Learn About Food & Wine Pairings: Red Wine vs White Wine and What Dishes Are Best with It
Food and wine pairing is an art best learned with practice. Though, it never hurts to have foundational information beforehand. Whether red, white, or rose, each wine carries its own body, acidity, and tannin structure. This means each flatters an entirely different set of dishes. Our guide explores how each type of wine interacts with flavour, texture, and temperature of different ingredients and dishes, so that you can enjoy your next meal to the fullest extent. Whether you’re planning a grilled seafood dinner by the sea or a perfectly-cooked medium rare steak at a Michelin restaurant, knowing which wine belongs with which dish transforms a good meal into a memorable one.
Red Wine vs White Wine: How Is It Different?
All wines can be described as light, medium, and full-bodied. Whether a red wine or a white wine, there is no exception. Wineries can produce light-bodied red wines that feel bright or full-bodied white wines with deep flavours. The beauty of wine is that there exists a wide range of flavour profiles, which means wine pairing combinations are endless.
Red Wine
Red wine is a type of alcoholic beverage made using dark-skinned grapes. The deep red colour and dry mouth-feel from this wine comes from fermenting the grape juice with its skins intact. This allows the natural pigmentation and tannins of the fruit’s skin to create red wine’s signature flavour. Red wines tend to feature more dark fruit notes, spices, and be tannin-forward. It’s generally bolder and more structured in taste.
Food & Red Wine Pairings
The best tip for food and red wine pairings is to match the body of the wine with the dish. A light-bodied red goes best with lighter dishes like salmon, charcuterie, Shepard’s Pie, or mushrooms. A full-bodied red is perfectly complemented with a perfectly-seared ribeye steak, gamey lamb, barbecued meats, or heavily-spiced stews and proteins. Red wines that are tannin-heavy are best enjoyed with foods that are fat and protein-rich because tannins love fat and protein. When combined together, the fats will soften the tannins and make the drinking experience smoother. As red wines tend to have spiced or chocolate-leaning notes, they also pair well with dark chocolate or aged red cheeses.
White Wine
Unlike red wine, white wine is an alcoholic beverage made using grapes without skins. The grapes are pressed for its juices and immediately go into fermentation without their skins and seeds. White wines are usually fermented in stainless steel tanks for a crisp and fruity flavour profile. However, it can also be aged in oak barrels to develop a more creamy and buttery taste. White wines are usually made distinct by having a zesty and acidic flavour profile with fruity or floral aromas.
Food & White Wine Pairings
Due to white wine’s bright and tart-leaning flavours, it’s highly recommended that white wine pairings go with seafood or fresh salads and raw dishes. A steel-aged crisp white wine goes great with steamed clams, mussels, oysters, crabs, ceviche, calamari, grilled fish, or fried prawn tempura. The acidity helps balance the flavours and cut through the brine or oil. An oak-aged white wine pairs best with light-colored meats or cream-based dishes. You can pair it with dishes that have a butter sauce, roasted or grilled chicken, pastas with a cream sauce, proteins served with a cream sauce, creamy soups like chowder or a bisque, eggs benedict with its velvety hollandaise sauce, squash or pumpkin, or a rich and creamy cheeses like brie, goat cheese, feta, or even blue cheese.
Enjoy Delectable Food & Wine Pairings at Our Luxury Pattaya Hotel
At our award-winning 5-star hotel in Pattaya, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to wine. Our one-of-a-kind underground wine cavern, located beneath the Royal Grill Room & Wine Cellar, houses an extensive collection of Old-World and New-World wines. These wines can be paired with a variety of dishes at our steak house in Pattaya or our all-day dining establishment, Panorama, which serves gourmet meals from cuisines around the world. Our culinary professionals aim to please. Simply request a certain dish to pair with your wine of choice, and we will do our best to make it happen.
Are you keen to experience a world of flawlessly balanced food and wine pairings? Reserve a stay at the Royal Wing Suites & Spa by clicking here or send us an email at [email protected]. You can also call us at 038 250 421 or chat with us directly via LINE (@royalcliff) or WhatsApp (+66842289596) to secure your booking.
