This may have happened to you.

You have dinner at a local fine dining restaurant where you have the most amazing wine you’ve ever had in your life. It was a wine you had never tried before, but your server told you it would go well with your meal and you decided to give it a go. The next day, you went to the store and bought a bottle or two to have at home. 

A week later, buzzing with excitement over what is going to be your “go to” wine for the rest of eternity, you sit down to dinner and pour yourself a nice big glass. You take a sip, and…

What? This wine doesn’t taste anything like the wine I had last weekend! What’s going on?

It’s a classic case of a bad food and wine pairing.

Why food and wine pairing is important

When every bite of your food makes your wine better, and every sip of your wine makes your food better, you have hit the pairing jackpot. Some of us in the fine dining industry seek this elusive experience like our lives depend on it because when it happens, it is magical. Not every pairing is this magnificent, of course, but knowing what wine goes well with the flavors in your meal is a vital part of the overall fine dining experience.

Just like a chef carefully selects the seasonings and sides that perfectly complement the main ingredient in a dish to provide the experience one comes to expect from a fine dining establishment, a sommelier (or a great server) will select the wine. Many people do not understand the elements that go into picking a wine, and they may think it is the wine or the food that is bad when they choose for themselves. But more often than not, it isn’t the food or the wine; it is the combination.

Want to learn more?

While there are books and online resources that can give you great tips, the best way to learn about proper food and wine pairings is through experience. Next time you have a chance to attend a wine tasting, take advantage of the food provided on the side. Take a sip of wine, follow it with a bite of food, and then another sip of wine. After that, try the same wine with a taste of another food. Experience how the flavors of the wine and the food change. Once you have done this a few times, you will begin to learn how to pair food and wine.

Are you still learning how to pair food and wine? At Piccola Italia in Manchester, NH, we know all about good food and wine. Stop by for dinner tonight and enjoy an authentic fine dining experience in NH!