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The Food-and-Wine Taste Pyramid presented in Chapter 1 illustrates that food-and-wine elements can be thought

of in terms of a hierarchy of taste, from components to texture to flavors. A synthesis of the literature and my

own research indicate that the primary sensory components (sweetness, saltiness, sourness, and bitterness) will

have a big impact on food-and-wine relationships.

To begin the task of developing skills in identifying the key element(s) in food or wine that will directly impact

matching, whether based on contrasts or similarities, Part B focuses on the primary taste components of wine

and food. The following two sections of this book (Parts C and D) address the other two categories of food-

and-wine elements: texture and flavor. This step-by-step format allows you to study each of the direct effects

of components, texture, and flavor in a hierarchical fashion.

This process will provide you with a foundation of knowledge that can be used to sort out the direct effects of

elements from their interaction with other elements of a food or wine. After completing the next two chapters,

you should be able to identify the direct impact of wine acidity and the interaction of acidity, sweetness, and

bitterness in wine. For food-and-wine pairing, you will be able to predict the interaction of wine sweetness,

acidity, and effervescence with food sweetness, acidity, bitterness, and saltiness. This type of knowledge will

greatly improve your ability to predict exceptional food-and-wine pairings.

Primary Taste Components

Primary taste components are defined as basic elements that correspond to the tongue’s basic sensory ability.

Food-and-wine components are foundational elements that have a strong influence on the pleasant feeling of

complementary or contrasting characteristics that a positive gastronomic experience provides.

Wine has three primary sensory components: sweetness, acidity (sometimes called crispness), and effervescence.

These form the foundation of a match with the primary sensory components in food: sweetness, sourness,

saltiness, and bitterness.

This book includes two sensory anchor scales, one for wine and one for food. They use a 0-to-10 scale and

include sample wines and foods for component and texture and descriptions for flavor elements.

The Food Sensory Anchor Scale (Figure B.1) is divided into three main sections (components, texture, and

flavor) with a total of nine elements (sweetness, acidity, saltiness, bitterness, fattiness, overall body, spiciness,

flavor intensity, and flavor persistency).

The Wine Sensory Anchor Scale (Figure B.2) is also divided into three main sections, but with a slightly

different set of nine elements (dryness to sweetness, acidity, effervescence, tannin, alcohol level, overall body,

spiciness, flavor intensity, and flavor persistency).

These references will be incorporated into the exercises throughout the following chapters.

The next two chapters focus on the components of food and wine, with exercises incorporating the wine and

food examples shown in the anchor scales. Once these references are developed in your sensory memory bank,

they will be valuable tools to increase the consistency of your wine and food rating across product and across

time.

A word of caution: the reference items listed in the Sensory Anchor Scales are intended to provide relatively

accurate examples of levels for each of the components, texture, and flavor elements. Many of these items are

very consistent. For example, the sweetness references for food use prepackaged food items that vary little if