Matching wine to food is more art than science. The ideal is to achieve a good balance between the two. In principle, to show their best, hearty food flavours require heavier more robust wines while light delicate foods need lighter styles of wine. But the way a dish is cooked is of great importance the wines needing to match the dominant flavours. All being said, nothing replaces the fun of personal trial and error. Practice makes perfect.
Good tips are:
• European regional wines combine well with the local food, therefore a similar match will be a happy one.
• Champagne or quality sparkling wine - particularly rosé - will generally accompany the whole meal successfully. The same wine throughout a meal could be more problematic.
• Almost any red wine will go with any cheese.
• Problem foods difficult to pair are: Artichokes, Capers, Chilli, Horseradish, Lemon, Lime, Spinach, Tomatoes, Vinegar, Vinaigrette, Watercress, Yoghurt. Best to limit the quantity of these with any dish and to keep the flavours subtle rather than obvious, if you want a wine match to flourish with the other ingredients.
Outlined below are various categories of foods with suggestions for wines that go well with them, not least some of our range.
If you have got the food match you want and are looking for tips on how to serve the wine
see here.