Food and Wine Guide to Pairing

By Keith Watt, Morning Bay Vineyard

The first thing to know about pairing food and wine is this: Do It.

Wine is food. In fact given some of the research about wine and health these days, it might be one of the healthiest foods you can put in your body. It is the perfect beverage match for lunch and dinner, or accompanying hors d'oeuvres as an appertif, or after dinner as a digestif.

So plan to serve wine when you have food, and plan to serve food when you have wine.

Which wines are food friendly? Here we need a bit of a geographic lesson. Traditionally, wine has been a European drink which was made to go with the foods of Europe. These are called "Old World wines". With the rise of California and Australia as wine growers and exporters, a new style of wine emerged, often referred to as New World wines. This wine style grew up in a very different food culture than Europe, and the style reflects that difference. And what is the difference? In general, Old World wines are designed to be enjoyed with foods while New World wines are designed to be enjoyed on their own.

There are four characteristics about Old World wines, both reds and whites, that make them more food friendly:

• First, Old world wines are higher in acid than New World wines. Stands to reason, right? Acidity breaks down food and food flavours in the mouth, enhancing flavours and breaking down fibres.
• Second, Old world wines are lower in sweetness than New world wines, often referred to as "drier" This approach means the food flavours come forward, not the sweetness.
• Third, Old world wines generally have lower alcohol levels than New world wines. This means the "heat" of the alcohol doesn't get in the way of the food.
• Fourth, Old world wines generally use oak flavours less than New world wines. Again, stands to reason. If you want a big Cabernet to sit on the deck and enjoy, the warmth of vanilla and cocoa from the barrel enhances the flavours. But if you're enjoying a rich beef bourgogne, who wants to taste wood?

A dinner table set in the winery.
Note the flight of wine glasses awaiting the wine that will be paired with that course.

Of course all thus doesn't mean you're stuck in the French section forever. There are many New world producers who are emulating Old world wine styles, including Morning Bay.

So if you're shopping for wine to go with supper, how do you tell the wine style by the bottle? Although not fool-proof, the easiest way to identify an Old world style wine is to check the alcohol level which all wineries must put on their label. If a wine is below 13% alcohol it is likely in the Old world style. If it's above 13%, expect a sweeter, oakier, softer (lower acid) wine. This refers to both red and white wines.

So now we've got the food-friendly thing down. Let's go through more food pairing rules.

The first one is that there are no rules. Food and wine pairing is a life-long exploration that requires courage and dedication. You need to discover your own rules.

Permit me a short anecdote. I was at a birthday party with some friends and their kids. The young adults were drinking something horrible like Jagermeister or something. I sprang to their assistance and grabbed a bottle I thought they would like, an oaky little Pinot Gris we made in 2005.

"See," I said. "Way better than Jagermeister and it's great with food." I searched around for food to pair with the wine but all there was was a spice cake cluttered with birthday candles. All my wine instinct said bad pairing--dry wine with sweet food. But I pressed on and encouraged them to try the wine and food together. Surprise, surprise! The vanilla flavour the oak added to the wine accompanied perfectly the spice cake, and the crisp acidity did a marvellous job of cleansing the pallate between bites. Ever since then I have served that dry white wine with desserts such as Tiramassou with great success.

So if there are no rules, how about a few guidelines?

• The simplest guideline is that the strength of the wine should match the strength of the dominant food of that course. That is if you're having meat and potatoes, match the wine to the meat. If you're having soufflé and salad, match the wine to the soufflé. Big, loud flavours (steak, ragout sauces, red wine reduction sauces, stinky cheeses) require big, loud wines. Soft delicate flavours (Dungerness crab, soufflé) require more delicate wines.
• Second handy guideline: match the colour of the wine to the colour of the dominant food in that course. Red meats take red wines. White meats take white wines. If there is a sauce involved, the colour of the wine should probably match the colour of the sauce.
• Finally, in general, the wine SHOULD be as sweet as the food that's being served. (Please ignore my anecdote above about dry wine and cake). That's why we serve a little dessert wine with our last course.

There are, of course, many exceptions to these guidelines. Some red wines lend themselves beautifully to white meats. Pinot Noir, a lighter red, pairs wonderfully with salmon, which you would normally classify as white meat. And a crisp, dry Riesling (in my opinion one of the most versatile food wines) pairs wonderfully with beef curry (and all spicy foods). But in general following these three easy guidelines will take you a long way in food and wine pairing.

So the picture begins to emerge: a multiple-course dinner matched with a series of food-friendly, European-style wines, with each wine chosen to bring out the strengths of the foods, and each food chosen to bring out the best of the foods--a pairing made in heaven. Don't forget to invite us!

Here are some pairing suggestions:

• Dry Riesling--Anything. Crisp acidity pairs with seafoods and Asian spice.
• Pinot Gris--Blue cheeses, poultry.
• Pinot Noir--Ripe sift cheeses, lamb, pork or salmon.
• Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon--Steaks, roasts, ragout sauces, red wine reductions.
• Chardonnay--Nothing. We don't drink no Chardonnay.

Cheers! Barb and Keith

* * * * *

Morning Bay products are now available at private wine stores and fine restaurants throughout Victoria and Vancouver Island. Watch for us on the menus at your favourite restaurant. Or order direct from the winery.

Our BC wines are hand made with loving care from Morning Bay's terraced vineyard and winery on North Pender Island in the sparkling southern Gulf Islands of BC. In the lee of the Olympic Peninsula rainshadow, Pender basks in a glorious mediterranean summer, with long stretches of dry, sunny weather.

With your wine purchase, you'll be getting a superior hand made product produced with careful applications of water and nutrients. Our wine grapes ripen slowly and develop complex flavours that will delight any wine lovers palate. Hand-picked in late fall, grapes retain crisp aromatics while developing long, elegant flavours.

Morning Bay products are now available at private wine stores and fine restaurants throughout British Columbia or Alberta. Watch for us on the menus at your favourite restaurant. Or order direct from the winery by e-mail: contact here

You can buy our BC wines online, please click here to enter and purchase wines from our online wine store. Or, come for a free tour of our terraced vineyard on Pender Island - come just for the visit, or plan to hold your special event in our vineyard or barrel cellar.