalogue", developed by Raymond Dumay in 1967 and reported in his text “Guide du Vin'' provides:
- No big one white fortified wine It should be served with red meat or game, but it is drunk as aperitif before dinner;
- No great wine red can be served with fish, crustaceans, molluscs;
- The white wines must be served Before of the wines red;
- The wines light must be served Before of those robust;
- The wines fresh must be served Before of those to room temperature;
- Wines must be served according to an increasing alcohol content;
- Match each dish has its own wine;
- Serve the wines in their best season;
- Separate each wine with a sip of waterfall;
- Do not serve never just one great wine at a meal, but don't exceed 4.
What can I say, our cousins across the Alps are very strict!!
The Italian school
The Italian school system adopts various types of approaches to matching.
Pairing by tradition
The traditional pairing plans to match typical dishes and wines of a specific area, following the territorial logic according to which regional wines They are produced with the aim of harmonizing with the typical food of the area. Sometimes the rules can be forgotten, making room for heartfelt pairings, those combinations that remind us of timeless flavors. These pairings are the product of local food and wine culture and therefore represent tradition . In Italy, we have tons of them!
Seasonal pairing
The seasonal pairing takes into account the seasonal trend, the propensity to consume certain foods and wines depending on the climate and availability . For example, during the summer they will surely be consume fresher and lighter foods and whites and rosés will be preferred, while during the cold season they are consumed foods warm and structured accompanied by red wines.
Psychological matching
The psychological match is based on the centrality of the occasion of consumption and of the event to be celebrated , such as sparkling wine or a fine bottle to be uncorked on a special day.
Matching for enhancement
The combination for valorization it's a technique little used , which provides for giving priority to valorization of only one of the two elements either wine or food is at stake, drowning out the other, but without doing justice to either.
The Italian School - The Mercadini Method
The Italian school—with the Mercadini method, adopted by all sommelier associations—is the most widely followed today. It uses a more balanced and comprehensive sensory approach, without strict rules but evaluating the best solution on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specific characteristics of the food and wine.
Food and wine pairing in this case mainly follows two approaches: concordance and contrast . Concordance aims to combine similar flavors, while contrast seeks to create balance between opposite flavors.
Without going too deep into the specific technique—which analyzes the sensations of food and wine to evaluate their harmony on a scale of values that are then plotted on a graph— these are some key points for food and wine pairing according to the Italian-Mercadini-AIS method:
1. Concordance (or Harmony) :
-Similar in intensity and structure: Rich foods pair with full-bodied wines; light dishes with light wines. A braised meat (an elaborate and structured dish) should be paired with a full-bodied wine, even one with a good level of alcohol and a long finish.
-Sweet with sweet: Sweet wines pair well with desserts and sweets, preventing a dry wine from overpowering them. Therefore, when the waiter with the cake asks you "sweet or dry?" at the end of the banquet, it's best to answer: "Sweet!"
-Sapid with savory : By "sapid," we mean a wine with a noticeable and pleasant minerality, due to its particularly significant salt content. This is generally accompanied by acidity that imparts a pleasant sensation of freshness on the palate. These wines enhance savory dishes. Try our Goccia with a first course based on bottarga or anchovies and you'll understand why!
But be careful. When the dish is too salty, you'll need to play it the other way around, using a much softer, more rounded wine.
2. Contrast (or Opposition):
-Oiliness and fat: Fatty or oily dishes require wines with good acidity and tannins to cleanse and dry the palate, thus creating a pleasant contrast in the mouth.
Succulence and alcohol: The succulence of a dish can be balanced by wines with a good alcohol content. Imagine a grilled red meat and our Gaia Cecilia , a 14.5% ABV red with good tannins and a strong structure.
-Spicy and/or hot and/or aromatic dish: Still, smooth wines with a lovely aromatic intensity, both white and red, can pair well with spicy dishes. Try pairing your chicken curry with our Zefiro . Its roundness and smoothness will perfectly complement the pungency of the spices.
-Dish with a sweet tendency: The sweet tendency (not to be confused with the sensation of sweetness - given by the presence of added sugars) In food, it refers to a perception of sweetness, often delicate and barely noticeable, intrinsically present in certain foods such as vegetables, legumes, some fish and shellfish, and various cured meats. These dishes should be balanced with a fresh, light white wine (even sparkling) with a slightly acidic edge.
The difficult pairings
Some dishes, even quite common ones, turn out to be Difficult to pair with wine , and in extreme cases, it can even be impossible. Here are some commented examples:
- The fruit fresh in general and the citrus fruits in particular: The content in malic acid of the fruit fresh and in citric acid of the citrus fruits makes it impossible and, moreover, not very sensible to pair it with wine;
- The bitterness of some vegetables like the radish hey artichokes would require wines of such softness and structure as to overpower that of the vegetables; it is true that in many cases the bitterness is attenuated by the sauces and from the condiments and that the vegetables they are often not the main dish but the side dish, so the range of possibilities widens;
- for the succulence of the Asparagus is a similar story: by themselves they would be overpowered by any wine, but seasoned with plenty of olive oil, accompanied by eggs, wrapped in bacon or ham (oily, fattiness) may require the freshness of a white wine of greater or lesser structure depending on the dish;
- The tomato it tends to be acidic, in salads It can't be paired with wine. Pizza is a different story, as its (often) complexity requires a case-by-case assessment. In one of the simplest pizzas, the Margherita, the acidity of the tomato it is compensated by the sweet tendency of the dough and from the fattiness of the mozzarella, which makes one think of a soft white wine but not very structured;
- Chocolate , in desserts of discreet softness and balance ( brownies , Sacher ) can be combined with a passito red with great structure, while for the Dark chocolate or cocoa require special care. (Read our article on the perfect wine and chocolate pairing here .)
In short, as always, there's no one-size-fits-all method . Rather, it's important to understand food and wine pairing techniques and use them sensibly as guidelines, as appropriate. When it comes to taste, we know there are no hard and fast rules, only suggestions for creating a harmonious and pleasing effect on the palate. But remember the key word: BALANCE . For everything else, let your taste buds and your senses guide you! Try it out, experiment, and with the right knowledge and a little healthy curiosity, anyone can learn to master this skill and find a successful wine and food pairing! Your taste buds will thank you!
Cheers!!!