Wine-Food Pairing

What wine do we associate with our dishes?

When we talk about culinary association, we refer to the action of matching different dishes to wines or matching the drink with certain dishes. As you already know, today we will talk about how we can integrate wines into our menus.

This little wine pairing guide will include examples of simple or more sophisticated dishes, plus wines that can be incorporated into these menus.

We have, for example, two types of associations: complementary and contrasting. For both we can recommend Spanish wines that will delight your taste buds

We guarantee that at the end of this article you will be able to consider yourself a true expert in combining wines with a wide range of dishes.

Let's begin!

When making a culinary combination we must always take into account the balance between textures and flavors. It is very important to take into account the whole set of flavors, dishes and drinks alike.

You've probably noticed that in a well-known gastronomic restaurant, the sommelier is always the one who advises us on the selection of wine, or offers us a tasting menu where the combination of dishes with wines is predetermined.

It can be various dishes, each with a different type of wine. But we do not want to summarize this experience only in the evenings spent in restaurants. Why not enjoy a delicious meal right here, at home, with your loved ones?

For a start, you need to quickly turn into a small sommelier and try the wines before pairing them with different dishes.

Identify which wines are light and which are strong.

You have to realize that when we do a wine tasting, we serve them depending on the intensity, from low to high. The same thing happens with food.

We always start with a softer and lighter taste, and increase the intensity of the flavor until we reach the balance between food and wine. Everytime the food pairing becomes more specialized and precise, given the growing interest in the gastronomy and the world of wine. 

Appetizers

For the pairing of appetizers, low-intensity dishes such as baked vegetables or salads of various types, we recommend light and herbal young white wines.We recommend MC Blanco, from the Spanish winery Bodegas and Viñedos Casado Morales from D.O.C Rioja. This is a white wine made with the grape variety viura, known elsewhere as macabeo, a fresh wine with low acidity and very versatile. In case you are a red-wine lover, we recommend  MC 2019 from also the Spanish winery Bodegas and Viñedos Casado Morales from D.O.C Rioja, a young red wine that is very easy to drink. 

Vegetables

Vegetables is one of the  most difficult associations, which you can meet very often during spring and summer.

Vegetables can become the main dish or  a side dish. Although white wines or fresh red wines are generally recommended for vegan or vegetarian dishes , there are two fashionable and very delicious products that are somewhat difficult to combine.

These two vegetables are artichokes and asparagus, and they are difficult to pair because they have that characteristic bitter taste. In this case,  we need a contrasting association, so we advise you to look for a fresh wine with good acidity, a combination that eliminates the bitter side of both vegetables. 

Our recommendation is our green wine Sapientia 2018, an organic wine from the Spanish winery Lagar de Moha from D.O. Rueda, which thanks to its herbal notes such as sweet anise, citrus and white fruits, is a great contrast with the bitter part of the artichokes and asparagus. 

Game meat

Other dishes that are difficult to combine are game meat dishes , a meat with a strong taste that, even if it is usually cooked longer in winter, is always accompanied by very fragrant sauces. In this case, you have to choose a full-bodied and well-structured wine, as it will pair perfectly with the fatty meat. 

We recommend our Isla red wine from the Spanish Isla Oro winery from D.O La Mancha, an intense merlot monovariety with ripe tannin and a lot of volume, which will intensify on the palate, and will sweeten that strong taste of field of game meat.

In this case, it is another complementary combination, which also leads to a good combination. The aim of food pairing is to achieve a perfect union of tastes.

Fish & Seafood

For more complex dishes such as baked fish or paella rice, a good choice is a white wine from the Chardonnay grape variety, one of the most cultivated white varieties in the world and one of the most elegant. Our Aldeya Chardonnay from the Spanish winery Pago de Aylés  from the Cariñena DO is without a doubt an excellent choice for these associations.

Red meat

However, if we enjoy red meat such as veal entrecote or pork dishes , we can opt for wines with more volume , those that fill our glass with their dense tear, strong wines with good entry and higher alcohol content. They can be young or mature wines .

We recommend Condominio from the Spanish winery Bodega Pinna Fidelis from D.O. Ribera de Duero, a young wine with a good balance between acidity and alcohol, a wine full of nuances, fresh and harmonious wines that express the whole essence of very personal wines.

Another excellent choice is our wine "é" also from Bodegas Aylés, a wine full of history, a monovariety of elegant and seductive tempranillo, an appetizing wine that gives us notes of cherries and ripe red fruits, a wine with a maturity of ten Monday in French oak barrels, which will delight you.

Simple dishes

How can we pair day-to-day dishes, that are easy to cook and we can find them everywhere? Like pasta with tomatoes and cheese , breaded chicken breast , fried anchovies, or meatballs in sauce ? In that case, we recommend young wines that are very easy to drink. If you are a red-wine lover, then you should definitely go for Viña Sastre Roble, a red wine with power and complexity in which varietal aromas predominate with slightly roasted tips as a result of its aging. If you prefer white wines, we recommend Herdade Das Servas Colheita Seleccionada White 2020, a portuguese wine that is suitable for every palate. 

What do we associate Cava with?

Cava is one of the easiest sparkling wines to pair food with. What we love about cava is its versatility; it can almost pair with every food and moment. What to drink as an appetizer? Cava. How to pair fish? With Cava. How to pair pizza? With Cava. 

Any dish fits perfectly with a Cava, even if it is a little fatter, like smoked salmon or on a platter or, why not, a pizza with creamy mozzarella, or those afternoon snacks, when we look in the closet or in the freezer something to fill our time with for dinner.

I recommend you try Cava Brut Nature 2017 organic from María Rigol Ordi, a perfect cava for pairing with creamy brie cheeses, high-cocoa chocolate or delicious dessert cakes.

The effect of the bubbles on our palate is that it removes grease impregnated on the palate, resulting in a truly surprising combination.

If you want more recommendations, please do not hesitate to visit our store. Here you will find wines at all prices. In addition, all our wines are accompanied by a tasting note that mentions the flavors and tastes of the wine, and some of them advise you on the perfect culinary combination. You only need a few minutes to make the right choice and look like a real connoisseur. Discover our store!

This concludes our discussion of wine, food, and how they are associated. Surely now you know how to choose the right wine for your food.

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As always, we thank our good friend Isabel Zaro (UdG University sommelier) for the documentation behind this reading.

If you have suggestions for us or you want to read about a certain topic related to the world of wine, do not hesitate to write to us at hello@disndis.com

See you soon, wine lovers, 

Dis&Dis Team