White wine with red meat?

December 12th, 2016 | Food & Wine

[:en]PavoI have long maintained that the enjoyment and appreciation of food and wine is very much a matter of personal taste. Thankfully we are not all the same and have differing opinions on many things, including how we judge different flavour combinations and how well they may or may not work together. Of course, there are no definitive rules about the ‘marriage’ of food and wine, and so the final decision always comes down to the individual palate.

Even if I don’t always agree with the recommendations that I am offered, or read about, I can often understand the logic and reasoning behind many suggestions. On occasions however, there are some ideas that simply leave me scratching my head in puzzlement.

Our own Denomination for example, has been running a fabulous series of adverts highlighting the food types that can be recommended with our very own albariños. Some quite obvious, such as fish, seafood, sushi (and recently turkey). Others slightly less obvious, including meat and Mexican food. Finally, there is at least one that leaves me just a bit baffled – tartare. Initially, I had assumed that the recommendation was for a tartare of salmon and albariño combination, but on closer examination it proved that I was wrong – it is a tartare of red meat.

Only yesterday, on Facebook, I learned about a new book entitled “How to drink like a Billionaire”, in which the author Mark Oldman claims that “the weight of a richer style albariño stands up to the meaty goodness of a burger”. Well, that’s his opinion, and he’s entitled to it, but personally I don’t agree…. Perhaps he could be thinking about Californian albariño that weighs in at 13 or 14% alcohol – ripe, full bodied, with plenty of alcohol to provide extra mouth-feel? My own idea is however, that our own wines from Galicia could prove to be just a bit thin and acidic for this pairing. To be honest they simply lack the weight and intensity, but more importantly, the tannin to support a juicy red meat. It is, for example, the tannin in red wine that bonds with and softens the fat molecules in the meat helping to release the flavour. Albariño? I am not so sure.

On the other hand, I can confidently recommend Castro Martin albariño with your Christmas Turkey![:es]PavoI have long maintained that the enjoyment and appreciation of food and wine is very much a matter of personal taste. Thankfully we are not all the same and have differing opinions on many things, including how we judge different flavour combinations and how well they may or may not work together. Of course, there are no definitive rules about the ‘marriage’ of food and wine, and so the final decision always comes down to the individual palate.

Even if I don’t always agree with the recommendations that I am offered, or read about, I can often understand the logic and reasoning behind many suggestions. On occasions however, there are some ideas that simply leave me scratching my head in puzzlement.

Our own Denomination for example, has been running a fabulous series of adverts highlighting the food types that can be recommended with our very own albariños. Some quite obvious, such as fish, seafood, sushi (and recently turkey). Others slightly less obvious, including meat and Mexican food. Finally, there is at least one that leaves me just a bit baffled – tartare. Initially, I had assumed that the recommendation was for a tartare of salmon and albariño combination, but on closer examination it proved that I was wrong – it is a tartare of red meat.

Only yesterday, on Facebook, I learned about a new book entitled “How to drink like a Billionaire”, in which the author Mark Oldman claims that “the weight of a richer style albariño stands up to the meaty goodness of a burger”. Well, that’s his opinion, and he’s entitled to it, but personally I don’t agree…. Perhaps he could be thinking about Californian albariño that weighs in at 13 or 14% alcohol – ripe, full bodied, with plenty of alcohol to provide extra mouth-feel? My own idea is however, that our own wines from Galicia could prove to be just a bit thin and acidic for this pairing. To be honest they simply lack the weight and intensity, but more importantly, the tannin to support a juicy red meat. It is, for example, the tannin in red wine that bonds with and softens the fat molecules in the meat helping to release the flavour. Albariño? I am not so sure.

On the other hand, I can confidently recommend Castro Martin albariño with your Christmas Turkey![:]

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