How To PAIR RED WINE - Great Foods with 3 Different Styles of Wine

Questions about what foods to pair with red wine? In this video we're talking pairing principles as well as three different styles of red wines and what to pair with them. A few weeks ago I released our white wine pairing video which you should definitely check out. In it I talk four different types of white wines and some white wine pairing guidelines. But of course red wine pairings are the natural follow-up so as promised let's talk about it. Something worth noting in our full episodes of V is for Vino which you can find on our page we always end up pairing some dishes with wines in restaurants and it's a great way to put the theory we'll talk about in this video to practical use. You see your first step to pairing is understanding the principles and then we can go out and apply them in real world situations on actual dishes. So once you watch this head on over to our page and check out some of our full episodes. So in the white wine video I mentioned that white wines are easier to pair than red. I'm sorry red wine lovers but it's true. See white wines tend to have higher acid levels. Acid is the component in wine that makes it crisp and fresh and poppy. It cleanses your palate and works really well when pairing. And while red wines do have acidity it's usually much less than white wines. In addition red wines can be tough to pair because they can be overpowering. Their high alcohol fuller body and tannin levels can overwhelm delicate dishes. That being said it's not all doom and gloom. There are some incredible red wine pairings out there. We just need to be a bit more careful how we employ them. So before we get into our specific examples let's talk about some basic principles to follow in pairing in general but especially with red wines. The first is to match the weight of the dish with the weight of the wine. Now when I talk about the weight of a dish sauces and method of preparation are a big factor. Poached chicken is a light dish. Roast chicken with vegetables a medium dish and grilled barbecue chicken is a heavy dish. For wines how do you know the weight of the wine? Well you just kind of have to know from experience and wine knowledge. But the best indicator is the alcohol level. Red wines range from about 12 to 15 and a half percent alcohol and the lower the alcohol level is the lighter the wine. And you can always see the alcohol level right on the bottle because it has to be listed there by law. The second principle is to pair tannin and fat. Tannin is pretty much only found in red wines and is the factor in wine that dries your mouth out and makes your tongue feel like leather. There are certain grapes that are known for high tannins and these wines do great with fatty foods. We're going to get more into this later in the video. The third principle is to try and match or contrast flavors or textures of the wine with the flavors in the dish. A good example of matching is a savory peppery Syrah with a peppery smoked meat or a pork chop with a strawberry reduction sauce and a pinot noir that has strawberry flavors. A good example of contrasting is a tannic cabernet pairing with a fatty cut of steak like a ribeye. Those two elements tannin and fat come together to make something greater than the sum of their parts. Or another example is a light acidic wine that cuts through a rich fatty dish. Alright now that we've got some principles in place let's dive into a few styles of red wines and what types of food work best with them. By the way before we go any further do me a favor and give me a quick subscribe and a like on this video. One so the algorithm can help others find this video and two so you don't miss out on any of our upcoming videos we try and post weekly. Alright the first type of red wines are your light bodied reds. These are wines that typically have higher acid lower alcohol and lower tannin and they're by far the most versatile red wines when it comes to pairing. The most famous wine in this category pinot noir especially from cooler climate regions like Burgundy or Santa Barbara California or New Zealand. But other similar wines are Gamay which is the grape of Beaujolais, Frappato, Zweigelt, Sansol, Lambrusco, Blaufränkisch, Saint Grenache and Saint Laurent. It's important to note that these wines for them to be light in body they need to be from a cooler climate. There are some big rich styles of pinot noir coming from some places in California for instance. So when in doubt check your alcohol level. We're looking for about 13.5% or less. Because these wines are lighter they don't have big alcohol or tannins to stand in the way of food and the higher acidity means they do a good job cleansing the palate especially from fat. For pairing cheese soft cheeses like Brie aren't bad and nutty semi-hard cheeses like Gruyere and Comté are great. From a fish perspective hearty fatty fish are amazing. Grilled salmon is a classic pinot noir pairing. White proteins like pork and chicken are perfect. Think roast chicken or pork chops with a cherry sauce. But these wines are also really versatile and can go with red meat sometimes especially lean cuts like filet