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Pairing Food & Wine

Illustration by Walter Pichler

While the core ingredient can determine the main taste component of a dish, often the smell and taste have more to do with the sauce or the jus, the marinade or the dressing, the herbs and the spices. What goes around, inside or on top of the dish can be way more important than the main ingredient when it comes to the decision of not only which type of wine to serve with the food – as in red, white, sparkling or dessert – but also which style in terms of the grape variety, the method of production, time in barrel, sweetness and acidity, etc.

Rich meaty dishes tend to go best with rich, full-bodied wines, and lightly flavoured dishes tend to go better with light-bodied, more delicate or ‘minerally’ wines – so that one doesn’t overwhelm the other. If there’s sweetness in the food, the wine should be sweeter. If there’s vinegar or citrus juice in the food, or if the dish has a bitterness about it, the wine should be sharpish, of above-average acidity. Whereas cheese and wine combos can be particularly challenging.

Nevertheless, what follows below are some of the basics, some of the classics:

Food & Wine

  • Artichokes and Sauvignon Blanc
  • Asparagus and Sauvignon Blanc
  • Beef and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc or Bordeaux-style red blends
  • Bobotie and fruity Pinotage, or off-dry Chenin
  • Bolognaise and full-bodied reds
  • Bordeaux-style red blends and most types of red meat
  • Butternut soup and Chardonnay
  • Buttery or Creamy sauces on fish, chicken or vegetables, with lightly-oaked Chardonnay
  • Cabernet Franc and spicy meat dishes, pork, veal, ham and quail
  • Cabernet Sauvignon and steaks, roasts, casseroles, stews, venison
  • Chardonnay and most types of fish, especially shellfish, also buttery/creamy dishes, Hollandaise, tripe
  • Charcuterie and Shiraz or other spicy wine
  • Cheeses – see separate recommendations and/but don’t pair with your best wines
  • Chenin Blanc and seafood, spring rolls and salads if medium-bodied, with chicken and spicy dishes if full-bodied
  • Chicken and Pinot Noir if roasted poultry, Shiraz if braaied, Chenin and Chardonnay to be safe
  • Chocolate (dark) and sweet dessert wine or Port
  • Colombar and light salads or fish
  • Crayfish and lightly-oaked Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc
  • Cumin and Coriander (e.g. with lamb) and spicy red (e.g. Shiraz)
  • Curry and Gewürztraminer or Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc
  • Foie gras and Noble Late Harvest or Straw Wine, or Riesling
  •  Game/venison and smoky Shiraz or fruity Pinotage – meaty game fish and medium-bodied reds, e.g. Pinot Noir, Pinotage
  • Gewürztraminer and smoked meats, curries, Thai
  • Ham & Melon with Viognier
  • Lamb and medium-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, or full-bodied Cab or Bordeaux-style red blends with rack of lamb, or Shiraz with lamb shanks
  • Merlot and cold meats, carpaccio
  • Noodle dishes (sweet-and-sour) and Riesling or Chenin
  • Oysters and sparkling wine, or crisp Sauvignon Blanc, or rich Chardonnay
  • Pinotage (full-bodied) with spare ribs, pepper steak, rich game fish and venison, BBQ sauce, oxtail, osso buco – or with boerewors and lamb if medium-bodied and fruity
  • Pinot Noir and light meals of salmon, tuna, duck, chicken, ham, veal, pasta
  • Pork and dry Rosé or Blanc de Noir, or Semillon
  • Port and nuts, fruit cake, chocolate
  • Relish and Shiraz
  • Riesling and pork, bobotie, smoked snoek, curries, Chinese food, foie gras, pâté
  • Rosé & Blanc de Noir (dry) and ham, pork, or if off-dry then with lightly-spiced food
  • Salads and Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin or Semillon
  • Sauvignon Blanc and oily/buttery food, various salads, most fish dishes
  • Semillon and flavoursome chicken, pork, Thai, salads, most seafood
  • Shellfish and Chardonnay or top Chenin
  • Shiraz and oxtail, goulash, bredies, venison
  •  Shrimps and light white or dry bubbly
  • Snoek and Pinotage, or Riesling with smoked snoek
  • Spare ribs and spicy Shiraz
  • Sparkling Brut and oysters, smoked salmon, shrimp, sushi
  • Steak and Cabernet Sauvignon, or Bordeaux-style red blends
  • Sushi and Sauvignon Blanc
  • Sweet Dessert Wine and foie gras, Malva pudding, brandy tart
  • Thai and Semillon, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chenin
  • Turkey and Chardonnay
  • Walnuts and dry Sherry

Cheese & Wine

  • Blue cheeses and sweet dessert wines or Port
  • Brie & Camembert are difficult to match with wine – can try a wooded Chardonnay
  • Chardonnay (lightly wooded) is the most versatile wine with a board of mixed cheeses
  • Cheddar (12 months or older) and Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux-style red blends, fruity Pinotage
  • Cream cheese and light, fruity Chenin
  • Feta and steely Sauvignon Blanc
  • Goat’s milk cheese and Sauvignon Blanc
  • Gouda and medium-bodied, fruity Pinotage
  • Gruyère and sweet dessert wine
  • Hard cheese and bold red or wooded Chardonnay
  • Noble Late Harvest and Roquefort
  • Pinotage (medium-bodied/fruity) and Cheddar or Gouda
  • Port and Stilton
  • Roquefort and Noble Late Harvest
  • Sauvignon Blanc and goat’s milk cheese
  •  Stilton and Port
  • Washed-rind cheese and Chardonnay