WINE AND FOOD.docx

**[WINE AND FOOD]** Food that is consumed with wine has an effect on the way a wine tastes, and wine can also affect the taste of food. The purpose of food and wine pairing is to take advantage of these effects so that the food and wine consumed together ideally provide more pleasure than either wo...

**[WINE AND FOOD]** Food that is consumed with wine has an effect on the way a wine tastes, and wine can also affect the taste of food. The purpose of food and wine pairing is to take advantage of these effects so that the food and wine consumed together ideally provide more pleasure than either would if consumed separately. Knowledge of the ways in which food and wine interact with each other will also help avoid negative or unpleasant taste combinations. When it comes to understanding the basic taste interactions between food and wine, it is important to remember that people have different sensitivities to various flavor and aroma components. The same level of bitterness, for example, can affect one person much more strongly than another. This is different from personal preference in that some people like strong reactions while others find them unpleasant. This variation in both individual sensitivities and preferences means that what seems like a \'perfect pairing\' to one person may seem ordinary or even unsuccessful to another. Pairings should therefore take into account the preferences and/or sensitivities of the individual, as well as the basic interactions between food and wine. **[Primary Food and Wine Taste Interactions]** When you place food in your mouth your taste buds adapt so that the perception of the levels of sugar, salt, acidity, etc. in what you taste next can be altered. An extreme example would be the unpleasantly acidic taste of orange juice when consumed immediately after using toothpaste. In addition to this, some foods, such as chocolate or thick creamy dishes, have a mouth-coating effect that can impair the sense of taste. There are two components in food that tend to make wines taste \'harder\' (more astringent and bitter, more acidic, less sweet, and less fruity). These are sweetness and umami. There are also two components whose presence in food tends to make wines taste \'softer\' (less astringent and bitter, less acidic, sweeter, and more fruity). These are salt and acid. Generally, food has more impact on the way a wine will taste than the other way around, and, in particular, it is more likely to have a negative impact. **[Sweetness in Food]** \- Increases the perception of bitterness, astringency, acidity, and the warming effect of the alcohol in the wine. \- Decreases the perception of body, sweetness, and fruitiness in the wine. Sweetness in a dish can make a dry wine seem less fruity and taste unpleasantly acidic. With dishes containing sugar, a good general rule is to select a wine that has a higher level of sweetness than the dish. **[Umami in Food]** \- Increases the perception of bitterness, astringency, acidity, and the warming effect of the alcohol in the wine. \- Decreases the perception of body, sweetness, and fruitiness in the wine. Umami is a taste and is distinct from the other primary tastes, although it can be difficult to isolate. Whereas sweetness can be tasted and identified in isolation with sugar, salt with sodium chloride, and acidity with a number of acids (e.g. tartaric acid), umami tends to be present with other tastes. It appears with saltiness in monosodium glutamate (MSG), for example, or with other flavors in cooked or dried mushrooms. One of the simplest ways to experience it is to compare the taste of a raw button mushroom with one that has been microwaved for 30 seconds. The umami taste of the mushroom is greatly increased by the cooking. Many foods that are considered difficult to pair with wine contain high levels of umami but lack the salt necessary to counteract its hardening effect on wine. Asparagus, eggs, mushrooms, and ripe soft cheeses are all examples. However, cured or smoked seafood and meats, and hard cheeses such as Parmesan, are high in both umami and salt, so tend not to have as much of an adverse effect on wine. Remember, bitterness in wine comes from tannins extracted from grapes or oak. For a balanced high-tannin wine, the change in perceived bitterness may not appear to be excessive and will not be enough to unbalance the wine. However, low-tannin red wines, or white wines made with oak or skin contact, can become surprisingly bitter and unbalanced when consumed with umami-rich foods. **[Acidity in Food]** \- Increases the perception of body, sweetness, and fruitiness in the wine. \- Decreases the perception of acidity in the wine. Acidity in food is generally a good thing for food and wine pairing as it can bring a wine with very high acidity levels into balance and enhance its fruitiness. However, if the level of acidity in the wine is low, high levels of acidity in foods can make it seem flat, flabby, and lacking focus. **[Salt in Food]** \- Increases the perception of body in the wine. \- Decreases the perception of astringency, bitterness, and acidity in the wine. Salt is another