Testing wine taste buds

Bottles of Carbenet Sauvignon. [Photo: Joseph Kiptarus/Standard]

By Gardy Chacha

The art of pairing wines with food is a delicate affair. A unique aspect of wine as edible consumption is its blend with different palates and occasions.

Razvan Macici, a wine maker with Nederburg Wines says that wine has a way of fitting in unique buffet scenarios.

“Wine is like an accessory of main courses,” he says adding: “Different types of wines are made to suit a myriad ways of enjoying meals, desserts and pastries.”

This was at the Serena Hotel Nairobi, in an event organised to engage and evolve wine taste buds in synch with different foods.

Wines on the table included both blended and varietal — wine made from a single variety of grape — options, parked with years of maturity and the tinge of different brewed colours.

A Cuvee Brut, brilliantly clear with a lasting sparkle, the pale rose of a Rosé, the ruby with purple edges Duet, a Chardonnay’s straw yellow with tints of green and gold, ruby red Cabernet Sauvignon and the dark ruby Merlot, but all of them pair with different settings and plates.

Macici says that like a good marriage, wine and food were meant for each other. Each enhances and strengthens the experience of the whole package — which could be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just bitings in between meals.

Whether dry, off-dry or lusciously sweet, wines are created for a relaxed savouring of food.

As you enjoy a synchrony of wines and foods, don’t forget that the flavours of the foods can both contradict and compliment wine selections and depending on the combination levels, it can be good or not so good.

For example, Macici says that a sweet Duet in ruby with purple edges can make Mediterranean meat dishes such as spicy lamb, soulvaki (meat mshikaki), kebabs or traditional roasts, oxtail and barbequed steaks, taste even more appealing by contrasting the smooth sweetness while yielding some of its intrinsic nutrients.

When paired with a rich dessert like cheesecake, the sweetness of the wine would likely mellow in flavour due to the overriding influence of the cake.

Different combinations of chocolate bars like chocolate-mango, berry-blended chocolates, bitter-sweet chocolate and cheese; basically a line of chocolate desserts, sprinkle fun with different wines.

Craftsmanship

Some tend to find the taste laden when red wines are paired with red meats and white wines with white meats. These are preference generalisations — a place to start and then experiment with your own combinations.

Unlike other alcohols, wine is a craftsmanship of years, work performed by millions of tiny yeast cells converting fruit into liquid ‘gold’.

Wine has several health benefits, and just like a corsage on a dress, wine makes food beautiful. “It washes down the food to its destination. It is a beautiful product that forms a core part of a nice lifestyle,” says Macici.

When all is said and done, wine and food pairing remains an individual’s choice. Every person’s sense of taste is different. In general, each person should decide for him or herself what combinations of wine and food taste good.

Macici adds: “Some people can get wine and foods that complement in colour. Others will pair them on smell, and others on the sheer taste. In all these instances, the satisfaction will still remain palpable.” 

In this event, pairs like a Cuvee Brut and cream cheese mini crackers, a Duet and beef carpaccio roulade, sauvignon blanc and chicken wraps, Shiraz and mutton samosas, and other combinations, proved just right for taste buds and the belly.

A glass of Pinotage wine, often the perfect end to a meal, sipped with a piece of chocolate cake does the stomach a huge favour.

Combine your experience with a nice surrounding; whether it is on the beach, at home, or in a restaurant, you cannot go wrong with this timeless accessory.

The names and themes might be hard to fathom, but the taste and essence of different wines could make your eating an enjoyable experience.