Your intrepid liquor reporter is hopeful that the warmer days of spring have finally arrived, and that Mother Nature is not planning to cruelly unleash the final snowstorm of the season, just as your humble narrator is trying to enjoy a little patio-related boozing at the local watering hole.
One of the seasonal traditions your humble narrator tries to follow is pairing a refreshing white wine with spring salads, for a double dose of light and refreshing libations.
Salads are tricky to pair with wine, as the crisp flavours do not tend to go well with the full-bodied reds that are most popular in the Canadian wine market.
However, the lighter flavour profiles of white wines, particularly the more fruit-forward varieties can complement salad quite well.
Salad dressings tend to be quite acidic, which will make a wine taste dull and insipid on the palate, so practice moderation when pouring the dressing. Your intrepid liquor reporter prefers to place twin bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the table, and allow the guests to add their own dressing. This allows me to go easier on the vinegar, and a bit heavier on the olive oil, in order to pair better with wine.
When we talk about acidity in wine, we are really referring to the levels of tartaric and malic acid present in the wine, which provides the crisp flavours white wines are known for, usually as a prickly sensation on the sides of the tongue.
Tartaric acid naturally occurs in the vines, while malic acid is found naturally in nearly all fruits, including grapes.
If you have ever seen little black crystalline deposits at the bottom of a wine bottle, you are looking at tartrates that have precipitated out of solution during storage. These are unsightly in your glass, but do not affect the drinkability of the wine. You can avoid this problem by pouring the bottle into a filtered decanter, or just taking it slow when pouring the dregs from the bottom of the bottle.
The chemists in the audience will recall that acidity is measured using pH, with distilled water coming in at a pH level of 7. Most white wines have a pH level between 3 and 4, with lower numbers being more acidic.
A well-balanced wine has sufficient levels of residual sugars after the fermentation process to moderate the acidity level with sweetness, making for a more enjoyable tipple.
But enough of the science lesson – let’s get back to pairing our wines with salad!
Green salads tend to pair best with Reisling or Pinot Grigio, as the milder salad flavours are complemented by these crisp wines.
However, if you have a salad with kiwi slices, or maybe some highly acidic tomatoes, go with a more acidic wine like a Sauvignon Blanc.
For those who throw in fancy salad fixings like walnuts or roast garlic, a nice Beaujolais complements the flavours without being overpowered.
If ranch dressing is your idea of the perfect salad topping, you are faced with pairing wine with a creamy, rather than acidic flavour. Oaked Chardonnay matches this quite well, with the buttery finish provided by the oak barrel aging complementing the creamy flavour of the dressing.
More flavourful salads with blackened chicken or strip steak call for a more structured wine, so this is the perfect time to break out a rosé. The tannins in the rosé wine help cut the proteins in the meat, and the proteins keep the tannins from tasting overly bitter.
The balancing act of matching food and wine is an age-old dance, with each partner giving and taking around harmonious flavours. Done well, the food will make the wine taste better, and vice versa.
However, if the food is paired with an incompatible wine, both will suffer.
The winning combination is to match the acidity levels and flavour intensity of the food with a similarly robust wine. If the food is more acidic, it will make the wine taste drab and dull. Conversely, if the food is considerably less acidic than the wine, your palate will find the wine overly tart.
Your intrepid liquor reporter likes to have a few different white wines available at his backyard BBQ parties, especially if there are a few salad choices to be had. So don’t be shy – get out there and enjoy a white wine during the salad course of your next meal!
