The Ultimate (but Simplified) Wine Pairing Guide

The Ultimate (but Simplified) Wine Pairing Guide

Perhaps you already know a lot about wine pairing, or maybe you don’t. Sometimes we can benefit from a simple refresher. And while wine pairing can be overly complicated, it doesn’t have to be.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with which wine is the right one for your next meal, use this cheat sheet or read up on which foods go best with your favorite wines. It doesn’t have to be difficult.

In fact, if you like the wine and you like the food, put them together! You may also be the adventurous type that tries new wines or takes the advice of those who’ve been there and done that. If that’s the case, look into some wine subscriptions. Winc is perhaps my all-time favorite.

Wine Pairings by Color

Here’s your ultimate guide to wine pairings by color. The color of the wine, that is. Not the color of the food. Although, that’s sometimes helpful as well. Here’s what I mean.

Light-colored wines tend to go well with light-colored foods, while dark-colored wines go better with dark-colored foods.

If you know you tend to like white wines better than reds, read up on what type of food you might serve with it. On the contrary, if you’d rather serve an elegant red at your next dinner party, it’s best to know what dish goes best with it.

White wine

White wine goes well with a lot of different kinds of foods. Think light foods like chicken, light fish, or salad.

There’s a lot of wiggle room here. If you’re making chicken, you can season it in a number of ways. Try some Italian seasoning, or give it a bit of spice if you like Mexican or Southwest heat. You can also throw some noodles in with it. Try not to make it too heavy, or it will transition to a dish that goes better with red wine.

If you’re making fish, a tart Sauvignon Blanc goes well with fatty fish while a juicier white will pair well with shrimp. Try to stick with lighter fish like tilapia or cod. You can always drink white wine with salmon, but it can sometimes pair better with red wine, depending on the sides you choose.

Salad is another fine choice to compliment your white wine, especially a Riesling. Airy, fresh vegetables drizzled with a light vinaigrette complement the light, fresh flavors of your white wine. Even a honey mustard can add a nice contrast. However, heavier dressings like ranch and other creamy options might go better with red wines.

For a fun twist, drizzle your sweet white wine over ice cream and have it for dessert. Ice wine is the perfect choice for this.

Red wine

Red wine is super versatile. You can hardly go wrong pairing red wine with anything, so you shouldn’t stress about this one at all. In fact, a general red wine table blend, a Merlot, or a Pinot Noir are some of the best choices if you’re simply at a loss for what to offer.

Another thing that makes pairing red wine easy is to remember that red goes with red. Red meat and red sauce are the two really big ones.

Plenty of red wines go well with red meats of all kinds. If you’re eating steak, pair it with red wine like Port to enhance the flavors of both. Red wine even goes well with burgers and fries. You don’t always have to be fancy or put pressure on yourself to have some elaborate party.

Red wines of all kinds also go really well with red sauces. If you’re looking for something to pair with your red wine and you like Italian food, you’ve got yourself a match made in heaven. Spaghetti, lasagna, ravioli, chicken parmesan, and anything else you can smother in red sauce makes for a great red wine pairing.

If all else fails, pair your red wine with your favorite chocolate bar. Trust me. Just try it.

Rose

While not technically a dessert wine, rose is a great wine to pair with desserts, if it’s sweet enough. However, you can also pair it with hors d’oeuvres or extra cheesy dishes if it’s a dry rose.

In fact, a dry rose complements a salty appetizer or snack. It’s crisp and tart, so try it with some cheese and crackers or something seasoned with onion or rosemary. It also goes well with young cheeses like mozzarella, feta, baby swiss, or cheddar.

If you’d like to do something extra fun, drop some berries in your wine and let them soak for a bit before drinking. Not only does it jazz up your glass and make it more colorful, but it can add fun flavor to your wine, and when you’re done drinking it, you can eat the drunken berries.

Drop some raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries in your rose and share it with your friends for dessert or during a movie. You can also do this with drier white wines to make them a bit fruitier.

Sparkling

Much like rose, sparkling wines are really fun to pair with salty foods, because the salt makes the bubbles dance on your tongue. This also applies to champagne. Drink it with finger foods and snacks like trail mix, M&Ms, or crackers.

Wine Pairings by Flavor

If you already know you prefer sweet rather than dry, you can skip right to figuring out which foods go best with your favorites. However, if you prefer to wait until after dinner to partake of your adult beverages, maybe you should check out best to enjoy your wine for dessert.

Here are the main wine flavors and how they best pair with different varieties of food.

Sweet

While sweet wines can definitely be enjoyed with dessert, you can certainly pair them with meals, you just have to be careful that the food doesn’t overpower the light body of the wine.

Sweet wines come in a range of colors from white to red, but they’re generally light or medium bodies, so you want to pair them with meat and cuisine that also has a light or medium intensity.

Tofu is a fantastic choice for vegetarians. It’s light and airy, and it complements the body of the sweet wine excellently. Because tofu is so absorbent, you can also use your wine in your cooking beforehand.

Sweet Asian sauces are also great choices, and if you’d like to drink your sweet wine with desserts, look for caramel, fruit, vanilla, coconut, or butterscotch flavors, but stay away from chocolate.

For an awesome contrast, drink your sweet wine with spicy food like Mexican, Indian, or Thai cuisine.

