INTRODUCTION
This module is all about FWEA's food and wine pairing philosophy. You will learn to recognize how food changes the way wine tastes. Using the FWEA Progressive Food Menu as a tool, you will also learn how the dominant taste in food (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the protein taste umami) will change all wines the same way. Finally, you will be able to confidently recognize the dominant taste in a dish, whether it is sweet, sour, etc., and choose a wine that will taste delicious with it.
MODULE OBJECTIVES
In this module you will learn: How food and wine pairing has traditionally been based on two primary ideas. On the pages that follow, you will learn to recognize how food changes the way wine tastes. How to use the FWEA Progressive Food Menu as a tool, and how the dominant taste in food (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the protein taste umami) will change all wines the same way. To recognize the dominant taste in a dish, whether it is sweet, sour, etc., and choose a wine that will taste delicious with it.
In its simplest form, this is color coding; the white-wine-with-fish and red-wine-with-meat mentality. We often complicate it much further trying to match aromas or flavors in the wine with similar characteristics in food (berries, brown spices, etc.). These may sound good together, look good together, and smell good together but what happens when they do not taste good together? You are stuck again.
In the end, both these traditional methods do not always work and they are certainly not tools.
Keep in mind that even within a specific varietal a wines profile can be very different. For example, a Sauvignon Blanc can be sweet, dry with little or no oak, or dry with oak flavors.
The Progressive Wine List has 5 different levels which are applied to the 4 numbered categories of food styles. For example, food category #4 is desserts which pair with Level 1 wines (off-dry to very sweet).
CLASSIFYING FOOD
To understand how wine interacts with food, we need to look at the food in terms of the simple elements of taste. Any specific dish will contain one or more of the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein/umami.* These dominant tastes in the food will have a profound effect on the taste of the wine. FWEAs Wine and Food in Balance theory explains the result of these reactions.
WHAT IS UMAMI?
You may not have heard of Umami, the fifth taste. Do not feel alone many people have not. Umami, which translates as deliciousness in Japanese, was discovered and isolated in 1908 by Japanese food specialist Kikunae Ikeda. Umami is actually glutamic acid (a protein), the most common amino acid. Umami makes food taste savory and the purest form of umami is MSG. Shitake mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes also have very high levels of umami. In 1997 researchers at the University of Miami isolated taste buds that are receptive to umami.
Umami is a very important element in food and wine pairing because it creates a noticeable reaction in wine.
Sweet and protein/umami dominated foods reduce wine aromas and make wine textures (acidity, bitterness, astringency and tannins) stronger. Sour and salt dominated foods make wine textures milder (richer, smoother, sweeter) and can accentuate aromas.
In the following pages you will also find the FWEA Progressive Wine List applied to the four categories of foods grouped by their dominant tastes.
In each category the dominant taste is defined followed by a description of how these tastes react with wine. Finally, there is a recommended style or category of wine that pairs best with these types of foods.
In addition, if the wine has been in oak barrels it will become more bitter. And red wines will also become more tannic. The recommended styles of wines for these dishes are off-dry and light styles of wines because they have no oak or tannins that would become more bitter. And their fruitiness or sweetness buffers the rise in acidity.
CATEGORY # 1: WINES
Off-dry or fruity white wines and low-tannin wines pair well with sweet, spicy or protein dominant (umami) foods:
Off-dry or fruity whites: off-dry Sparkling Wine, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Gewrztraminer, Chenin Blanc, Viognier. Low-tannin reds: dry Ros, Nouveau, Beaujolais, lighter Shiraz and Zinfandel.
CATEGORY # 2: WINE
Crisp, light-intensity wines pair well with acid and protein dominant foods. Wines: Sparkling Wine/Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, un-oaked Chardonnay, Semillon, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, dry ros, Beaujolais, Pinot Noir
If a dish is high in sweetness and/or protein (umami), the addition of some acidity is quite common in many cuisines (think of tomato sauces with wine or vinegar, or adding lemon juice to seafood). Besides enhancing the flavor, the acidity also balances the dish so that it does not react with the wines acid balance as much.
Dishes with this balance between salt seasoning and acidity will pair well with all wine categories.
Oaked whites: oaked Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot Blanc, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc
Lighter intensity reds: Ros, Nouveau/Beaujolais, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Shiraz/Syrah, Merlot, Zinfandel Stronger intensity reds: Merlot, Sangiovese, Shiraz/Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
REVIEW
You should now have a good understanding of: How food and wine pairing has traditionally been based on two primary ideas. The FWEA Progressive Food Menu as a tool, and how the dominant taste in food (sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the protein taste umami) will change all wines the same way. Recognizing the dominant taste in a dish, whether its sweet, sour, etc., and choose a wine that will taste delicious with it.