Food and Wine Pairing Method break down

Every dish should be served and accompanied by its faithful wine.

The 'right combination of food and wine, makes the flavors stand out more, the 'goal is to create a' harmony of flavors and smells really unmistakable.

It is important to consider that the various types of wine

• Red/white wine
• Sparkling
• Fortified
• Passito
• Lively white
• Structured red
• Rosé
• Soft white
• Aromatic
• Full-bodied red

These are the types of wine that we are going to assign to each dish. Each one has a small characteristic, which is the 'aging that is very important to be able to get the perfect match between the dish and the wine.

Clearly to learn well the 'pairing is necessary to take courses as a taster, and if the passion grows and there 'is a desire to increase this knowledge you can also become a sommelier, a figure specialized in wine tasting, which helps you in suggesting the type of wine suitable for the food you are going to eat.

How to pair wine with food
Because of the 'importance of cooking today, it is inevitable to pair the right wine with the food that is served on the table.

Besides taste, which is clearly strictly personal, there are other basic considerations to be made when choosing a wine to pair with food.

What is important to evaluate in order to make a perfect wine and food pairing?

As a first step, it is important to understand what your food tastes like in order to figure out what to enhance and what to offset with wine.

Elements such as sweet, salty, sour, spicy are just some of the flavors a dish can have.

Even for wine, you need to do a similar reasoning, you need to decipher the main components and characteristics. The 'importance for wine, as described above also for food, we need to establish the dominant flavors and adapt them to the 'gastronomic pairing that will enhance it.

A practical example is what we are talking about is this: A delicate dish needs a soft and delicate wine, while a food with strong and decisive flavors is matched with a good important and decisive wine in turn.

Usually, when making pairings, we always try to create a balance between the tastes and flavors of wine and food; it is not useful that we try to overpower the taste of either the wine or the food, since by covering one of the two tastes we lose in 'the other.

The 'pairing and importance we give to wine is not done at random. But why is wine so important?

The answer is very simple, during a meal after each bite of a particular food, a signal is sent from our taste buds to the brain but slowly the are less and less strong. This is precisely why it is necessary to have the right wine, which works as a mouth cleaner, so that each mouthful is like the first.

Let's take an example of wine succession: you are at a lunch where you know that many wines will alternate, how do you know when you need to serve some types and when you need to serve others? Let's see what''s the order to follow for a perfect succession:

Always start with light and young wines, while older and more robust ones taste them later;
White wines are always served before reds;
Move from cooler to room temperature wine;
It is advisable to always serve dry wines and then sweet wines;
Always put prestigious wines on the table first and then simpler wines;
Food and wine pairing table
Let's look in detail at what pairings to make between wine and food.

We report some basic foods on our tables, with the 'correct indication of what wine to pair with it and at what temperature to bring it to the table.

A good advice is also to consider the pairing aspects of seasonal type and origin.

Let's start with aperitifs, usually used to drink a cocktail but also a good wine can perfectly accompany an aperitif, as long as it is at the temperature.

Let's look specifically at the appropriate food and wine for our aperitif:

With appetizers, a dry sparkling wine is recommended, served about 7°.
With lean chicken or fish appetizers, a dry sparkling white wine is recommended, served about 10°.
With prosciutto, a light, brisk rosé wine, served about 12°, is recommended.
With salami and other sausages, a fresh rosé or young red wine is recommended, served about 10° to 12°.
With vegetables and pinzimonio, a lightly scented soft white wine is recommended, served about 10°
What wine should we pair with eggs?
Eggs are very delicate, but the pairing depends very much on the cooking of the food itself.

With buttered eggs, a soft dry white wine is recommended, served about 10°.
With omelet, a full-bodied rosé wine is recommended, served about 12°-14°.
What wine do we pair with soups, risottos and pasta?
On the other hand, to us Italians, these are the two things, par excellence, for which we always have an ace up our sleeve and we succeed grandly, to say the least.

As for wines it varies a lot when it comes to pasta, you can go from whites, rosés all the way to reds. Again, it depends a lot on the type of pasta dish we are going to eat.

With broth or soup, the wine also used in 'aperitif is recommended.
With mushroom risotto, a light rosé wine is recommended, served about 14°.
With vegetable risotto, a soft dry white wine is recommended, served about 10°.
With fish risotto, a structured dry white wine is recommended, served about 12°.
With risotto with sausage, a young sparkling red wine is recommended, served about 15°.
With pasta with fish, a soft, dry or slightly sweet white wine is recommended, served about 12°.
With pasta with vegetables, a soft dry white wine is recommended, served about 12°.
With pasta with tomato sauce, a fresh dry white wine of soft acidity is recommended, served about 10°.
With pasta with meat sauce, a young, lively rosé or red wine is recommended, served about 12°-16°.
With savory sfornati, a dry white and rosé wine is recommended, served about 10°-14°.
What wine do we pair with fish?

Usually with fish, white wine is enjoyed, but also rosé wine.

