A Guide to Home Wine Cellar Food and Wine Pairing
Though wine is good by itself, it’s also the perfect accompaniment to a meal. If you’re planning on pairing wine with food, you may find a basic guideline useful. Following is a brief list of general rules in food and wine pairing.
- Match your wine to your meal. For example, if your meal is bold and flavorful, pick a wine that is as well. If you’re savoring dessert, a sweet wine is ideal. If you are serving a more complicated meal for the first time, have a variety of wines available to try, this way you will know exactly which wine to choose the next time the meal is served.
- Along with this, match the wine to the most prominent flavor in the meal. It may have a variety of flavors, but one is sure to stand out.
- Do the complete opposite of the first guideline! Too much of a good thing can be dull. If your meal is mild, spice it up a bit with a zesty wine. Either extreme can pay off greatly where the palate is concerned.
- Acidic wines go well with fatty meals, as they provide a refreshing palate cleanser and add some sharpness to the ensemble. To be specific, red wines are perfect.
- Conversely, creamy foods and acidic wine go horribly together. The sharp bite of the wine kills the flavor of the cream, so in this instance, a nice mild white wine that is slightly on the sweet side, such as a Riesling, would pair very well.
- Another bad combination is Asian food and wine in general. The two different kinds of sweet and sour tend to mix poorly. If wine is a must, however, a red wine with a similar sweetness and acidity to the flavor of the food you’ll be consuming will allow the Asian spices to come through.
- Mellow wines and tart foods are not usually a good combo, as the food can easily make the wine taste watery and dull in comparison.
- Keep in mind the age of the wine. The older it is the more gentle its flavor. Because of this, old wines pair best with food mellow enough to accentuate the wine’s delicate flavor. Alternately, young wine pairs best with foods flavorful enough to compete with its tart bite.
- Sometimes, foods and wines that come from the same region tend to blend well. For instance, an Italian wine with an Italian dinner. This is probably the simplest rule to follow.
- When wondering whether to pair wine with cheese… the answer is yes.
- Finally and most importantly, let your own personal taste have a much greater sway over your decisions than basic tips. Just about any wine can taste good with any meal, if the right person eats it. Feel free to experiment with flavor combinations to discover what suits you -it can be a lot of fun!
Installing a Wine Cellar with Wine Cellar Refrigeration Units Makes Pairing Easier
If you like to have wine with your meals pretty often, you could have a a ready-made wine cabinet installed right in your kitchen! It could be small enough to fit into one of your cabinets, or a real wine cellar big enough to take up the pantry -whatever fits your needs.
If you do choose to have a wine cellar made, be sure to put a big emphasis on proper wine cellar cooling. Look through wine cellar refrigeration units until you find one that fits your budget and size requirements. Los Angeles California Wine cellar refrigeration units ensure that your wine cellar is kept at the optimum temperature and humidity conditions.
Commercial wine racks are also very important, as they will be supporting your precious wines inside the wine cellar. You can purchase Bel Air California kit wine racks or get a custom wine rack, whichever you prefer.
The nice thing about going custom is that whatever you purchase will be specifically created to fit your wine cellar. This is especially important if you plan to have your cellar in a less typical place, like a closet or under the stairs. Wine racks that fit in such a small space can be hard to find unless they’re custom-made.
Once your kitchen wine cellar is finished, enjoy the convenience of walking just a few feet from the table, first to the fridge for your meal and second to the cellar to grab a choice wine. Then experiment with the two to your heart’s content!