When I got the news that my topic submission for this months FoodBuzz 24,24,24 had been chosen I couldn’t have been happier! I have wanted to post on the subject of pairing wine with food for some time; however, I wanted to make sure I had all of the information correctly formatted before doing so.

First, a little aside, I want to thank Glenn for being able to put this class together on such short notice as sometimes is the case with the Foodbuzz 24,24,24 event. Glenn is the owner of Wineshark.com which is quickly becoming Dallas’ premier wine education website. What I love most about WineShark is the notion that “wine is for the real world. Wine doesn’t have to be snobbish or elite. It can be approachable, fun and affordable, but you need to be armed with the right knowledge. With a WineShark tasting, you’ll learn the simple tricks and techniques to dive into wine on your own and have a great time learning!” a concept that Glenn brings to light brilliantly throughout the entire class with both witty humor and fantastic stories. His class was full of information and I hope to do my best at bringing this information to you. However, if you have any questions please feel free to contact Glenn at Wineshark.com as he would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have!

When you sit down for a meal, whether it’s at home or at an elegant 5 star restaurant, knowing how to pair wine with food is a handy skill to have as wine is a fantastic way of taking whatever meal you are about to enjoy to the next level. Glenn does a great job of breaking wines into three categories which allows you to quickly make a decision without too much complicated thinking on your part. In the Wineshark class you learn that wines can do one of three things: they can serve as a compliment, contrast, or substitution to the dish.

Complimentary wines have flavors that are similar to that of the food. They blend and enhance a small range of tastes.

Contrast wines have flavors that are different from that of the food and can strengthen the flavor by providing an opposing taste.

Substitution wines provide a flavor the food lacks altogether, filling a hole in the flavor profile.

It’s really amazing how a complimentary wine can enhance the flavor of subtle notes within your dish. We began our meal by pairing a 2005 Domaine de la Becassone Cotes Du Rhone wine with a light summer salad. The summer salad consisted of greens, a little cilantro, and some black pepper along with a light vinaigrette dressing. The slight herbal note within this wine was able to compliment and enhance the herbal notes contained within the greens of the salad creating a light and refreshing meal starter.

Substitution wines can be a great choice for many dishes as well. Substitution wines do a great job of tricking your taste buds into thinking there is an additional layer of flavoring when really there isn’t one. To exemplify this we did a quick butter sauté to our shrimp and served them with some herb butter. This was then paired with a 2008 Brancott Sauvignon Blanc which is a wine that is known for its citrusy characteristics of honeydew lemon and grapefruit. I must admit I was really surprised as to how much a difference a substitution wine can make. The citrus flavors in the wine really burst through and tricked the taste buds into believing the shrimp had been marinated within a citrus sauce for hours.

Glenn then provided us with another example of the effects a complimentary wine can have. We were served a cracked peppercorn and salt crusted roast pork loin with a chipotle cream sauce. He paired this with a 2003 Rincon Pinot Noir. The peppery notes within the wine really caused the pepper flavor with the dish to explode. Despite the fact that this dish was served with a spicy chipotle cream sauce, the peppery notes were the star as they really came forward with the wine.

Contrast wines have exactly the opposite effect than that of a complimentary wine. A seared blackened tuna was prepared with an extremely hot wasabi sauce. The purpose here was to show how a contrast wine will strengthen flavor by providing an opposing taste. The fruitiness of the 2007 Monchof Estate Riesling was able to cool the flames emanating from the heat of the wasabi causing the silky flavor of the tuna to really pop! Contrast wines can be great for meals that have a strong flavor that sometimes overpower the dish.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this class was the fact that Glenn truly believes that wine can be paired with every meal, even something as simple as Texas BBQ Brisket. The 2006 Vina Gormaz was served as a substitution wine. The spicy flavors of the brisket will fill the tip of your tongue while the wine can fill in the gaps causing the smoky flavor of the brisket to really explode.

Finally we finished our meal with another example of a complimentary wine. We paired one of Glenn’s favorite wines a 2006 Writer’s Block Syrah with some milk and dark chocolates. The compliment here showed how the silkiness of this wine can bring out the silkiness of the chocolate.

When asking yourself how to pair wine with food you really only need to remember this one simple concept. Wines can compliment, contrast or substitute flavors contained within a dish. So the next time you sit down for a meal choose your wine based on whether you want to enhance the flavor, tone down the flavor or create a flavor within your meal and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!