A Sweet Pair

  One of the most intimidating phrases in the wine connoisseur's lexicon is "food pairing". This can be an overwhelming milestone for someone with a basic appreciation of wine. In many cases this is where people give up trying to learn the ways of the wine snob. Like most aspects of wine it is not as difficult as it may seem. The main thing to keep in mind is that there is no wine police that will call you out for something like drinking a red wine with pork or a white with lasagna. Wine is an intimate personal experience. The only opinion that matters is yours. With that said there is a method and some guidelines to finding a wine that will compliment your meal without overpowering or contradicting it. Don't think of these as strictly necessary. They are meant to assist not confine you.

Last night I celebrated my birthday which means, of course, burritos. I was thus left with the question of how to marry a heavy spicy burrito with the decadent rich strawberry cake that my girlfriend made for me. In order to find the right wine for the meal we can use some basic rules of thumb. If the question is red or white it's as simple as looking at the food. there are exceptions to this rule but in general dark red foods go with red wine and light white foods go with white wine. I know it complicated but you can do it. You might think since strawberry cake is red it pairs with a red wine, close but food coloring doesn't count and strawberries go great with white wine and especially champagne. In this case the robustness of the burrito necessitates a red and the particular cake was a Paula Deen recipe making it uncommonly rich.

All these things considered I went out looking for a red wine with a lighter body than I usually prefer and notes of berries, maybe even strawberries. What I found was a 2007 Moillard from Bourgogne. I choose a Bourgogne because this region in France is known for its light bodied Pinot Noir and often has fruity and berry notes. Sure enough this Pinot was very light bodied and sweet with notes of red cherry. It had fairly thick legs (an indicator of the amount of alcohol) which is uncharacteristic for such a light body. The only down side was a good amount of tannins more than likely due to the young age.  In all it went wonderfully with the meal without stealing the show.

You don't have to be an expert to find a great pairing. Just think about the characteristics of the food and try to find similar things in your wine. If your unsure or apprehensive of how to find certain components a little research never hurt but there's no substitute for some good old fashioned trial and error.