Dining with Wine

Taste of wine and food pairing usually has more to do with the seasoning in the food
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Balancing Wine and Food Pairings 
Food changes how wine taste. When you pick a wine because you like how it tastes -- because it is fruity or sweet, medium-bodied, or concentrated and tannic, or anywhere in-between -- it will change once you pair it with food.   If you still like the way a wine tastes once you pair it with food, you have achieved a good balanced pairing ------ the wine 'goes well' with that food!

Foods that Makes Wine Milder,
Less Dry (Sweeter),
Fruiter, Less Bitter, Tannic

Foods that Makes Wine Stronger
Drier (Less Sweet),
Less Fruity, More Acidic, More Bitter & Tannic

Salty Taste in Food

Salt, soy sauce, fish sauce, olives

Sour Taste in Food


Vinegar, lime, lemon

Sweet Taste in Food


Sugar, most fruit, fruit juices, honey

Savory Taste in Food


Tomatoes, onions, green vegetables ham, bacon

How It Works . . . .
The key is to balance the taste of the food you are eating. Taste is comprised of five primary senses detected on the palate. They are salt, sour, sweet, bitter, and "umami"-a Japanese word describing a savory essence. All foods exhibit one or more of these components. When one taste is prominent it will influence the taste of the wine.
Foods that are predominantly sweet or savory, such as seafood or sushi, will make wines taste drier, less fruity, more acidic, bitter, and tannic.  Foods that display a prominent salty or acid taste, such as capers and tomatoes, will make wines seem milder, more fruity, less dry, tannic, and bitter.
To counteract these and other effects, the food must be brought into balance.   For instance, foods with prominently sweet or savory profiles can be brought into balance with the addition of salt or acid (lemon juice, mustard or vinegar).   Likewise, foods that may be too salty or acidic can be balanced with the addition  of a sweet ingredient (sugar, honey, etc.)

Salt
As foods become more salty, their own flavors tend to increase and neutralize bitter (strong taste) and sour tastes of the wine tasted after  salty foods. Saltiness in the food creates an impression of less bitterness in the wine.
A note about Spicy seasonings: Spicy food will exaggerate the tannin and bitterness of a wine. Salt and sour additions to the food will counteract this effect on the wine.
For instance, squeezing lime over hot enchiladas makes for a more wine friendly dish.

Sour
Sour foods with high amounts of acidity will decrease our perception of sourness in the wine, making the wine taste richer and more mellow. Natural acids impart tartness or sourness of food or wine. Most wines that have sweetness, such as White Zinfandel and many Rieslings, also have a very high acidity to keep the wine from tasting flat or cloying. If a food reacts in a way that suppresses the sourness of such wines, they will taste very sweet in comparison.
Dry wines tend to taste more acidic because they do not have the sweetness balancing and covering the sour taste. White wines tend to be higher in acidity than red wines.

Sweetness
Sweetness in food will increase the perception of sourness, bitterness and astringency in the wine, making the wine seem less sweet (drier), less fruity and stronger. Sometimes we do not really  think of certain types of sauces or foods as "sweet" when in actuality they are, such as teriyaki, cocktail sauce and other tomato sauces. Often vegetables and certainly fruits can add a degree of sweetness to a dish and must be considered when making a wine selection.

Savory
Savory (umami) taste in food will increase the perception of bitterness in wine.  Savory, or umami in Japanese, has gained acceptance by food scientists as a fifth taste, separate from the tastes sweet, sour (acid), salty and bitter. The prototype for savory taste is found naturally occurring in almost all food to some degree.

Bitterness
Bitterness is often confused with astringency and is similar to astringency  in its interaction with food.  A bitter taste is commonly found in some green vegetables (endive, arugula, radicchio) and herbs, many spices, some fruits, or food charred during the cooking process. Bitterness is extracted from many foods during cooking, especially at high temperatures.  This also occurs when you boil tea instead of gently steeping it.
Food with bitter components seems to increase the bitterness of a wine served with it.
CAUTION: Make sure that the herbal-smelling Sauvignon Blanc, chosen to serve with the dish with lots of fresh herbs, does not push the bitterness of the wine over the top.

Astringency
There are tactile sensations, such as astringency, imparted by wine and food, which can react in combination. Astringency (mostly from tannins in wine, fruit such as a persimmon, and vegetables)  is the most prevalent of these sensations.  These sensations of touch are important along with taste  in determining the basic reaction potential between different wine and food combinations and were once thought to actually be a sensation of taste.
The "tannic" taste of a wine is actually a sense of touch and not of taste. Tannins coagulate proteins in your mouth and create a puckering or drying sensation known as astringency. Consumers who think that this sensation is what is meant by a "dry wine" very often misinterpret this sensation. A "dry" wine is simply not sweet.
Astringency in wine is accentuated by food that is sweet or "hot" (spicy) and is suppressed by foods that are acidic, salty, fatty.
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