1. Spicy food with off dry (slightly sweet) wine
Slightly sweet wines help to cool the heat of spicy food (think: margarita and Mexican food.) Also, off-dry wines are lower in alcohol, which is good b/c alcohol tends to emphasize spicy heat. To contrast with a bad pairing, try spicy food with a full-bodied/high alcohol Chardonnay and you'll find that it's not refreshing at all and the food will taste even hotter.
2. Acidic food with acidic wine
This seems counter intuitive, but actually acidic wine and acidic food tend to tone one another down, making for a mellow pairing.
3. Creamy dishes and acidic wines
Acidic wines help cut the richness of creamy dishes.
4. Fat and protein with big tannic reds
malbec and meat - ADPinot Noir - strong cheese - KAK.
My former boss used to call big tannic red wines like Cabernet and Barolo "Fat Strippers". It's sort of a hilarious joke, because he's Italian and was always going on about how much he loved fat strippers, but when we're talking about wine, it's true: tannic wines cut the fat, making the food better. Foods high in fat and protein coat your mouth and mellow the astringency of tannins, making the wine better. It's a classic pairing.
5. Regional pairings
Regional pairings - from good wine regions - are always a great idea. Italian reds Sangiovese and Barbera have sort of an earthy cherry flavor which pairs well with tomato sauces. Spanish Tempranillo and Sherry both pair well with tapas - fatty salty earthy foods - (toasted almonds, olives, vegetable tempura.)
6. Dessert wine always sweeter than the dessert
- port and blue cheese
- cabernet and chocolate
- sherry and vanilla ice cream
sorry about the random highlighting. i'm not very good at formatting these blog posts. feel free to edit.
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