A few tips and tricks for your own wine tasting at home, we also take a close look at the question “what to serve with wine tasting?” and try to find an answer for how organize food pairings
Well, the amount of offered wine tastings is enormous, the number of wines that can be tasted in theory are very high and the corresponding possibilities for consumption are even gigantic! In order to prevent one of these problems, we would like to address the question of what to serve with wine tasting of all kinds in this article!
In general
Before we can discuss the question of “what to serve with wine tasting”, we would like to give a few basic tips, basend on our own experiences in wine and food events. In order to be able to perceive the food and the wine optimally, it is advisable not to smoke in the tasting room. Also important is the fact that excessive use of perfume, or the opposite, below-average use of care products and the resulting body odour, is not advisable. Also, for the sake of atmosphere, a bright room should be used, and a white or light-coloured tablecloth should be chosen to appreciate the colour of the wine better. Also helpful: regular airing neutralises any odours that have arisen and facilitates perception!
The wines should also be tasted with increasing weight, for example from the lighter white wine to the rosé wine to the heavier and body full red wine. But before we start asking what to serve with wine tasting, please notice the following: all tastes are different, there is no right or wrong way. Combine the food the way you like it! Accordingly, the following text is only a guideline.
The format of the wine tasting
Before you open the first bottle of wine, you should ask yourself what the wine tasting is all about. Should the wines be the main focus of the tasting and the food will only be an accessory to the wine tasting, or should the food be served in correspondence with the wine? The number of guests is also an important fact. If there are only a small number of people in your living room, it may be worth considering serving warm dishes instead of snacks at the wine tasting.
Warm dishes and corresponding wines
Once the decision has been made to serve a matching (warm) dish with each wine, the first step is to determine the order of the wines and their accompaniments. If the wines should range in ascending order from sparkling wine to white wine and rosé wine to red wine, there are the following possibilities for approaching the solution for the question what to serve with wine tasting:
The first option is to match the visual colour of the wine to that of the food. Who doesn’t know the phrase that is often repeated, “With steak, I prefer a strong red wine!”, but these phrases have a true essence.
Wines with a stronger colour usually have a longer maceration or mashing time, which not only has an effect on the colour of the product, it’s also hast an high impact on the intensity, which also appears stronger with increasing colour.
If the question (what to serve with wine tasting) arises as to which corresponding and warm food should be served with the wine tasting, the answer could be as follows: The stronger a wine (and its colour), the stronger the dish including its seasoning. This is what some wine tasting dishes might look like:
- White wine (e.g. Riesling, Pinot Blanc) and roasted salmon trout with boiled potatoes and vegetable casserole, rosé wine (e.g. Pinot Noir Rosé) and salmon fillet, poultry or ratatouille,
- light red wine (e.g. Pinot Noir, Frühburgunder) with game dishes, grilled vegetables or pasta with tomato sauce,
- red wine (e.g. Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon) with grilled beef, vegetarian burgers or Boeuf Bourguignon.
- For dessert, well chilled and sweet wines are usually suitable, they offer a great and fruity finish to
the nevertheless often majority dry wines and salty main courses.
What to serve with wine tasting, when the wines are fruity?
Often not represented at wine tastings, or only in small quantities, are semi- dry and sweet wines. These food pairings can be accompanied by either contrasting or harmonising food. But how is this to be understood?
Asian dishes are often characterised by a certain spiciness, by use of chilli, or of wasabi in Japanese dishes such as sushi. To balance this spiciness, a semi-dry wine can be served here, it parries the spiciness excellently and provides a good balance between sweet and spicy, which is considered very pleasant by many people. Good to know: the combination of very tannin-heavy wines and spicy food, results in bitter flavours. Also interesting: alcohol intense the taste of spiciness, so it is also advisable to serve a fruity wine with less alcohol (e.g., Riesling Kabinett from the Mosel growing region). If a fruitier and very characterful or playful wines such as Gewürztraminer or Scheurebe are in the line-up, dishes can also be served that display a variety of contrasting aromas. This is especially true of oriental cuisine, which often includes sweet, salty and also fresh flavours in its dishes.
Advice for food pairings with Wine and cheese
When it comes to the question of what to serve with wine tasting, the topic of cheese and wine is often up for debate. We would like to give you a few tips on how to do this food pairing! From the experience of our own wine tastings: when choosing a cheese to go with wine, two factors can come into play, namely harmonising combinations or contrasting ones. Which is the better of the two should be handled individually. It is advisable to serve more acidic wines with creamy cheeses; they balance the fat on the palate excellently. Both wine and cheese become more complex with age, so it is appropriate to serve an older wine as the cheese ages.
With intense cheeses such as Roquefort or Gorgonzola, a sweet wine like a Auslese or a Sauternes is considered appropriate, the contrasts harmonise excellently, as these wines are often just as captivating with their intensity and strength as the wine!
Food for wine tasting
If the focus of the meeting is that different wines are to be tasted and evaluated sensorially, the question “what to serve with wine tasting” must be answered differently. In order to be able to optimally perceive all the wines to be tasted, the food must have a neutralising effect on the tongue and palate; in this case, the kitchen usually remains cold. Here it is appropriate to offer white bread or different variations with good olive oil and salt. Furthermore, unsalted nuts, simple and little spiced pastries, olives, grapes, dried salami, or cheese cubes of a less strong or old variety can also be offered.
To finally answer the question of which food should be served with the wine tasting: In addition to all suggestions, the food can of course be individually coordinated, but the focus should be focused on, that the perception of the wines is not or hardly disturbed by the food. The conscious and evaluative tasting of wines is strenuous and requires some practice; to make it easier, one or two breaks should be taken in any case.
To conclude
Wine is a spiritual drink, it should bring people together, stimulate friendly discussion and, in the best case, bear the signature and philosophy of the winemaker. Just by applying one of the above tips and tricks on the subject of what to serve with wine tasting, nothing will stand in the way of a perfect evening in the spirit of wine!
We wish you success and fun with your next food pairing event , whether with a corresponding meal or a tasting of a wide variety of wines! Have we aroused your interest in a wine tasting? Feel free to contact us, for wine tastings, wine events, corporate events and tastings of all kinds, we look forward to seeing you!
