Principle #2 All About the Body

Hi Wine Friends,

I’m writing this from 10,000 feet, on the way to New York City and some great meals. I’ll give you a full report on my favorite food and wine pairings of the trip when I return.

But for now, let’s continue our discussion on the art of pairing… Last week we dissected my first pairing principle (Pair to the Sauce First) and today we dive into the second: All About the Body. As a reminder, you can always review past discussions here on the blog.

As I said last week, the sauce is usually what jumps out as brightest and most prominent in a dish, and we want to make sure we find a wine that matches those intense flavors first and foremost. But once we narrow down the flavor profile of the wine we’re looking for, then we need to focus on matching the body of the wine to the body of the dish.

Using last week’s example - maybe we’re pairing to a red sauce. So we know we need a red wine with high acidity and red fruit flavors. But what’s next? Well, we need to look at what the sauce is on in order to narrow down our wine options… a red sauce served over a pasta versus a chicken versus a red meat are all going to ask for very different bodied wines.

 What is Body, Anyway?

When we talk about the body of a wine, we're referring to its weight and texture on the palate. This can be affected by a few things, including:

• Alcohol level: this is directly correlated to the ripeness of the grapes and therefore the climate they are grown in… hotter climates ripen grape sugars to higher levels and that translates into higher alcohol by volume. So as a general rule, warmer climates produce fuller bodied wines.
• Tannin level: this is native in the grape itself - some grapes (like Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon) have naturally higher levels of tannin, while others (like Pinot Noir or Trousseau) have naturally lower. Just a reminder that this factor won’t play a part in the body of white wines, since white wines do not macerate  on the skins and therefore do not have tannin!
• Oak aging: oak has its own natural tannin so, when wine ages in oak (especially new oak), it imbues the wine with more structure, which gives it a fuller body.
• Duration of maceration: maceration is the process of the juice of the grapes soaking on the skins (thereby receiving color, flavors and tannin). So while it matters how much tannin the grapes naturally have, it also matters how long the wine macerates. The same Pinot Noir grapes could produce very different -bodied wines depending on how long the juice macerates.

(You don’t need to understand all these factors to detect the body of a wine. But if you want to dive deeper into the anatomy of wine and learn how to detect things like tannin, alcohol and acidity, sign up for my course Seven Day Sommelier and we will have you tasting like a pro in no time!)

You may be wondering - okay, so that's the body of the wine, but how do I determine the body of the protein? And my answer is not the most scientific. I know there is a whole lot of biology and anatomy that goes into some meat having more ‘slow twitch’ muscle fiber and others having more nuanced protein chains, and if you understand that and it helps you, then great.

But for me, I just use simple descriptive words that my brain understands to describe whatever I'm eating.

For instance, I describe steak as dense and structured whereas I describe chicken as lighter and softer on my palate. I then apply those same, straightforward descriptors to the body of the wine to point me towards the right bottle.

A more dense and structured wine would be one with more tannin and a fuller body; whereas a lighter and softer wine would be one with lower tannin and a lighter body.

For a pasta that is creamy and rich, I look for a wine with the same descriptors… probably one that has gone through malolactic fermentation (which converts the tart malic acid into creamy lactic acid) and has aged on the lees (the yeast cells which emerge from fermentation and give the wine a rich, brioche-ey texture).

The importance of pairing the body of the wine to that of the dish lies in achieving a nice balance of harmony between plate and glass. If the wine is too light-bodied for a rich dish, it may get lost amidst the hearty flavors, failing to stand up to the intensity of the food. Conversely, a heavy-bodied wine paired with a delicate dish can overwhelm the food, masking the subtle nuances of flavor and texture. By considering the body of both wine and food, we ensure that each component enhances the other, resulting in an experience where food enhances the wine and the wine enhances the food.

Classic Protein Pairings

Here are a a few of my go-to pairings with specific protein groups. Keep in mind that you still want to consider your sauce or seasoning first and foremost. But, once that’s done, use these ideas to match the body of the protein to the body of the wine.

POULTRY + PORK (chicken, turkey, quail, duck, pork etc)

Light to medium bodied reds or fuller bodied whites. For reds, try Pinot Noir, Gamay, Merlot, Pinot Meunier, Trousseau and Barbera. For whites, look to Chardonnay, Aligote, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne.

Example: duck confit + Bourgogne Rouge (Pinot Noir from Burgundy)

RED MEAT (steak, lamb, venison, rabbit, wild boar etc)

Time for full-bodied reds! High-tannin reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc) will stand up to heavier meats (beef, lamb). Lighter meats (venison, rabbit) want something less tannic but still full in body (Malbec, Zinfandel, Grenache, Tempranillo). Look at Old World regions (Bordeaux, Rhone Valley, Tuscany, Rioja) for earthier styles, and New World regions (Washington, California, Australia, Argentina) for fruitier styles.

Example: grilled lamb shanks + Northern Rhone Syrah

SEAFOOD  

Whites with minerality, texture, and perhaps some salinity. Think of grapes that grow near oceans, like Spanish Albariño, French Muscadet, or Italian Vermentino. Other great seafood whites are: Chablis, Chenin Blanc (look for Vouvray, Savennieres or Anjou), Assyrtiko and Riesling

Example: fresh shucked oysters + Muscadet Sevre et Maine

 GREEN VEGGIES

Light, crisp whites with green notes (Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, Grüner Veltliner) to pair with stalkier vegetables or fruitier notes (Viognier, Albarino, Gewürtztraminer, Riesling) to pair with lighter spring veggies.

Example: grilled asparagus with lemon and herbs + Austrian Grüner Veltliner

Your homework is to put together a pairing based on the body of your dish and then to take a photo and tag us on social! @raiseaglasswine 

And make sure you sign up for my course Seven Day Sommelier to not only take your pairing skills to the next level, but also get exclusive access to my pairing masterclass on Saturday May 18th!