1. BON APPETIT!
The Basics of Food and Wine Pairings

2. HOSTING A DINNER PARTY
 Worry about wine….last!
• Figure out what you will be eating/preparing first, then pick your
wine
 A good food/wine pairing can make your wine AND your food
taste better (yum)
 Common myths about food/wine pairings
• Cheese and white wine
• Meat and red wine

3. WINE BASICS
 Acidity
• Acidity in wine is needed to help preserve the grape, especially in
white wines.
• Sulfates are typically added
 Tannin
• The grape’s skin
• Tannin is kept on the grape during the distillation process
• (gives red wine its color)
• In blush wine, only a little of the tannin is kept for color
• Besides acidity, tannins are used to preserve the grape as well

4. ACIDIC FOODS AND WINES
 Salad’s, appetizers, and cheese
• High acidic foods need high acidic wines
• Salads tend to pair well with Sauvaigon Blanc pairs because of its
typically sharp flavor, grassy, and grapefruit notes.
• Tomato based dishes pair well with Chianti
• (acidic red with dry after taste)
• Oysters and Muscadet

5. SALTY FOODS
 Salty foods pair very well with fruity/sweet wines because these wines
are lower in alcohol like:
• Vouvray, Reisling, Chennin Blanc, and Champagne
 Chinese food
• Champagne or Reisling
 Keep in mind, salty foods bring out the alcohol/bitter taste in
wines, the higher the alcohol content in wines (above 14%) paired with
salty foods can make your wine taste incredibly bitter

6. DESSERT
 When pairing dessert with wine, pick a wine that is sweeter than
your dessert so your wine doesn’t taste drier than the dish.
 Sometimes sweeter is better 

7. GREAT PAIRINGS
 Below are a list of food and wine that have an affinity for each
other
• Oysters and Muscadet
• Salmon and Pinot Noir
• Lamb and Chote de Rhone
• Duck and Pinot Noir
• BBQ and Zinfandel
• Lobster and Albarino
• Veal Chop and Rioja