Choosing Wine for your Wedding Reception

You have chosen the perfect location for your wedding reception, you love the views, the staff is extraordinary, the menu tasting went perfectly.  All that remains to be chosen is the wine your guests will enjoy throughout the night. Sounds easy enough right?  So you pick a few varieties of wine that you like.  A red and a white perhaps, and then you can call it good?  Not according to Food and Wine’s expert pairing advice from Ray Aisle (appropriate name, isn’t it?).

Ray writes “I find that in the vast majority of pairings, the wine and the food don’t affect each other much; they coexist peacefully, if unexcitingly. In a modest percentage of matches, the wine and the food accentuate the flavors in one another, and both taste better as a result; however, an equal percentage, I’d say, are the reverse…”

If you really face the prospect of choosing wine that will have an adverse effect on the flavor of the food you have painstakingly chosen, a modest percent of the time, then perhaps a bit more thought should go into the process.

I have complied a few pairing notes from kj.com and Food & Wine to help you determine the best course to take. Hopefully, this will help you when making your selections.   I might also suggest that you insist on tasting the wines you have chosen with the food you have chosen so as not to fall into that unsatisfactory pairing percentage.

Choose Similar Flavors
Similar food and wine flavors complement each other.
Example: Sole with lemon sauce and Sauvignon Blanc both have citrus flavors.

Choose Similar Weight and Texture
Similarly weighted food and wine complement each other. Food and wine can be light, medium or heavy-bodied.
Example: Lobster and Chardonnay are both medium-weight and rich so they complement each other.

Choose the Same Sweetness Level
Wine should be equal to or higher in sugar than the dish.
Example: Roasted pork with apple glaze pairs beautifully with Riesling.

Salt Needs Crispness
Crisp wines balance salty flavors.
Example: A crisp Sauvignon Blanc balances salty olives and feta cheese.

Pair with the Sauce
Pair the wine to the sauce served.
Example: Light citrus sauces pair with Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Example: Heavy cream and mushroom sauces are ideal with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Example: Red and meat sauces match Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah.

No Sauce? Pair with the Meat
Match wine to meat, fish or poultry when serving without a sauce.
Example: Pinot Noir tastes great with duck

Spicy Foods
Sweeter wines offer relief from spicy foods.
Example: Riesling pairs well with Asian cuisines.

Tannins Need Fat to Balance Out
Tannic wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon cut through the coating that fat leaves in the mouth.
Example: Cabernet pairs great with steak.

Look: Pair by Color
Nature has color-coded fruit and vegetables with the wine best suited to their flavors.