Wine Rebellion: Throwing the Rules out the Window
During a recent discussion about wine and its cliché pairings (yes, cliché is meant with the same hint of snark I might use regarding over-used metaphors in writing) I found myself in a lively discussion with another veteran of the fine dining industry. The other party mentioned that at an upcoming springtime dinner with seafood the host must be clueless for talking about serving red wine.
Among your casual wine drinker, this probably wouldn’t have made much of an impression. But after several years working in the high-brow hospitality industry, this kind of sentiment is something I’ve heard more often than I’d like to admit. And the more I hear it, the more I want to challenge it.
Okay, for argument’s sake let’s say there are times a dish just pairs with a specific type of wine in a way that brings out the beauty in both. I understand this, and I believe this happens when the starfruits align.
But there is also the notion of “congruent pairing” and “complimentary pairing”. Do you know what this means? Wine can pair with something it shares lots of flavor notes with in the food if it’s congruent, similar to red and orange sitting next to each other on the color wheel. And yet, a wine can also pair well with something it has almost no similar flavors to in the food, hence the complimentary pairing, just like complimentary (opposite) sides of the same color wheel. The L.A. Lakers picked purple and yellow as their team colors, Christmas went with red and green. Opposites. Nothing like the other, and yet so iconic.
In other words, it’s all chaos. Pick what you like, and can we ease up on the hard rules about what wines go with this or that?
Back in my days of wine trainings, I once heard a fellow server attempt to state a “fact” to everyone that the only red wine that paired with chocolate was Pinot Noir. Firstly, who on Earth tried to make up this rule? Secondly, if you enjoy bitter chocolate with a buttery Chardonnay, who is anyone to tell you otherwise?
This whole idea that red wine goes with red meat and winter weather, while white wine must accompany seafood and hot weather is… dare I say this? Nonsense. It’s nonsense. It’s about as arbitrary as someone telling you apple juice is for summer, orange juice is for winter, and you’re not supposed to drink apple juice with heavy food in cold weather.
If you like it, you like it. If you want a heavy red with your halibut and you enjoy the full body of the drink in comparison to the lightness of the fish, then I urge you to pose this whole idea to anyone who mentions the “rules of pairing”. Ribeye-rosé-rebellion, anyone?
Among your casual wine drinker, this probably wouldn’t have made much of an impression. But after several years working in the high-brow hospitality industry, this kind of sentiment is something I’ve heard more often than I’d like to admit. And the more I hear it, the more I want to challenge it.
Okay, for argument’s sake let’s say there are times a dish just pairs with a specific type of wine in a way that brings out the beauty in both. I understand this, and I believe this happens when the starfruits align.
But there is also the notion of “congruent pairing” and “complimentary pairing”. Do you know what this means? Wine can pair with something it shares lots of flavor notes with in the food if it’s congruent, similar to red and orange sitting next to each other on the color wheel. And yet, a wine can also pair well with something it has almost no similar flavors to in the food, hence the complimentary pairing, just like complimentary (opposite) sides of the same color wheel. The L.A. Lakers picked purple and yellow as their team colors, Christmas went with red and green. Opposites. Nothing like the other, and yet so iconic.
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| It's not easy being green... when they tell you white wine pairs best with those legs of yours. |
In other words, it’s all chaos. Pick what you like, and can we ease up on the hard rules about what wines go with this or that?
Back in my days of wine trainings, I once heard a fellow server attempt to state a “fact” to everyone that the only red wine that paired with chocolate was Pinot Noir. Firstly, who on Earth tried to make up this rule? Secondly, if you enjoy bitter chocolate with a buttery Chardonnay, who is anyone to tell you otherwise?
This whole idea that red wine goes with red meat and winter weather, while white wine must accompany seafood and hot weather is… dare I say this? Nonsense. It’s nonsense. It’s about as arbitrary as someone telling you apple juice is for summer, orange juice is for winter, and you’re not supposed to drink apple juice with heavy food in cold weather.
If you like it, you like it. If you want a heavy red with your halibut and you enjoy the full body of the drink in comparison to the lightness of the fish, then I urge you to pose this whole idea to anyone who mentions the “rules of pairing”. Ribeye-rosé-rebellion, anyone?
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