James Rackham On..

The principles of dessert and wine pairing

We know what a triumph a great dessert can be and how exotic a delicious dessert wine is, but the real magic happens when the two are perfectly paired. To understand how to do this is to understand the three areas that affect our perception of food and wines; flavour, texture and other influences.

FLAVOUR
Professor Noble of Davis University, California, created a wine aroma "wheel" to define Flavours in wine (90% of perception of flavour derives from the aroma). The wheel comprises three concentric circles. The inner circle focuses on the core flavours (e.g. fruit, vegetative, nutty, spicy etc), about twelve in all. The middle circle defines further the core flavour (e.g. fruit citrus, berry tree fruit, tropical fruit, dried fruit). The Outer circle provides a final definition (e.g. citrus fruit grapefruit, lemon, orange etc).

By pinpointing wine flavours in this way, one can be guided into good food pairings. Matching flavours is the obvious route, e.g. in the case of desserts picking up a fruit flavour in the wine to match a fruit in the dessert, but it is more complicated than that. Matching flavour intensity, which can range from subtle and delicate to rich and powerful, is very important; hence delicate wines need pairing with delicately flavoured desserts.

TEXTURE
The second key consideration in food and wine pairing is the information your tongue sends to the brain when it encounters the sensations of sweet, sour, salty and bitter, together accounting for about 10% of flavour perception. These sensations are detected by various zones on the tongue; sweet at the tip, sour at the sides, salty in the middle and bitter at the base. An imbalance of food and wine texture can make an excellent wine taste terrible and vice versa. The other very important texture consideration is fat the way foods with a high fat contact coat the inside of the mouth and the interaction between fat and alcohol.

BASIC RULES
Sweet - the sweetness of the dish should always be lower or more subtle than that of the wine or the wine will taste thin and/or tart.
Sour - the impression of acidity in a dish (from fruit in a dessert for instance) should be lower than that in the wine or the wine will taste flat or dull.
Salt - not really an issue for desserts, but generally salt and acidity work well in opposition and salt in food counteracts the impression of bitterness in a wine.
Bitter - bitter foods like chocolate reduce the impression of bitterness from wine tannins. Fat - The high fat content of chocolate coats the mouth and reduces the sensation of alcohol, enabling a pairing with richer, more alcoholic (fortified) wines.

OTHER INFLUENCES
Colour - From the point of view of presentation, a chef can pick up on colour harmonics in the wine that will complement colours in his/her dessert. Colour intensity is also important. Young wines will tend to be more vibrant, older/aged wines softer and mellower. Temperature - Serving a wine too cold will mask its aroma (remember that aroma represents 90% of the perception of taste), while serving it too warm will bring out the sensation of alcohol.
Mood/Occasion - the sense of occasion will often influence your choice of wine. Push the boat out for those very special moments. Personal taste - is of course the final arbiter.