wine-friendly component of food that can enhance a wine\'s fruit character and soften astringency. **[Bitterness in Food]** \- Increases the perception of bitterness in the wine. Sensitivity to bitter tastes varies greatly from person to person and someone who is particularly sensitive to one bitter compound may be relatively insensitive to another. Generally, bitter flavors add to each other. This means that although bitterness in the food alone may be at a pleasant level, and any bitterness in the wine may be in balance, together the bitter elements can combine to reach an unpleasant level. This effect is very subjective. **[Chili Heat in Food]** \- Increases the perception of bitterness, astringency, acidity, and the burning effect of alcohol in the wine. \- Decreases the perception of body, richness, sweetness, and fruitiness in the wine. Chili heat is a warming or burning sensation, and levels of sensitivity can vary greatly from person to person. There is also huge variation in how pleasant or unpleasant this effect feels to the individual. The effects caused by chili heat are greater in wines with high alcohol levels than those with lower alcohol levels. Alcohol also increases the burning sensation of the chili; some people enjoy this effect. **[Other Considerations]** \- Flavour Intensity: It is usually desirable for the flavor intensities of the food and wine to be matched so that one does not overpower the other. However, in some circumstances, an intensely flavored food (such as a curry) can be successfully partnered with a lightly flavored wine (such as a simple, non-aromatic, unoaked white). \- Acid and Fat: Most people find the combination of acidic wines with fatty or oily foods to be very satisfying. The pairing can provide a pleasant sensation of the acidic wine \'cutting through\' the richness of the food and cleansing the palate. This is a subjective effect. \- Sweet and Salty: The pleasure of combining sweet and salty flavors is also subjective, but this is a combination many people enjoy and one that leads to some very successful food and wine pairings. Sweet wine and blue cheese is a classic example. **[Applying the Principles]** Because people vary in their sensitivities and preferences, there is no simple answer to questions about which wines go best with which dishes. Although the ways in which food may affect the balance of a wine are generally understood, whether people like the results of a particular combination is very personal. That said, most people prefer their wines to taste more fruity and less acidic, bitter, and astringent. Using this generalization it is possible to make some cautious recommendations. When selecting wines to partner dishes, it can be helpful to divide dishes and wines into \'high-risk\' and \'low-risk\' categories. Of course, most foods and wines contain more than one of the structural components listed below, so there are many possible options. **[High-risk Food]** \- Sugar: Dishes high in sugar should be paired with a wine that has at least as much sugar as the dish. \- Umami: Umami in the food will emphasize the astringency and bitterness of the tannins, and therefore the chosen wine will need to have the necessary components, such as concentrated fruit flavors, to be able to cope with this change in the wine. \- Bitterness: Dishes high in bitterness will emphasize bitterness in wine. Consider white wines or low-tannin reds. \- Chili Heat: Dishes high in chili heat should be paired with white wines or low-tannin reds, neither of which should be high in alcohol. A wine\'s fruitiness and sweetness can also be reduced by chili heat, so consider wines with higher levels of these components to make this effect less severe. **[Low-risk Foods]** Dishes that are high in salt and/or acid generally pair well with wine. Note, however, that high-acid foods should generally be matched with high-acid wines, otherwise, the wines can taste too soft and flabby. **[High-risk Wines]** The more structural components in the wine (and food), the more possible taste interactions there will be. This makes pairing more complicated but the results can be much more interesting. The most problematic wines are those with high levels of bitterness and astringency from oak and grape tannins, combined with high levels of acidity and alcohol, and complex flavors. **[Low-risk Wines]** Simple, unoaked wines with a little residual sugar are unlikely to be made unpleasant by any dish. However, because such wines change relatively little when partnered with food, the food and wine pairing experience can be less interesting. One of the most productive ways of applying the principles outlined above is to examine well-established pairings and consider why they are successful. If these reasons are understood, then other wines can be identified that can also provide successful pairings. For example, Muscadet and Champagne both work well with oysters because they are unoaked (so there is no bitter component to be spoiled by the umami taste of the oyster), relatively light in flavor (so as not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of oysters) and high in acidity (