Matching food and wine

Elevate your dining experience by picking the right wine to sip alongside your meal

When it comes to food, it’s hard to match the joy of a perfectly paired wine and meal, whether that’s a glass of crisp chablis to wash down briny oysters, lushly fruity malbec to drink alongside a juicy steak or glass of sweet vintage port with a wedge of salty blue cheese.

If you’re new to pairing food and wine, making the right choices can seem daunting, but there are a few concepts you can follow if you’re not sure where to start.

Firstly, it’s all about balance. Make sure the flavours and intensity of your wine and dish match each other. A light, low-alcohol white wine will be overwhelmed by a rich, hearty beef stew, while a full-bodied red would bully the delicate flavours of grilled white fish. Try matching full-bodied wines with full-flavoured foods and vice versa. Consider other aspects of flavour, too: wines with high acidity balance out the richness of fatty and sweet foods, for example.

Don’t be too wedded to the rules, however. If you really want to drink red wine with fish, try choosing a light, chilled red such as pinot noir (a winner with salmon) or a full-bodied, oaky chardonnay with that steak. Matching food and wine is also about how an ingredient is cooked. Chicken cooked in a rich, creamy sauce will need a different wine than a chicken curry with lots of spices, for example.

It’s easy to overthink things, but remember that wine tasting is subjective and that it’s always best, above all, to pick wines that you’ll enjoy drinking, which is why you need to know about Beronia.