Wine and food pairing are supposed to be a balancing act. The tasting aspects of the food and the wine must complement one another and the balance between the tastes is a crucial part for great pairing.

We almost never have a dinner where the wine is the star of the show. In fact, we usually sit down to dinner to enjoy a nice meal with a glass of wine. And many of us have a few favourite wines that we drink with everything we eat.

Most of us have a few favourite foods and if we put wine on the table, it’s one of our favourite wines. If we took the same approach to sorts of food, we would be eating apricot jelly with black olives or peanut butter with ketchup. Most of us don’t eat or appreciate these exotic mixtures of clashing flavours.

Some wine writers indicate that  we should balance our wine and the dish with which we serve it.

Balance means that two conditions are satisfied. First, the food taste will be intense and flavourful, whether it is served with the wine or not, and second, the wine, when served with the dish, will taste true to its intended flavour.

To achieve this there are three basic principles involved. First, understand that wines will react in the same way to a dominant taste, but in varying degrees. Second, sweet and/or umami (sodium glutamate) tastes and spiciness from hot ingredients in food make wine taste stronger. And third, sour or salty tastes in food will make wine taste milder.

You should bring the food-wine combination back into balance. If the wine tastes bitter (dry, less fruity, acidic, or tannic), season the food with salty and sour ingredients to make the wine taste milder and bring the wine and food into balance.

If your wine tastes too mild (exaggerated sweetness or fruitiness, less tannic and less bitter), then you should season the food with sweet and umami tastes to make the wine taste stronger and bring the wine and food back into balance.

Notice that this food-balancing technique is a radical departure from traditional food and wine philosophies. It demystifies and “demythologizes” the hitherto complex task of pairing wine with food. The food tastes delicious and any wine served with it remains true to its intended taste.

One of my favourite food and wine pairings is a Beef Fillet and creamy pepper sauce with a medium too full bodied Shiraz. The Kumkani Shiraz 2005 is one of these great wines that complement the fillet dish. This wine is complex and intense in earthy and spicy aromas. The berry, spice and vanilla flavours are a perfect match for the tender, juicy and creamy fillet dish.

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