or lamb tenderloin. For vegetables think alliums so onions, french onion soup or leek tart. And mushrooms and earthy flavors mushroom risotto or pasta or roast mushrooms. And for my other category mildly spiced asian dishes like tomato based curry anything that's served with a berry based reduction sauce grilled or sauteed vegetables. Honestly as long as the dish isn't too delicate this style of wine is pretty great. We say something in the wine world which is that if you have a red burgundy and a white burgundy aka a good lean style of pinot noir and a good lean style of chardonnay you can pair almost every dish on the planet. And there's a reason pinot noir is a great and classic pairing with thanksgiving dinner. There's so many dishes on the table you need a higher acid versatile red to cut through all the heaviness and these wines do that really really well. Okay I know this section was long but that's because for the next two styles of wine they're going to be a bit shorter. As red wines get heavier they pair with less and less. Before we get into our next wine I want to give a quick shout out to our vino VIP members. For those of you who are new to the channel we have a membership club that you can sign up for and it's called vino VIP and as a member you get a whole bunch of benefits. You get early access to all our videos our episodes and our youtube videos virtual zoom hangouts members only videos monthly raffles access to our members only facebook group and a whole bunch more. Here's a few of our members who just joined in the last week and I wanted to give you guys a special shout out just to say thank you. So hello Terry Sunderman, Jeff Wong, Jose Romero, Rick Feinberg and all you other amazing people who joined recently and our existing members. We're so happy to have you and for those of you who are new here please consider joining and helping support us so we can continue to make videos for you. It starts at just five dollars a month and helps us out more than you know. All right the second style of wines are your medium bodied reds. These are wines that still have some good acidity but perhaps start to have a fuller body either due to the alcohol content or the tannin level. This includes Sangiovese which is the grape of Chianti, Red Bordeaux, Rioja, Cabernet Franc, Barbera, lighter style Nebbiolo, even rich Pinot Noir. A lot of red wines fall into this category. These are good cheese wines. Nutty cheeses still work but so do heavier cheeses like aged Cheddar and Gouda and salty hard cheeses like Parmesan and aged Manchego. For fish we're kind of running out of options. Tannin and fish don't play well together but I would say a red sauce seafood stew like Cioppino could work well. But what we lose in fish we gain in meat. These can go with heavier preparations of white meat like grilled barbecue chicken or spiced sausage either grilled or in pasta or pulled pork. These also are great burger and summer barbecue wines and from a vegetable perspective these are your tomato sauce wines, red sauce pasta and pizza, eggplant parmesan. Beans are great too like bean-based chili and mushrooms still work. And for my other category how about Korean barbecue and barbacoa tacos. And we've arrived at the last category our full-bodied red wines. These wines are a bit of a conundrum. They are super popular but they're also really hard to pair. Big rich wines simply overpower most dishes and we need to avoid spicy foods and fish because tannin clashes with those elements and these wines tend to have a lot of tannin. These are your classic California Cabernets, Australian Syrahs, Portuguese Reds, Petit Syrah, Big Zinfandels and Primitivo, Tenat, Petit Verdot, Aglianico, Pinotage, Malbec, Mouvedre, Big G.S. Emblems and Barolo and Barbaresco. For cheeses smoked and hard aged cheeses work. For fish I'd avoid it. But because of their tannin structure these are some great meat pairing wines. Remember tannin and fat work really well together. Fat makes tannin less astringent. It's why Cabernet Sauvignon and a big steak are such a classic pairing. Especially a fatty cut like a ribeye. But also gamey cuts like venison, boar, duck, moroccan lamb. Those intense flavors play well with these wines too. Any sort of hearty stew works well too. Beef stews, beef bourguignon, braises and roasts. For vegetables beans and mushrooms are still good. A good rule of thumb for these wines is to remember they really can only pair well with intense rich heavy dishes. And there you have it. Red wine pairings in a nutshell. To sum up quickly light red wines go with lighter dishes and white meats and earthy things. Medium reds go with tomato based dishes and barbecue. And full reds with heavy meats and stews. Obviously I'm just scratching the surface of available dishes. But hopefully between this video and the white wine pairing video you've got a good foundation to go out and try your own combinations. As I mentioned check out our full episodes on our page where we pair wines in restaurants so you can see some real life examples of how to employ this knowledge. Put your favorite pairings or any questions you have in the comments and we'll see you next time. Until next wine.