Tips for Choosing Wine for Your Meals at Home

These days, eating at home is preferable because of the ongoing global pandemic. Luckily, whipping up a special meal doesn’t come at much cost or effort if you take advantage of a few hacks. There’s no need to labor hours in the kitchen because there are plenty of time-saving services available. For instance, you can get specialty ingredients delivered to your home. Meal kit delivery services are another excellent option if you can’t be bothered to think of a recipe.

Over the years, meal kits have become more sophisticated. Even well-known lifestyle brands have curated the best recipes and the highest quality ingredients so that you can savor the best meals at home. Check over here for some ideas. What’s great about a delivery service like this is that it elevates your dining experience, while staying in the comfort of home. So, aside from meal delivery services, how else can you amp up at-home dinners? By choosing the perfect wine pairings, of course! Here are tips on how to select wines that best accompany your recipes.

The general rule of thumb in wine pairings

There are many wine categories to choose from, and it can get complicated if you’re not an expert. The simplest breakdown would be to choose red or white wine. It’s also essential to understand the grape variety used so that you’ll know specific characteristics that lend flavor to the end product. What you can do as a beginner is to do some research. Buy a few local wine varieties and start experimenting with food pairings.

Look for flavor similarities

One of the simplest methods of food and wine pairing is to look for a wine that has the same flavor characteristics as the food. For example, smoked or aged steak will pair well with an equally smoky wine such as an oak-aged Merlot. Fruity notes on wine, on the other hand, will go well with any food flavored with citrus.

Spicy food matches wines with low alcohol content

The alcohol content in wine tends to emphasize oil in food. If you love to eat spicy food, look for wine with lower alcohol fermentation. It will help accentuate the taste of the food, without highlighting much of the oiliness.

The best way to pair wine with meat

In most dishes, meat is the main focus of the recipe. It’s a well-regarded belief that meat dishes should always be accompanied by wine for best enjoyment. In general, any red meat will go well with a dry wine. Red wines such as Cabernet and Malbec are usually recommended for meat. But this is not a hard and fast rule because there are white wines that can also go well with red meat. For seafood and poultry, the easiest way to look for a wine pairing is to base it on the flavor of the sauce. If the sauce recipe calls for wine as one of the ingredients, using the same wine for cooking and drinking is the easiest solution.

While there are indeed culinary rules when it comes to food and wine pairings, you can learn more through experience. Don’t be afraid to experiment by applying these tips. In the end, it’s all a matter of personal taste.