Food and Wine Pairing

There was an interesting article in the January 19 Wall Street Journal about Tim Hanni, who has developed a wine consulting business and a method to help pair wine with hard-to-match foods. He also is promoting “progressive wine lists,” and we’ve shopped in wine stores where basic wine progressions similar to his were used (light-bodied whites, medium, full, etc.). Hanni’s credentials are impeccable – one of the first Americans to pass the “Master of Wine” exams – yet some of his recommendations seem odd to us. We really don’t want our asparagus to taste like salt and lemon juice (his basic spice suggestion) just so we can drink a big Bordeaux with it – just pass the white Zinfandel and we’ll enjoy it just fine.

Wine and food pairing is an art – just as food and spice pairing is. Try some of our “cheap” wine suggestions from this blog with different foods. If something doesn’t taste good together, open another cheap bottle of something else. To us, that’s far better than changing the flavor of the food we so carefully created.