I recently came across a new emagazine about wine called, The Anderson’s Grapevine. It was a article entitled ’6 common wine myths’. The sixth ‘myth’, in summary, tried to debunk the age old rule of, “drink red wine with meat and white wine with fish”. Not only did they give no factual evidence, their conclusion was actually not completely accurate!
The overall rule with wine is, drink what you like. Of course! But, there is actually scientific facts that show red wine does not pair well with some types of fish. Here is a brief explanation from Inside Science (source www.physorg.com),
Hmm. Red, Rose, or White?
The research, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that the small amounts of iron found in many red wines caused those who eat fish to have a strong, fishy aftertaste.
Researchers had wine tasters sample 36 red wines and 26 white wines while dining on scallops. The wines varied by country of origin, variety and vintage, but the samples that contained irons were consistently rated as having a fishy aftertaste.
When the scientists increased the amount of iron in a particular wine, the nastiness of the aftertaste increased. The reports of the bad aftertaste went away when a substance that binds to iron was added to the offending wines.
Fish were then soaked in high-iron wine and several compounds related to the “fish” taste increased measurably.
Source: Inside Science News Service, By Jim Dawson
Whether it’s a myth, scientific fact, or a golden rule, the issue is that food pairing is an incredibly intimidating issue that wine presents it’s consumers. Fear not fellow vino lovers! There are many tools out there that can help even the novice of wine drinkers pair wine with food. Just Google the phrase “wine with food chart”, and you’ll get countless results, some are better than others. My recommendation is to buy one that is in a chart form (pictures are a plus), is laminated (for klutzes like me), and in small enough to fit in a purse or jacket pocket. The one above is actually an example from Kendall Jackson Winery. On The Wine Merchants website, we offer a basic Wine and Food Pairing Guidelines.
As you can see from the above chart (get out your reader’s!), white wine goes well with lighter, more mild fish. To The Anderson’s defense, they were only making a short statement, basically stating that you should drink what you like. Rules are meant to be broken, right? Check out another great article on pairing fish with wine here.
If you are intimidated by wine and food pairings, or want to try something new, OR you just want the opinion from someone more educated in the field, Visit The Wine Merchant. Then, (either before or after) make sure to stop by the Hyde Park Fish Market next door for Cincinnati’s Freshest fish selection! You’ll get 10% off your bottle of wine if you go to the fish market first!
If you come across any other interesting scientific facts about wine, throw it our way! Maybe we’ll write about it! We’d love to here your comments!!
- Logan Wallace
