What follows are some truths about how wine can react with food:
* A wine high in tannins (Bordeaux, for instance) mated with a food high in tannins (like walnuts) will render the wine almost undrinkably dry and astringent. * Protein tends to calm tannins, so a very tannic wine might be rendered glorious when enjoyed with rare beef. * Delicate foods - veal, or filet of sole for example - will be overwhelmed by a full-bodied red wine. By the same token, a hearty lasagna will virtually cancel out a dry, medium-bodied Sauvignon Blanc. * A wine can add its primary flavor to a dish, giving food a layer it didn't start out with. * Some wine and food combinations result in a flavor that was not present in either one and is not meant to be, metal for instance. Try white turkey meat with red Bordeaux if you doubt this. * Sometimes it's as though this wine has been searching all its life for this food and fireworks ensue. * Tannic wines make sweet foods taste less sweet; salty foods emphasize tannin. * Salty foods mute the sweetness and enhance the fruitiness of a sweet wine. * Wines that are high in acid taste less acidic with salty or sweet food; acidic wines also can offset oily foods.
Be Bold...
If you have a nose, brain and taste buds, you can taste wine..
Wine is a very complex, it is alive. There is a lot going on in a mouthful of wine, like softness, sharpness and bunch of different flavors with multiple sensations, all going on at the same time. So sit down and slowly discover it's nuances.
Be bold... Stick you nose right into the glass. That is where you will find the aromas. Try not to overpower the wine with a strong scent....perfume The smell of food in the air can confuse you nose... Inhale life.. Experience what you eat(fresh fruit,herbs you cook with), see(flowers, wet dog,grass..) and wear(leather, rain, road tar..) Build a mental database filled with aroma memories.. Slow down and take a deep whiff while keeping your lips slightly apart, that can help you distinguish the aromas..
Look back in later... there is two more steps to come...
Inspired by: Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan - Wine for Dummies
