Wine & Food Matching

This excerpt taken from Rob Geddes book, "A Good Nose & Great Legs". To purchase, visit any quality bookstore or for a signed copy by the author Rob Geddes, call the Capel Vale cellar door on (08) 9727 1986.

Classic simplicity

Another way of looking at wine and food matching is to cut through to an idea of classic simplicity, almost austerity. With this approach, you would choose the simplest preparation of food and the greatest bottle of wine and let them shine on each other. Some fantastic examples of this really working are:

• riesling and whiting
• sauvignon blanc and asparagus
• a decent steak and a bottle of shiraz
• a lump of hard, not too acidic, cheese and a bottle of Margaret River cabernet
• homemade, garlic rich aioli with cold, cooked prawns and white baguette, fresh from the bakery

Each of these is a pinnacle in the taste maps of the world, providing the palate with gorgeous, gleaming clarity of flavour. This is about quality and clarity of flavour and a really ideal match can be very simple: a great piece of meat or cheese and a great bottle of wine, keeping it absolutely clear that you choose the simplest food and the greatest bottle of wine and you let them both shine in their naked unadorned glory.

The key thing is simple, well-cooked food without complicated sauces made with quality ingredients that don’t confuse the flavours. Complexity of flavours in the dish rather a complexity of flavours all over the dish. The food supports the wine and it’s really simple; it just works time and time again because both the food and the wine is good. It’s seen as a modern version of 'if it grows there, it goes there', but taking into account the elements included within the food and wine rather than the region.

Wine and food matches without doubt are personal taste. However, there are some sensational partnerships that most will agree with:

• chicken or lobster with chardonnay
• oysters with sparkling wine
• rum-and-raisin flavoured old Australian fortifieds with good rich chocolaty, strongly flavoured foods - made in heaven.

Never believe that chocolate goes with cabernet and remember that champagne was perfected late by French standards, so it is relatively loveless in food matches.