The secret to Food and Wine Matching

Alister Purbrick – chief winemaker and Tahbilk CEO – shares his thoughts on the matching of food and wine.

Every day we are struck with the age old dilemma of the food and wine match. Food and wine matching is more of an art then a science but there are some basic rules to start you off and then slowly I expect practice will make perfect. It’s all about balancing the style, flavours and intensity of the wine with the food and the following rules generally hold up:

Balance your Flavours
Try rich and flavoursome foods with intense wines, like a mid weight Tahbilk Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz with venison or steak. Similarly delicately flavoured foods go with delicate wines, like oysters and scallops with a current vintage Tahbilk Marsanne or grilled fish and salad with an older Marsanne, which will also cut through any oily flavours which some fish have.
Keep the Palate Cleansed
The fattier the dish the better it is to match with a wine which will cut through the oily flavours, try a wine with tannins and/or acid. For example Osso Bucco matched to a full bodied ‘Eric Stevens Purbrick’ Cabernet Sauvignon (tannins) or beer battered Fish and Chips with a crisp and higher acid white like a young Tahbilk Riesling. Just remember fattiness and flavour intensity in food are different taste sensations and need different wines to bring out their best.
Acids can match Acids
Lots of acid in your food like a lemon chicken or a lemony pasta may require a like for like wine solution. You can pair this with a wine to match and highlight the acidity, like a ‘1927 Vines’ Marsanne. Just don’t mix an acidic wine with creamy food; they usually clash.
Last but not least
Highly spiced food is challenging to match with wine which is why you don’t see many wine drinkers in India!  Generally if the spice is not too overwhelming you’re probably best to match with something “sweeter” like a Tahbilk Verdelho, but if it’s super spiced and red meat based, try a really intense spicy, black pepper Shiraz….another example of a like for like wine solution.

Last but not least, the most important thing is to not take it too seriously, experiment, try new things and drink the wines you like best. Try choosing a wine you would like to drink and match it back to something to cook.

If all else fails try one of my favourite food and wine matches. Pizza with an honest dose of anchovies, chips and salad matched with a savoury Tahbilk Sangiovese or Mourvedre - can’t go wrong with the match or the value.

Alister Purbrick