Quick Tips for Pairing Wine and Meat

If done correctly, pairing wine with your meat will enhance the overall taste of your entire meal. However, many people just pick out the same wine to go with every meal, no matter what is being served. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular types of wine and how they pair with common meats you may cook for your family.

Red Meat

Red wines typically go better with red meat, but you must also consider how you plan to prepare the meat. When you serve a grilled steak, you need a red wine with the depth of smoky oak and fruit to combat the char and fat of the steak. Wines like American Red Zinfandel, Cabernet, Priorat and Spanish Rioja go best with grilled steak. However, pan-fried steak calls for wines with a fruitier and spicier flavor, such as California, Oregon or Washington Merlot, Australian Shiraz or Cabernet blends.

On the other hand, roasts work well with lighter red wines. Try Pinot Noirs from the United States or burgundy or Rhone-style blends from Australia and the United States. If you use wine or stock for braises, it makes a difference in the type of wine that goes best with the meat. Wine-braised dishes call for wines similar to the braising wine, but stock-braised dishes need the reds with a higher acidity to get to the richness.

Chicken, Turkey & Poultry

Chicken and poultry pair well with both red and white wines, giving you more variety in your choices. With white wines, try to match the intensity of the wine with the intensity of the dish. For instance, when you have white meats with green herbs, Sauvignon Blanc from Australia, California, Chile, Italy or Washington state work well. Poached and other delicately prepared white meats, like paté, go best with wines like Chenin Blanc.

Even though white wines go well with white meats, darker chicken and poultry go well with light aromatic and medium-bodied red wines. When you flavor chicken and poultry with a soy-based sauce like teriyaki, pair it with Schiava. Many people enjoy Zinfandel with turkey, so they consider it the best Thanksgiving wine. Other types of poultry also have classic pairings. Most people automatically pair Pinot Noir with dishes that contain duck. If you serve a cold dish like chicken salad or turkey sandwiches, look to Brachetto.

Pork

When you pair wine with pork, consider how you prepared the dish in order to find the best pairing. Spicy pork dishes call for wines like Riesling, which has a semi-sweet taste of fruit and citrus. Riesling also goes with barbecue pork dishes, but it not does not go as well as Syrah or Shiraz, which has a jamminess to its fruit flavor. Pork prepared with fruit usually calls for jammy red wines like Zinfandel.

Sometimes it also helps you to look at popular pork dishes to see how they usually pair with wine. Pork stir-fry goes well with Riesling, but it also pairs well with Pinot Gris and Cabernet Sauvignon. However, try Zinfandel, Pinot Noir or Zweigelt with a more flavorful dish like pork tenderloin. When you prepare sweet and sour pork, look for wines like Pinot Grigio or white Zinfandel to complement the contrasting flavors. With an herbed pork dish, try a creamy Chardonnay that does not overwhelm the herbs and braises.

Complementing Meat with Wine

Keep in mind — it is easier to choose a wine according to the dish rather than trying to cook around the wine. Choose your food menu before you choose your wine, as this will help narrow down your choices and help you find the perfect red or white wine to complement your meal. Look for red wines to find suitable varieties to complement the red meats that you plan to serve. Remember that reds and whites pair well with chicken and poultry. Find out how connoisseurs pair pork dishes with wine when you use pork as your main dish. In any pairing, it is essential to keep in mind that you do not want the taste of the wine to overpower the taste of the dish that you are preparing.

More Wine Pairing Info:

• Wine & Food Pairing Made Easy
• Our 3 Favorite Fall Wine Pairings
• 3 Perfect Pairings for a Picky Palate
• The Origins of Pairing Wine and Cheese