The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine and Food Pairing by Jaclyn Stuart

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine and Food Pairing by Jaclyn Stuart

Author:Jaclyn Stuart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-05-02T16:00:00+00:00


All About Intensity

Probably the most important pairing characteristic of wine and food is intensity. Intensity is the combined effects of sweetness, tannins, body, alcohol content, and the overall flavors of the wine. People sometimes confuse intensity with the weight of a wine, but it is the overall strength and your perception of the power of the wine.

An intense wine has more alcohol, more tannins, more body, more “oomph.” It needs to be paired with food that has more flavor, more strength, more weight.

Almost every pairing principle in some way relates to intensity. The reason chicken and fish pair up nicely with white wines? Intensity. The reason red wines go well with game? Intensity.

If you look at traditional terroir pairings, the intensity of a regional cuisine tends to match the intensity of the regional wines. The cuisine of the Loire Valley is lighter than that of Burgundy, and so are the wines.

If you look at almost any good pairing, you’ll see that the intensity of the food and the intensity of the wine match. Meat, for example, offers more intense and more robust flavors than chicken. It’s heartier fare, and thus, it needs a heartier wine to match in a pairing.



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