Food and Wine Pairing Basics (Start Here!)

Learn the fundamentals of food and wine pairing so you can build your own pairings with confidence. You’ll also learn what to look for in a recipe to make great wine matches.

A great pairing balances the dominant components of a dish with the structure of a wine.

As complex as pairing food and wine can be, the basics are simple to grasp.

Congruent Pairings vs Complementary Pairings

A complementary pairing creates balance by contrasting taste components.

A congruent pairing works by reinforcing shared flavors between the food and the wine.

The 6 Basic Tastes

Some sensory studies show that food may express over 20 taste sensations, from the basic (including sweet, sour, and fat) to the extreme (think spicy, umami, calcium, and electric). For practical pairing, you can focus on six key taste elements and how wine interacts with them. They are:

1. salt
2. acid
3. sweet
4. bitter
5. fat
6. spice (piquant)

Basic Taste Components in Wine

Wine typically expresses acidity, sweetness, and bitterness, but it rarely contains saltiness, fat, or spice. Broadly speaking, most wines emphasize one of three structural elements:

1. Red wines tend to have higher tannin (which contributes bitterness and structure).
2. White, rosé, and sparkling wines have more acidity.
3. Sweet wines have more sweetness.

Basic Taste Components in Food

Break a dish down into its dominant tastes. For example, baked macaroni has two primary components: fat and salt. Southern barbecue is more complex and includes fat, salt, sweet, and spice (plus a little acid). Meatless dishes work the same way. For example, a green salad offers acidity and bitterness, while creamed corn offers fattiness and sweetness.

Consider the Intensity

Food: Is the food super light or super rich? A salad may seem lighter, but perhaps the dressing is a high-acidity balsamic vinaigrette. If the dish’s intensity isn’t obvious at first, focus on the intensity of each taste component (acidity, fat, sweetness, etc).

Wine: Is the wine light or bold? For example:

• Sauvignon Blanc is light-bodied, but it has higher acidity.
• Chardonnay has more body but is usually not too acidic.
• Pinot Noir is lighter-bodied (for a red wine), and it doesn’t have too much tannin (bitterness).
• Cabernet Sauvignon is more full-bodied and has high tannin (more bitterness).

Try these 8 Common Wines and Their Taste Profiles

Find Complementary or Congruent Pairings

Now that you’ve identified the basic taste components in your dish, you can start exploring pairing options. The simple example of baked macaroni will offer up several possible pairings:

Complementary Pairing Example: A white wine with high acidity will complement the fat in the macaroni. So, for example, a traditional mac and cheese recipe with a creamy béchamel sauce, paired with zesty white wines such as Pinot Grigio, Assyrtiko, or Sauvignon Blanc, would create a complementary pairing.

Congruent Pairing Example: A white wine with creaminess will add to the dish’s creaminess. So, for example, a traditional mac and cheese recipe with a creamy béchamel sauce matched with a creamy white wine such as Viognier or Chardonnay would create a congruent pairing.

Getting Creative

Once you balance the major taste components of the wine and dish, you can get creative by pairing the more subtle flavors. Here are some examples using variants of mac and cheese:

BOLD RED WINE: This pairing works by balancing tannin in the wine with salt and fat in the dish. Once the structure is balanced, the remaining flavors can align. So, for example, if your baked macaroni has smoked Gouda in it, you might choose a Syrah which also has smokiness in it (on the finish). Shared smoky flavors create a congruent pairing, while the tannin in the wine creates a complementary pairing with the fat in the dish.

SWEET WHITE WINE: This pairing highlights the dish’s sweet and salty flavors. For example, mac and cheese with ham would match well with a zesty white wine with some sweetness, like Riesling. The acidity would create a complementary pairing with the fat, and the wine’s sweetness echoes the sweetness in the ham.