Dry

Dry wines tend to pair better with savory foods, like juicy red meats, pasta with red sauce, and cheesy items.

If you’re choosing a dry red, plan for steak, a loaded baked potato with plenty of cheese, and a chocolaty dessert.

On the other hand, if you like dry white wines, you can pair these with light or oily fish. They also go well with chicken.

Dessert

Dessert wines are extra sweet. These wines are typically much sweeter than even a sweet wine. Ice wine would fall into this category. You might even consider some extra sweet Rieslings to be dessert wines.

These wines are best saved until after meals, but they have their time and place during a meal, too. If you’re a fan of extra sweet wines, there’s nothing wrong with pulling it out before dessert.

You can combine these dessert wines with savory foods for a balanced pairing or you can pair sweet with sweet.

If you’d rather save your dessert for dessert, pour the wine over a slice of cake, a bowl of ice cream, or drink it on its own.

Wine Pairings by Cuisine

If you have a favorite type of food, or your party already has a theme, there’s always a wine to go with it! Some people care more about the food than they do the wine, and they’d rather start here. If that’s you, you’ve come to the right spot.

Great wines of all types come from many different cultures. Countries from around the world make both white and red wines, so if you haven’t gotten caught up in the rules by now, you really shouldn’t get caught up in them now.

Here are some general guidelines.

Italian

When thinking about Italian food, it’s likely that the first things that come to mind are pastas with red sauce. Spaghetti, ravioli, and lasagna are just a few. These pair very well with red wines. Think red sauce and red wine. Keep your colors together and you’ll be safe.

However, that’s not to say that Italians don’t love their white wines, too. White wines pair well with chicken parmesan, which is another traditional Italian dish. If you’d rather serve white wine with your Italian dinner, try cooking shrimp scampi or fettuccine alfredo.

German

It’s likely that you’ve heard of Riesling. It originated in Germany, and it’s one of the most well liked table wines today. You can pair this white wine, or any other, with a pork or lamb roast.

Another wonderful, albeit less known German white wine, is Gewurztraminer. If you like Riesling, you’ll like this one, too, and it’s a great option to serve with a German meal.

However, red wines also go great with German foods, like bratwurst or sauerkraut.

Steak

If you like steak (and who doesn’t?), you’ll want to pair your steak with a red wine. One of my personal favorites is a Cabernet Sauvignon. You may also want to try something a little more unique, like a Cabernet Franc, or Bordeaux.

If you’re not a fan of red wines, but you still want something to pair with your steak, just make sure you keep it dry. You can pair your steak with a dry white like a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, or something even more exclusive, like a Viognier.

Mexican

If you’re into Mexican spices, or anything else Hispanic, there are a couple of different wines you can try. If you like white wines, you can pair your savory Mexican cuisine with a dry red.

If you prefer to spice things up, choose a sweet white.

However, if you really want to dip your toes into the Hispanic culture, choose from one of the many fantastic wine options from the South American countries. Try a Malbec from Argentina, a Carmenere from Chile, or a Tannat from Uruguay.

Fish

If you’re serving fish, it really depends on what kind of fish you’re having. Light fish, like tilapia or cod work well with white wines, although you could pair them with a dry red, as long as the flavors of the red don’t overpower the fish.

If you’re having seafood, like shrimp scampi, crab, or lobster, you’ll also want to pair it with a white, but it can be either sweet or dry.

If you’re having oily fish, like salmon, it’s best paired with red wine.

Dessert

If you’d also like to serve wine with dessert, there are even wines for that! They’re extra sweet, so you can drink them by themselves, or you can pour them over ice cream or cake.

Ice wines are really great dessert wines, but you can also choose a sweet Riesling, something fruity, or anything else on the sweet spectrum.

Quick Tips

If you don’t want to mess with figuring out what’s what when it comes to pairing wines with food, here are some quick tips you can follow to get you the best pairing possible without all the fuss.

Follow these rules (or at least most of them, most of the time), and you will have a recipe for success and an excellent pairing that most people will like. If you’re new to wine pairings, you might even want to try a wine subscription like Firstleaf.

As you get familiar with wines, how they taste, and how they complement food choices, you’ll get more confident in your ability to make the right choices and break the rules.

1. The wine should be sweeter than the food.
2. The wine should be more acidic than the food.
3. The wine should share the same flavor intensity as the food.
4. White wines pair better with light meats like chicken and fish.
5. Red wines pair better with savory red meats.
6. Bitter red wines should be balanced with fat.
7. It is easier to match wine with sauce than with meat.
8. Red wines create complementary pairings.
9. White, Rose, and Sparkling wines create contrasting pairings.

FAQ

Here are some additional frequently asked questions that people often wonder about when it comes to pairing wine with food. It may help you learn more about your wine pairing options and what you might like best.

Final Thoughts

I have three basic tips for pairing wine with food.

• Do what feels (and tastes) right
• Learn as you go
• Break the rules

You don’t have to do what everyone else says you’re supposed to do. You only have to do what you think you’ll like. When it comes to wine, a lot of people get caught up in feeling fancy or the perception of the dish and the wine together.

None of that really matters. Just experiment with your wines and your food until you find what you like. One of my favorite places to get great wine online is Wine.com. The general idea is to have fun and you’ll be well on your way to finding the perfect combination.