The persistence, the structure and the aroma of a dish should equate those of a wine. It is important to have consistency and balance of tastes. For example a heavy dish has to be accompanied by a heavy-bodied wine. Similarly, a light-bodied, not fruity or intense wine is recommended with delicate dishes in order to enhance its taste. As a general rule the intensity of the taste of the food should match the intensity of the taste of the wine. In regards to the balance, you can either opt for the contrast principle or the agreement principle. When selecting the wine in contrast with the taste of the dish proposed the result could be, for example, a reduced perception of the salty and hot taste of a dish by the sweetness of a delicate wine or, again, in the case of a dish of fatty taste, a fresh and tannic wine, maybe even lively and bubbling, with its acidity would contribute to creating a perception of melting off the heavy taste of the dish. If we follow the principle of accordance of tastes between wine and food, dishes of a rich structure and intense aromas would greatly match wines of a similar structure and intensity.
The second rule suggests starting serving dishes and wine of a more delicate taste in a progression of tastes which leads to the strongest one. So for example, we could start with an aperitif to accompany a delicate starter, followed by a richer white wine with a dish of pasta and vegetables. A red wine would perfectly enhance the more complex taste of a main course and finally a sweet wine to accompany the dessert. It is as hard to appreciate an aromatic and delicate white wine after a full-blooded red wine as it is enjoying any red wine after a sweet delicate and perfumed white wine: the red wine will taste fastidiously tannic and bitter.
Finally, matching a wine with the gastronomy typical of the area of origin of the wine should enhance the taste and aromas of both wine and food.
I am an ardent Wine lover and love to write from anything to everything about Wines. I was excited to receive an invitation from WineYatra.com to write an opening article for their Wine Blog. It took me a while to decide on what to write as my Wine interests vary from traditional Wine producing regions of Lombardia to Sparkling Wines of the UK. At last, I set on to write about something that I get asked most frequently. It is “how to judge quality of a given Wine?”. I hope you enjoy it.
Quality of Wine is neither related to an individual’s taste nor can it be judged by reading the label. A wine is either of good quality or of not so good quality. It can be appraised through parameters such as consistency, balance and integrity of Wine. A good Wine expert should be able to assess these parameters by a diligent tasting of the Wine. Let us try to define them and put them in perspective.
Consistency of Wine: Consistency of a Wine is determined by its total dry extract. Total dry extract is the set of elements left on evaporation of water, alcohol and other volatile components. The consistency is measured in grams of total dry extract per litre of Wine evaporated. Consistency of grapes is also defined in a similar way. A grape with higher consistence gives a Wine with higher consistence. However, the quantity of Wine produced from a grape vine is inversely proportional to its consistency and vice versa. Hence, a rich Wine is produced if lesser grapes are produced from each grape vine.
Balance of Wine: A wine is balanced if elements like sugar, acids and tannins blend together well and give a soft delicate feeling in the mouth. A well balanced wine has round taste with flavours of alcohol, tannin and acids. Wine is unbalanced if one of the tasting sensations prevails on the other. If the sweetness prevails over the acidity, it will taste sugary and not fresh and if the acid, alcohol content or tannic components prevail over the sweet ones, the wine will taste a bit too harsh on the palate. It will taste pungent if acidity dominates and astringent if tannin does. The level of ripeness and the process of vinification directly influence the balance of Wine.
Integrity of Wine: Integrity of Wine is its ability to reproduce the original aromas of the grapes in its bouquet, flavours and taste. The integrity of Wine is determined by the freshness of the grapes at the moment of the vintage. It is also directly influenced by the process of vinification used.