Wine is one of the most widely used alcoholic beverages when it comes to combining with food. It’s used with a meal or as a side dish. Wine lovers also like to relax with a glass of black or white in the evening, while there are also those who consume it for health reasons.

To those not so much familiar with this kind of drink, all wines are divided into white, red, rosé, and possibly those made from other types of fruit instead of grapes, such as blackberry wine. Real experts, sommeliers, are able to assess in detail the taste of wine, its exact ingredients, the way of making wine, type, age, and of course to combine it ideally with a meal.

Basic Rules

Some of the basic rules when it comes to the consumption of wine is that lighter wines go with light food, while stronger and older wines go with strong and “heavy” food. When you eat sweets, that is, dessert, sweet wines should accompany them. The reason is simple and is as follows: if you would drink lighter wine with strong food such as red meat, roast, or barbecue, it would be completely lost in the strength of the taste of the meat and couldn’t help its better digestion while, if you take light food with a stronger wine, it would completely “overwhelm” your meal.

Some professional chefs believe that the rule is – there are no pairing rules. However, they are also guided by the fact that wine must be paired with the main ingredient of the dish in the first place. 

It’s believed that for non-experts, the fact that white wines go with white meat, and red wine with red meat, is more than enough. However, attention is often paid to additional ingredients of meals, spices, dressings, and sauces so this can change things a lot.

Wines and Takeout Food

In the time of the corona, we have increased demand for takeout. That’s because of shopping restrictions and the fact that supermarkets are swamped with grocery deliveries. However, it didn’t change what people like to eat. Although the worldwide searches for terms such as “food delivery”, “takeout”, and similar rose by almost 300 % between March and May, people kept their habits and order online what they would usually eat if prepared food themselves. And, they kept combining favorite wines with favorite meals.

Given that figures show pizza was the most-searched takeout food in 55 of the 81 countries for which data was available, it’s important to determine which wine goes best with it – and experts say its white wine. 

Chinese was the second most popular takeaway, being at the top of the charts in 11 countries, mostly in the English-speaking nations. Out of these countries, the United Kingdom searched for “Chinese cuisine” more than any other country per capita. To connect wine with this kind of food, we’ll stress that aromatic wine is the most suitable here. The same wine goes with sushi, the third most popular of the leading takeaways across the world. 

Takeaway can be healthy, too. For instance, vegan food was the most-searched term in Russia in the three-month period that was observed. Since vegetables are one of the pillars of this diet, there’s one wine that goes well with this – white wine.

The Best Wine – Food Pairs

If you choose a wine to consume with an appetizer, prosciutto, or something else from cured meat products, rosé wines go best with them, although dry white wines aren’t a bad option either. White wines are combined with vegetables, carrots, onions, and tomatoes while dishes with roasted vegetables, eggplant, and mushrooms need red wine.

When it comes to salads, pasta, and desserts, you must also take care of combining wines. Salads and pasta usually require white and dry wines but, if the topping is strong, red wine can also be consumed. Desserts, as we’ve already said, require sweet drinks, sparkling wines, champagne, or liqueurs.

What about fish? If it’s pan-fried or deep-fried, the ideal combination is white wine while meaty fish, such as salmon, are accompanied by red wines. Caviar and oysters need white sparkling wines and champagnes.

Beef, steak, barbecue, and veal require red wines. White wines go best with chicken and turkey. White and black wines can be consumed when eating cheeses, while some fruit wines can be used with noodles. White wine goes best with pizza.

It’s best to drink aromatic wines with Chinese dishes, red wines with Mexican dishes, and semi-sweet or semi-dry white wines with Indian food.