California Vineyard (© Rboncato | Dreamstime.com)

Written by Judy Beardsall, JudyBeardsall.com

My date with destiny...Or how I spent Saturday night alone with a bottle of red and a box of Raisinets.

What happens in the average kitchen plows a wide path between wine and food. If some people panic about the cooking aspect of getting a dinner together, even more will panic about matching the wine with the food.

Over the years, wine and food pairings pivoted on what was available and evolved to what was in fashion. Availability is not an issue for us now, since the world is a much smaller place and shipping goods is easy enough.

To be very general about the food and wine pairings, I'd go by two basic guidelines: do it by contrast or do it by similarity. This means your wine will correspond by color, flavor, weight, and taste. Basically, we've been told since birth that red wine goes with heavier foods and white wine with lighter foods. Red wine with meat and white with fish. This old standby is a pretty good general concept but don't let it rule you.

An Old Pairing Myth

It's time to put all apprehension aside.

Wine Myth: It's a myth that very specific wines must be drunk with specific dishes. It's a bigger myth that says red wine only with meat and white wine only with fish.

I remember scouring the earth for the rarest of rare Mouton vintages for Frank Sinatra, which he used to buy by the case and drink with practically every meal regardless of what he was eating.

Recently, one of my more "unusual" clients called me with an interesting question about food and wine pairing. "Judy, I was wondering what wine would go well with crushed leaves? I've been giving Rupert the Chateau Lafite '98, and it's been keeping him up all night, is there anything you can recommend?"... Rupert, being his pet monkey, of course... So, instead of hanging up the phone like any other self respecting wine consultant would do, I played along and quickly diagnosed the problem. "Tell Rupert to take 2 banana peels with the "95 Puligny Montrachet and call me in the morning."

Very, very few combinations of food and wine don't work; most wine goes with most food.

So, whether it's broiled with butter or sauteed in olive oil, fish is wonderful with white wine. But that's not to say that you shouldn't enjoy salmon, for example, with red wine. The rules of companionship in wines should never be so rigid to make you hesitate to experiment.

Champagne?..Champagne is not just for caviar. Champagne is an all purpose drink. How to make a fried bologna sandwich better? Have a glass of bubbles with it.

About Judy Beardsall

President of Beardsall & Associates, wine consultant and internationally respected wine broker Judy Beardsall has forged a niche in the high stakes world of fine wine. She is famed for creating world-class wine cellars and manages high-end wine portfolios, both for drinking and investment, for discerning clients.

Whether you would like to assemble a family wine legacy for generations to come, or refine your existing interests, Beardsall & Associates can advise you accordingly with highly personalized consulting services.

For a wealth of information on fine wine, a view of Judy’s excellent blog, or to find out to contact her, go to: Judy Beardsall

To learn more about Judy’s excellent book on fine wine, go to: Sniffing the Cork: And Other Wine Myths Demystified

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