One of my favorite opportunities is teaching others about wine. In the past few weeks our wine and food pairing classes have given me reason to revisit some common dilemmas people seem to have when choosing a food and wine combination.
Despite what some think, we generally don’t need to fuss over what wine to serve with a certain food. This can be one of the most trouble-free parts of a dining experience. There’s no need to mix, heat, bake, chop or even select a serving piece. There’s no preparation time or even cleanup. All you need to do is pull the cork, pour a glass and enjoy.
It should be reassuring to know there are very few such parings that create catastrophic and unpalatable mistakes. And even those few foods traditionally considered difficult to serve with wine can be easily adjusted to find a winning match. Here are a few:
- Runny egg yolks — When I wrote a column about this 10 years ago I did not consider pairing wine with a runny egg yolk to be a common dilemma. But, with many cooks adding egg-topped dishes to their menus it has become a common question. Just yolk and wine on their own will likely be an unpalatable match. The coating of runny egg yolk on the palate paired with the wine’s acidity and tannins is disastrous. It’s the other flavors of the dish that will make this pairing work. Consider a sparkling wine or light-bodied white wine.
- Artichokes — The old rules tell us this vegetable has no place with wine. The culprit is a substance in artichokes called cyanine that can make wine taste sweet or metallic. You can overcome this by dressing the artichoke with either lemon vinaigrette or squeezing fresh lemon juice over the top. This allows one to match the vegetable with either a rustic earthy white or a young crisp white. Avoid red wines, which can bring out a strong metallic taste in the artichoke.
- Vinegar — The smell and taste of vinegar in wine is considered a fault so one would not want to enhance that flavor. If vinegar is mixed with olive oil, it will not have much of a conflict with the wine.
- Oily Fish — Oily fishes such as smoked and nonsmoked mackerel are not off limits for wines but need to be paired with fairly neutral white wines. These wines do not compete with the oily texture and flavor of the fish.
THE VALUE
- 2017 Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio, Italy (about $12 retail)
THE SPLURGE
- 2016 A to Z Pinot Gris, Oregon (about $17 retail)