Pairing Wine & Food Is As Delicate As It Is Important.

A prism like affair...

Wine tasting brings so many different emotions to a oenophile, ranging from euphoria via excitement to dread. Attending a wine tasting is akin to a treasure hunt. There is nothing better than discovering a sip of wine that makes your toes curl with pleasure and your eyes to roll back in their sockets.

Even in the humble quarters of your home, drinking a nice glass of wine deserves a good accompaniment. Anything processed such as crisps ( yikes ) should be forbidden with wine. It takes a few neutralizing fresh vegetables to get your taste buds back from the edge of insanity.

You know, I prefer to drink my wine before a meal. A sort of sun-downer and reflector of life without the hindrance of eating...Of course I do need a bit of finger food along the way and that can prove rather tricky. The French seem to have a love of pairing brie with red wine. Not for me, as it turns the taste of red into a sweet red wine...far from nice.

Wines need to be savoured and enjoyed if for nothing else then to honour the huge amount of manual labour that went into producing your glass of wine. Spoiling its taste with a wrong choice of food is sad and a touch criminal...

Back to the wine tasting affairs, which let's face it, are a sales pitch from the various wine estates and vintners. Even the best of wines get distorted when accompanied by maybe a spicy curry, a hot dog and ketchup, or a fried something with a salad tending to be too vinegary in dressing.

If I was a wine maker I would showcase my wines at a public tasting with a band of minions at my side. They would be in charge of observing the drinkers of my wine and taking any morsel of food out of their hands that might make my wine less than optimal in taste.

Wine tastings should only be supported by neutral, palate cleansing foods and by plenty of still water. Please don't stunt a wine's character and individuality by forcing it to lubricate a poor choice of food.

Biggi