Most pairing advice comes down to four properties of the wine: acidity, tannin, body and sweetness. If you know these four for the bottle in front of you, you can judge a dish without a list of approved matches.
Acidity is the sharp, fresh taste in a wine, similar to the taste of lemon juice but much milder. It makes your mouth water. High-acidity wines include most dry whites, rosé and sparkling wine. Acidity works against oil, fat and salt, because it makes a rich bite feel lighter and cleans the mouth before the next bite.
Tannin is the drying, slightly rough feeling on your gums and tongue that you notice in many red wines. It comes mainly from grape skins and seeds, and from oak barrels. White and rosé wines usually have little or none. Tannin feels softer when you eat fat and protein with it, which is why a full-bodied red is usually matched with meat.
Body is how heavy the wine feels in your mouth. A light-bodied wine feels closer to water, and a full-bodied wine feels closer to cream. Body is not a measure of quality. It is a measure of weight, and the weight of the wine and the weight of the dish should be similar.
Most of the wines in Decant are dry, which means they contain little or no sugar that you can taste. Sparkling wine is the exception: some styles are dry to off-dry. A sweeter wine needs a dish that is at least as sweet, or it will taste thin and sharp next to the food.
| Style | Examples | Body | Tannin | Acidity | Sweetness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light red wine | Pinot Noir, Gamay, Barbera | light | low | medium-high | dry |
| Full-bodied red wine | Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo (Barolo), Syrah, Malbec | full | high | medium | dry |
| Dry white wine | Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chablis | light | none | high | dry |
| Rich white wine | Oaked Chardonnay, Viognier, White Rioja | full | none | medium | dry |
| Dry rosé wine | Provence rosé, Rosado, dry rosé generally | light | low | medium-high | dry |
| Sparkling wine | Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Crémant | light | none | high | dry to off-dry |
A light wine can be overpowered by a rich cream sauce, and a rich white wine can support it. In Decant, the rich white style is paired with dishes such as Creamy Mushroom Chicken and Pan-Seared Scallops with Brown Butter, which have the same buttery weight as the wine. A light dry white is paired with Ceviche with Lime and Chili, because a heavy, oaked wine would hide a dish that is built on lime juice.
Fried and salty food is easier to enjoy with a high-acidity wine. This is the reason Decant pairs sparkling wine with Fish and Chips, Crispy Fried Chicken and Potato Chips and Onion Dip. The bubbles and the acidity clean the mouth between bites.
A tannic red wine can taste hard and bitter with a light dish, such as a salad or plain fish. With a well-marbled steak or slow-cooked beef, the same wine tastes smoother. Decant pairs the full-bodied red style with Grilled Ribeye Steak with Rosemary Butter, Braised Beef Short Ribs and Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary for this reason.
A note on chilli heat. Many wine writers advise against very tannic wines with hot, spicy food, because heat can make tannin and alcohol feel stronger. A chilled wine with high acidity, such as a dry rosé, is a common choice for gentle spice. Decant pairs dry rosé with Spiced Grilled Shrimp Skewers, which has mild heat only.
These rules are starting points, not laws. The preparation of a dish can matter more than its main ingredient. Salmon with a herb salsa suits a dry rosé, while salmon cooked with lentils and vinegar suits a light red, as in Decant's list for that style. A sauce can change the weight of a dish, and an acid such as lemon or vinegar can change what the dish needs from the wine. When the rules disagree, trust what you taste.
Decant starts from the bottle instead of the dish. You choose the wine style that is closest to your bottle, you can tell the app which ingredients you already have, and it shows five dishes with full recipes. The six style guides explain each group in detail: light red wine, full-bodied red wine, dry white wine, rich white wine, dry rosé wine, sparkling wine.
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