With raw seafood, an aromatic or full-bodied white wine is recommended, served about 8°-10°.
With cooked seafood, a not too dry but fruity white wine is recommended, served at 10°.
With grilled fish and fried fish, a dry white wine with character or a light rosé, served at 10°-14°, is recommended.
With stewed or baked fish, a medium-bodied rosé wine is recommended, served at 10°-14°.
With fish soups, a full-bodied rosé wine or a young, drinkable red, served at 14°-16°, is recommended.
What wine do we pair with meat?


Red meats in particular; for example, pork, beef, horse and adult sheep are usually paired in turn with red wines. While white meats; for example beef, poultry, lamb and turkey are usually paired in turn with white wines. They too, should always be served at the right temperature, one should not forget this not insignificant detail.

With white chicken meat, a dry white wine with character or a rosé, served at 10°-14°, is recommended.
With rabbit meat, a moderately young, light-bodied and fresh red wine is recommended.
With veal, a red, light-bodied wine is recommended, served at 14°.
With pork, a medium-bodied dry red wine, served at 16°, is recommended.
With liver and kidney, a full-bodied red wine is recommended, served at 12°-16°.
With grilled red meat, a vigorous medium-bodied red wine, served at 18°, is recommended.
With stewed red meat, a medium-aged even lively red wine is recommended, served at 16°.
With mixed boiled meats, a young even lively red wine is recommended, served at 16°-18°.
With game, a red wine of good aging and structure is recommended, served at 18°.
What wine do we pair with cheeses?
In Italy, there are really so many types of cheeses, varying from region to region; we have fresh or aged, cow, goat or sheep. It is not always as easy as it seems to find the right pairing between them and a good wine.

With fresh cheeses, a soft white wine is recommended, served at 10°.
With blue cheeses, a full-bodied white wine or passito is recommended, served at 12°-15°.
With fermented cheeses, a medium-bodied, well-aged red wine is recommended, served at 18°.
With hard cheeses, a full-bodied, aged red wine is recommended, served at 18°-20°.
With spicy cheeses, a very full-bodied red wine or fortified wine is recommended, served at 18°-20°.
What wine do we pair with desserts and sweets?
We might be fooled into thinking we are pairing a dessert with an equally sweet wine, but that is not always the correct choice to make.

With panettone and the like, a semi-dry sparkling or aromatic white wine is recommended, served at 7°.
With paradise cake, a slightly aromatic sweet white wine is recommended, served at 7°.
With fruit tart, a semi-dry or sweet, aromatic or fruity white or red wine, including sparkling, is recommended, served at 7°-8°.
With baked goods, a semi-dry or sweet dessert or liqueur wine is recommended, served at 10°-13°.
With spoon desserts, a sweet or sparkling white wine is recommended, served at 7°-10°.
With raw or cooked creams, an aged fortified white wine is recommended, served at 8°-12°.
What wine to pair with fruit?
A good wine can accompany both fresh and dried fruit decently.

With fresh fruit, an aromatic and fruity sweetish white wine is recommended, served at 7°.
With dried fruit, a red and abboccato or passito liqueur wine is recommended.
Let's take a look at various pairings...
Seasonal pairing: it is based on the logical principle that in summer we are unlikely to prepare typical winter dishes and vice versa.
Local pairing: it is usually always what succeeds best, that is, pairing traditional dishes with wines produced in the same area.
Curious pairing: there are food and wine pairings that do not follow rules or patterns, but are rooted in people's habits.
What wine to drink during special moments? Like.
During an aperitif, a dry, fresh or fruity white wine or a dry sparkling wine is recommended.
During an unpretentious meal, we recommend a local wine that has characteristics in harmony with those of the food.
During an important meal, for example while enjoying a pot roast or a T-bone steak, we recommend an equally important wine such as a Barolo or a Brunello, using the correct glasses and serving them at the right temperature.
During a picnic, a light wine such as Muller Thurgau is recommended.
With pizza, as an alternative to the classic beer, we recommend a dry white wine, a dry rosé or a red as long as it is light.
But did you know that bubbles, can be paired with many different kinds of dishes? Here are some examples...
For a good aperitif, a delicate, fruity sparkling wine such as Prosecco di Valdobbiadene or Riesling would be ideal.
With a risotto alla marinara, for example, a young and fragrant Metodo Classico.
With fish dishes the choice is indeed vast, however, the more flavorful a dish, the more assertive the sparkling wine should be.
With pizza, shellfish or crustaceans, a good Campanian sparkling wine such as Asprinio di Aversa pairs well.
With cheeses, a good wine such as Valpolicella or a Vernaccia is recommended.
With meat-based main courses, an aged-based wine such as a Pinot Noir is recommended.
With desserts should be paired, a famous Asti or Bracchetto D'Acqui; while with more delicate desserts, a Moscato di Sardegna is recommended.
In ultimis, pairings that should absolutely be avoided with wines are.
Indian, African and South American cuisine dishes.
Salads dressed with vinegar or lemon.
Dishes with copious amounts of vinegar.
Particularly acidic fruits such as pineapple, orange and grapefruit.