KEY POINTS:
Wine expert Victoria Lewis presents a beginners' guide to food and wine matching.
White wine with fish, red with meat - still true?
It's not really as simple as that, as it depends on how the food is cooked and what it's served with. A sauce, for example, can make all the difference to the overall flavour of a dish. Serve a white fish in a rich tomato and olive sauce and chances are it would go better with a fruity red.
How do you know when a wine goes with a certain food?
More often it's a case of you know when it doesn't. A classic example is fish cooked simply and paired with a full-bodied red wine. It'll give you a kind of metallic taste on your tongue.
What else never works together?
As a general rule of thumb, I'd say white wines rarely go with sweet food as they tend to be too acidic. Though in saying that, wine and food are such personal things that it's hard to say a certain combination never works. If someone likes it and it works for them, it can't be wrong. Food and wine should complement one another, not go against. My favourite match right now is pinot gris with roast pork and crackling.
When eating out, what do you choose first - the wine or food?
I normally choose what I'm going to eat first, then the wine.
Which grape variety is a safe bet with most food?
I would opt for a pinot gris as it goes with pretty much everything - or, rather, there aren't many foods it offends. The pinot gris we make here in Marlborough tends not to be overly acidic - it's more off-dry, full-bodied and great with most food.
What's the best food match with Champagne?
The thing about Champagne is it varies massively in style - from bone dry to a sweeter, off-dry - depending on the producer and exactly where the grapes are grown. When I was in the Champagne region, we drank it with everything we ate and got round the food matching issue by drinking a different style of Champagne with each dish! Oysters and seafood are a classic match with dry Champagne. The yeastiness and bubbles go well with nibbly food, too - such as canapes - and sweeter styles of Champagne are great with pates.
What should we be drinking with our turkey this Christmas?
I'd go for a nice red, such as pinot noir. But when the sun's shining, people tend to veer towards whites, in which case it would have to be a chardonnay.
What's the best all-rounder wine to take to a barbecue?
Pinot noir is great for picking up the smokiness in grilled meat and vegetables. In fact, any wine that's been barrel-aged and has some oak in it would go well with barbecued food. I get a bit spoiled working at Allan Scott, so I quite often take a bottle of something sparkling to a barbecue. Everyone loves a glass of bubbles in the sun - especially before a meal - then you can drink someone else's red with the food!
* Victoria works for Allan Scott Family Wines, Jackson's Road, RD3, Blenheim, ph:(03) 572 9054 or visit the website at www.allanscott.com
- Detours, HoS
