Food & Wine Pairing Hints

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today is food & wine pairing day. Recently I did a big food and wine pairing test and I want to share some of the simple conclusions we came to for pairing a wine to a food. Recently I was asked to create an appetizer menu for a wine club by creating recipes to match with specific wines. I began by selecting items like shrimp with white wine, Italian meatballs with red wine and mushroom and bean spreads that might work with either red or white wine. The shrimp is a medium for how we flavor it. I selected a basic lemon mustard dressing and flavor 1/3 with dill 1/3 with tarragon and left 1/3 plain. We tasted shrimp marinated in each one and the tarragon was hands down the one that went with each of the wines. The meatballs have a nice lean character and the important decision was of course the sauce. We started with a basic marinara and seasoned 1/3 with smoked sundried tomatoes and 1/3 with roasted red bell pepper. The plain sauce was not really a wow with any of the wines but the smoked tomato sauce worked with the whites and the roasted red pepper was best with the reds. The difference in using pecans rather than walnuts in the mushroom spread made all the difference in its ability to pair with all of the wines. That was the hit of the party. So the basic premise of food and wine pairing is about seasoning and determining which one works best with which wine and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.