• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

A.D.S. Wine News

All Daily Stories: News About Wines

  • Home
  • Wines
  • Making Wine
  • Vineyards
  • Wine Pairing
  • Wine Tasting
  • Wine Varieties
  • VIDEOS
  • About/Contact

Drinking While Eating is Not Food and Wine Pairing – Vinography

January 27, 2021 by ADSWineReporter

drinking-while-eating-is-not-food-and-wine-pairing-–-vinography

A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece entitled “Food and Wine Pairing is Junk Science” in which I attempted (some would say unsuccessfully) to argue the point that the so-called “rules” of wine and food pairing, and that the supposed “art” of making such combinations is a load of crap that actually makes wine harder for people to understand and appreciate.

In the weeks since, as is my usual habit, I have posted things on social media about what I’m eating and drinking. Several friends and followers have “pounced” on such posts with glee, exclaiming (some good-naturedly, some with just a whiff of spite) something along the lines of “SEE, so you DO believe in food and wine pairing.”

They’re missing the point, entirely.

Choosing a wine you want to share with your dining companions and drink with your dinner is one of the most natural and wonderful experiences afforded us as human beings, and something utterly fundamental. As far as I’m concerned, it’s practically why wine was invented in the first place.

But deciding what you want to drink with your meal is not the same thing as carefully matching a specific wine to an individual prepared dish of food with the idea that the wine plus the food will result in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This intention, and the supposed artistry and principles that underlie it are what produce the anxiety and hangups that infiltrate the average consumer’s understanding of what wine means.

Perhaps I should have said that I believe in merely combining wine and food, not matching them. We should all drink wine while we eat. We just shouldn’t worry about it, nor make it anything resembling an exercise of precision.

Choosing wine to go with a meal can easily have almost nothing to do with the food being served. Sometimes, for me at least, it’s simply about what I want to drink. The other night, I just wanted to drink Champagne. It didn’t matter to me in the slightest what I was going to be eating for dinner.

Of course, other times, what’s on the table does enter the picture, but not as a formula or an equation to be solved. It may sound like I’m headed towards the splitting of hairs here, but what I’m really getting to is the idea of intention.

If anything could be said to be the kernel of my rant it is this: deciding what to drink when you eat needs to be less about precision and more about pleasure. More about you and who you are eating with, and less about what someone else says is the right pairing or a set of principles about acidity and sweetness that you read in a book.

We should all have food and wine together. But we should be enjoying them, not pairing them.

Read my original rant.

Filed Under: Wine Pairing

Primary Sidebar

Editor Picks

The WORLD Of WINE – Wine News. Cheap Wine, Tasting Notes And Cooking With Wine

Home Videos The WORLD of WINE – Wine News. Cheap wine, tasting notes and cooking with wine The World of Wine – May 2021 … [Read More...] about The WORLD Of WINE – Wine News. Cheap Wine, Tasting Notes And Cooking With Wine

Visiting Napa Valley On A Budget

How to visit Napa Valley on a Budget. In this video Carson and I explain a few ways to enjoy Napa on the cheap. Tip and advice about how to visit Napa … [Read More...] about Visiting Napa Valley On A Budget

Get To Know Argentina Wine

Home Videos Get To Know Argentina Wine | Wine Folly If you love Malbec, Argentina is your ultimate wine region. But that’s not … [Read More...] about Get To Know Argentina Wine

Privacy Policy . Terms and Conditions
ADS WINE NEWS IS A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM, AN AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A MEANS FOR SITES TO EARN ADVERTISING FEES BY ADVERTISING AND LINKING TO AMAZON.COM.
Copyright © 2023 · ADS Wine News . Log in

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions