Ashfield Wines
  & Fine Wine Accessories 

This site is dedicated to providing information on
matching fine wine with fine food and offering the opportunity to buy quality wine accessories from cork screws to the perfect glass. 

Matching Food with Wine. 

A considerable amount has been written about the choice of the correct wine with food and this generally leads to added pressure for the host of dinner parties. In essence you can drink your favourite wine with whatever food you want, but if you match the wine with the food correctly your taste buds enhance both the food and the wine to give you the perfect match.  

But fear not..... this site is designed to make it as easy as possible for you to make sure you offer the perfect wine with every meal, we will offer recommendations and make these wines available to you to purchase online. It couldn't be simpler!!!

Or read on for further advice and tips.....................

Wine drunk by itself tastes different than wine with food.
This is because wine acts on food in the same way as a spice does. The acids and tannins, along with natural sugars, provide a different taste sensation. 

There is such a thing as a safe bet and some combinations are
so good that they should be set in tablets of stone.  

Asparagus			Sauvignon Blanc
Christmas Pudding			Muscat de Beaumes de Venise
Consommé			Fino Sherry
Foie Gras			Alsace Pinot Gris
Shell Fish			Muscadet
Goat’s Cheese			Sancerre
Oysters			Champagne
Parma Ham & Melon			Pinot Grigio
Roast Beef			St Emilion
Roast Lamb			Red Bordeaux
Roast Pork			Beaujolais
Stilton Cheese			Port
Strawberries and cream			Sweet Vouvray

There are also some foods to avoid with wine, peanuts for instance will destroy wine flavours and olives are too piquant for most wines, they need Fino Sherry or Vermouth. Another great miss match is raw apple and red wine, the acidity in the apple makes the wine very bitter.
For most of the others there are some simple rules to follow to get the combination right. 

The basic principle in matching is to look for sweetness, acidity or bitterness in the food and serve wines that have the same characteristics. You’re unlikely to find saltiness in wine.

The following are examples of wines with those characteristics. 

Red Wines
Pinot Noir	High Acidity
Sangiovese	High Acidity
Gamay Noir	High Acidity
Cabernet Sauvignon	Bitterness
Cabernet Franc	Bitterness
Merlot	Bitterness
Zinfandel	Bitterness
Lambrusco	Sweetness
Port	Sweetness

  

White Wines
Sauvignon Blanc	High Acidity
Riesling	High Acidity
Muscadet	High Acidity
Champagne	High Acidity
German Wines (most)	Sweetness
Rieslings	Sweetness
Chenin Blanc	Sweetness

Matching can be further confused by the sauce that accompanies a dish, for instance:   

Chicken breast can match with virtually any wine including the very best bottles of dry/medium white and the finest old reds especially pinot noir. If you add a Curry or Cajun sauce to the chicken you then need a wine with a strong flavour, such as Gewurtztraminer or a Shiraz/Cabernet, to counteract the sauce. A light bodied wine will be merely overwhelmed.