Food & Wine Pros | Are wine pairings getting too specific?

Food & Wine Pros

Are wine pairings getting too specific?

Having moaned for years how unhelpful it was for retailers and wine producers to put an incredibly vague ‘good with pasta’ or ‘good with chicken’ on their back labels I’m not sure the pendulum hasn’t swung too far in the other direction.

Some wine matches have got so absurdly specific that it’s hard to envisage the dish that's mentioned.

Marks & Spencer in particular seems to have gone overboard on its wine pairings: A recent selection of Spanish reds were recommended with ‘aubergine tagine and cardamom-infused pilaf” (Escondite Perfecto Mencia), grilled monkfish wrapped in jamon (La Sabrosita Garnacha Blanca) and monkfish with romesco (La Sabrosita Garnacha Tinto).

I remember a time not so very long ago when 70% of the British population didn’t know what pesto was. How many know about - or have even made romesco sauce (hands up - I haven’t)?

Some of the Eastern Mediterranean range also have very left-field pairings. A Turkish Sauvignon Blanc is recommended with 'baked sea bream with fennel and orange' though I suppose if you’re adventurous enough to buy a bottle of Turkish Sauvignon Blanc devising a dish of seabream with fennel and orange is not beyond you. And oysters Rockefeller (top right), not seen - let’s face - it on many menus, is one of the suggestions for a Slovenian Pinot Bianco.

Oddbins, too, while less specific has gone for some pretty off-the-wall pairings. Current recommendations include 'club sandwich' with a 2009 Alain Geoffroy Chablis (it would work but then so would so many other things people might be more inclined to eat with it), halloumi kebabs with Grange de Roc, an inexpensive blend of Grenache, Merlot and Cabernet (surely any kebab would do?) and an Australian Heartland Pinot Grigio with lemon meringue [pie?] which is frankly weird. King prawns in garlic with a Matahiwi Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2011 and slow roast shoulder of lamb with a 2005 Chateau Teyssier on the other hand are helpful suggestions to which I think most people could relate.

Personally I think pairings either need to refer to dishes or methods of preparation with which people are reasonably familiar such as chicken kiev or rare roast beef or, if more complicated, to a specific recipe which should also be given.

What do you reckon and have you come across any examples of off-the-wall pairings?

Photo © Trevor Allen - Fotolia.com

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Comments: 4 (Add)

toro toro on October 22 2019 at 19:44

I know this is old, but I stumbled across it. I remember being in M&S and having an epiphany about these "pairings": they're not actually trying to suggest a helpful match at all. Or, at least, that's quite a way down the list of things they're trying to do. Above all, they're trying to sell you the wine. They're trying to give you the sense that this is a wine for people who like exotic, on-trend, adventurous things; underrated world cuisines, travel to destinations none of your neighbours have gone to, luxury with a down-to-earth, "ethnic" vibe. They're selling you the wine by selling you on a lifestyle, an aspiration, a self-image; not by making helpful food-pairing suggestions.

Still, you shouldn't complain; it's the near uselessness of those descriptions that makes this website so invaluable! (disappointed to see that the Wine Soc have gone down this route a bit of late in their wwf tasting notes...)

GreatScot on August 15 2012 at 20:03

Let's look a second time at that M&S paragraph. Where have these dishes come from? Not out of thin air, I'd hazard. Are they, perhaps, the best matches from a palette of dishes, rustled up for a pairing exercise? And, one might ask, if not, why not? If these are this month's gold medal pairings, why not quote a URL with the food/wine match scores across the board? With a balance of same-region food and cross-cultural matches (that slow-roast shoulder of lamb, perhaps, makes its entrance against the Iberian specialities). Though no sign yet of matching Slovenian wines to dormouse, as far as I can see.

NJF on August 15 2012 at 17:19

I agree with what you have said in the last paragraph re. familiar dishes or methods of preparation.

I would go further and say the more information the better. I very much appreciate it when a lot of information is given, with general advice and a good number of specific examples included. For example this wine will match well all of the following: this type of meat cooked in this type of way, this type of cheese, this type of vegetable preparation, this type of snack or canape. A few specific examples and then potentially a few unobvious examples of what it won't work with. This makes it much more likely that you're going to make a match happen.

Obviously it has to be high quality information in the first place.

Very specific examples are pretty useless because you are unlikely to be cooking that specific dish or buy the bottle of wine because there's a chance you might cook it in the future. Most people choose food then wine afterwards.

Maybe some description of HOW the wine will interact with the food, eg. enhance versus contrast, would be good.

I love it when a wine matches a food but I don't experience it nearly as often as I would like! Keep it coming!

Victoria Daskal on August 15 2012 at 17:04

Interesting topic! I agree that some pairings seem too specific or purposefully kooky, but over all I think it's better to push people's boundaries than go with what they 'can relate to' or are 'reasonably familiar' with.

Part of the pleasure wine brings is allowing people to discover new regions, grapes, styles and cuisines. It opens our eyes! Today's romesco will be tomorrow's pesto!

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