Food and Wine Pairing : A Sensory Experience

254 Chapter 11 Menu Planning: Horizontal and Vertical Pairing Decisions

Components Texture Flavors

No Match Refreshment Neutral Good Match Synergistic Match

Sweetness Match

No Yes

Acidity Match

No Yes

Salty Foods?

Bitter Foods?

Moderate to High

Effervescence?

No Yes

Yes

No Yes

Fattiness/Tannin Match or

Fattiness/Wine Acid Match

No

No

Overall Body

Yes

No

Spiciness Match or Food

Spicy/Wine Sweetness Match

Yes

Intensity Match

Persistency Match

Flavor Type Match

No Yes

No Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 11.3

Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree

match? Figure 11.4 provides a format for quantifying the wine and food associations based

on the relationships shown in the decision tree (Figure 11.3), the twelve matching rules

discussed in earlier chapters, and the visual profiles of the wine and food items developed

in the first two parts of the pairing instrument.

In the following examples, two wine and food pairing profiles are presented. These

items were selected from a five-course menu created by students in one of my previous wine

and food pairing classes. When the menu was prepared, the entire class tasted and evaluated

it, along with two wine and food experts. The match scores generated by the students using

the Wine and Food Pairing Instrument strongly correlated with the wine and food experts’

scores of perceived level of match. This finding provides support for this method of pre-

dicting match based on profiles and quantifying relationships.^6

The five-course menu and wine matches selected by the student groups are presented

in Figure 11.5. Under each menu and wine item description, there is a match score based

on the 0–10 scale shown in the Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree; it was calculated as

the average level of perceived match across fifteen participants. As you can see, the average

match scores ranged from a low of 3.5 (the cheese course) to a high of 9 (for the lamb

course).

Example 1 First, let us consider the pasta course. The food item was a combination

of smoked corn, grilled chicken, Alfredo sauce, and penne pasta. The wine was a New

Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Figure 11.6 provides a profile of the component, texture, and

flavor relationships for this dish and the wine.

Figure 11.7 provides a score following the Quantifying Wine and Food Profiles to

Predict Match Level sheet (Figure 11.4) using the Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree as

a guide.