WINE & FOOD
IN BALANCE
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.
FWEA’S PROGRESSIVE
FOOD MENU
We look at wine and food pairing a little differently
at FWEA, which is what the FWEA Progressive
Food Menu is all about.
But before we get into that it helps to understand
how wine and food is traditionally paired.
TRADITIONAL
FOOD & WINE PAIRING I
The first method is to try to copy the food and wine
pairings of a wine producing region such as pasta
marinara with Chianti, beef with Burgundy, lamb with
Bordeaux, oysters with Champagne, or smoked
salmon with Riesling.
These pairings can work but there is no explanation
why or how. The common answer, they grow
together so they go together still does not address
the how. When they do not work, you do not know
how to fix the dish. It is the “hit-or-miss” school of
wine and food pairing.
TRADITIONAL
FOOD & WINE PAIRING II
The second method is the “mirroring method,” which is to
mirror the color, flavors, and the so called “weight” of the wine
with the ingredients in the food.
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.
WINE & FOOD
IN BALANCE THEORY
To understand how to use the FWEA Progressive
Food Menu, we need to start with the basics which
are best explained with FWEA’s Wine & Food
in Balance.
Over the past 14 years, Jerry Comfort, Director of
Education at FWEA, has helped create and evolve
this unique approach to wine and food pairing by
exploring how wine and food interact on the palate.
CLASSIFYING WINE:
FWEA’S PROGRESSIVE WINE LIST
One of the biggest hurdles in wine and food pairing
is the vast selection of wines available to us today.
The variables are endless when you consider the
different grape varieties, countries, winemakers,
and wine styles.
However, wine can be “categorized” by focusing on
taste profile and style. In the simplest form of this
system, which we call FWEA’s Progressive Wine
List, we can place wines in one of five categories.
THE PROGRESSIVE WINE LIST
What is the The Progressive Wine List?
The Progressive Wine List is a communication tool. It
communicates a great deal about the wine and about
wine and food pairing.
• It is a Training tool
• It is a wine list management tool
• It is a Wine and Food pairing tool
THE FIVE CATEGORIES
OF WINE
Level 1: Off-dry to very sweet wines
(includes dessert wines)
Level 2: Dry light-intensity white wines, with little
or no oak (includes most sparkling wines)
Level 3: Dry white wines with oak barrel influence
Level 4: Light-intensity red wines without
much tannin
Level 5: Strong-intensity red wines with
medium-to-strong tannins
WINE CATEGORY
CHARACTERISTICS
Within each of these categories, there are several levels
corresponding to the intensity of the characteristics, such
as oak, tannin, sweetness, etc.
Keep in mind that even within a specific varietal a wine’s
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. FWEA’s
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.
FOOD & WINE REACTIVITY
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.
THE PROGRESSIVE FOOD MENU
Now that you have read about FWEA’s Progressive
Wine List and Wine & Food in Balance, we will apply
the same philosophy to determine the “taste profiles”
of completed dishes.
The Progressive Food Menu is divided into
categories of foods grouped by the same dominant
tastes. Included are specific examples of dishes from
each category and a list of recommended white and
red wines from The Progressive Wine List.
WINE & FOOD IN BALANCE
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.
CATEGORY # 1: SWEET, SPICY,
OR PROTEIN DOMINATED FOODS
Dishes that are sweet, spicy, or protein-dominant and
low in salt will make a wine’s texture stronger and all
wines will become more acidic or crisp.
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, Gewürztraminer, Chenin
Blanc, Viognier.
Low-tannin reds: dry Rosé, Nouveau, Beaujolais,
lighter Shiraz and Zinfandel.
CATEGORY #2: ACID & PROTEIN
DOMINANT FOOD
Dishes that are acid dominant will make a wine milder or
softer. The acidity in the dish will lower your perception of
the acid in the wine, which makes it taste milder and
sometimes more aromatic or fruity.
Since these foods are low in salt, the wines should not
have much oak influence or tannins. Crisp, light-intensity
wines (wines with little or no oak) will pair the best since
they tend to be relatively high in acidity.
Protein-dominant foods that are low in salt will also pair
well with these styles of wines. Bitterness, such as in
endive, arugula, or smoked foods, often bonds with the
bitterness in oak and tannins — so these crisp light
intensity wines will pair well with those foods too.
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 rosé,
Beaujolais, Pinot Noir
CATEGORY #3:
BALANCED FOODS
Dishes that are seasoned properly/balanced with salt will
develop more complex flavor in the food and will pair with
the widest variety of wines.
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 wine’s acid
balance as much.
Dishes with this balance between salt seasoning and
acidity will pair well with all wine categories.
CATEGORY #3: WINES
Strong-intensity, oaked whites, light to medium
intensity reds, and medium-to-strong intensity reds
pair well with balanced/properly seasoned foods:
Oaked whites: oaked Chardonnay, Viognier, Pinot
Blanc, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc
Lighter intensity reds: Rosé, Nouveau/Beaujolais,
Gamay, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Shiraz/Syrah,
Merlot, Zinfandel
Stronger intensity reds: Merlot, Sangiovese,
Shiraz/Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet
Sauvignon
CATEGORY #4: DESSERT
Desserts: these are an extreme extension of the
sweetness described in Category #1.
Virtually all desserts are sweet and low in salt. Even
lemon and rhubarb’s tartness is balanced by adding
more sugar.
A general rule of thumb is to serve dessert wines that
are sweeter than the dessert so the wine’s acidity will
not be pronounced.
CATEGORY #4: WINES
Sweet to very sweet wines pair best with
sweet desserts:
Wines: sweet Madeira, sweet Sherry, Port, lateharvest Riesling, Vin Santo, Sauternes, Tokaji
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
it’s sweet, sour, etc., and choose a wine that will taste
delicious with it.