Choosing the right wine can be the difference between a good meal and a perfect one. However, there are important rules you have to follow when pairing wine with food. If you’re looking for the best wine to go with your seafood dinner, here are some tips for finding the perfect pairing.
General Pairing Tips
To effectively pair wines with food, you need to understand how wine pairing works. The goal of wine pairing is to find one that complements the meal. This means your wine shouldn’t have the same attributes as the meal but should accentuate them.
In general, heavier red wines go with heavier dishes like red meats and pasta. That’s because the flavor profile of these wines is similar to the red meat and thus makes a good complement. When you’re going with lighter meats like chicken, you’ll want to pair a white wine.
What Wine Goes with Seafood?
So which wines go with seafood? A good starting point is a chardonnay. Chardonnay is somewhat heavy but has a nice fruity flavor that perfectly complements fish. You can even find many chardonnays with strong citrus notes, which is one of the most popular flavors to add to fish. If you find the chardonnay is too light and you’d like something a bit more full-bodied, you can go with something else.
Pinot noir is also a good option with many types of fish, although it depends on how you cook your fish. If you’re having shellfish or salmon, a glass of red wine is going to bring out the flavors in the seafood a little bit more than a chardonnay would.
If you’re feeling truly adventurous, you can try other wines. Ultimately, we can’t tell you which your fish will pair with unless we know how you’re cooking it. Different methods of preparation give the fish different flavors, which means you can pair it with a different choice.
This may seem like a lot to take in all at once, but it’s not that complicated. However, if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this and just want great seafood and wine pairing, come on down to Loukinens’ on 4th in Springfield, IL for a world-class meal.
