Ideas for Pairing Wine with Food at Catering Events

It’s essential that any Toronto caterer knows how to pair wine with food. There are some foods that don’t go well with certain types of wines, and you don’t want to make any mistakes at your party or business function. What kinds of meals go best with dry sparkling wines? What tastes do grape wines go best with? To help you prepare for your party, here are some event catering ideas on how to match various types of wine and food.

Plan to serve fatty fish dishes or fish in a rich sauce? Go with Chardonnay. Young, un-oaked Chardonnay from cool climates goes best with light, delicate seafood and lightly-cooked shellfish. You can also add some creamy vegetable soup to the dish. Fruity or lightly oaked Chardonnay goes well with salmon fish cakes. The full bodied, oak-aged varieties should be matched with turbot or other fine, rich fish.

Match dry sparkling wines – especially champagne – with salty foods. It’s okay to play around with salt when serving champagne. Ideally, stick with simpler recipes with just a few ingredients, as they work best with dry sparkling wine.

Pinot Noir goes great with earthy flavours. You’ll want to pair it with meats such as venison, lamb, hearty fish, ham, spicy pork, and duck. Add vegetables such as mushrooms and lentils, as well as warm spices like ginger, cumin and cinnamon. Pinot Noir also goes well with many eastern Mediterranean dishes and spicy Asian dishes.

Poultry goes well with medium-bodied red to bold red wines. For lighter flavoured turkey and chicken dishes, you might want to go with a medium-bodied red. Bolder reds go nicely with richer poultry such as game birds mixed in rich sauce or mushrooms.

Rose sparkling wines don’t just go well with cheese; they’re great with dinner as well. A couple of recipes to try include beet risotto and chicken with cheesy grits and slow-roasted tomatoes. When serving dry rose wine with appetizers, look for cheese that pairs with the bustle berry flavour. Start with these types of cheese: goat, feta, Mahon, Rochetta, and Swiss (Appenzeller and Gruyere ).

Mablec can be served with a variety of meats, from lean cuts of sirloin to heavily spiced BBQ chicken. Don’t think that its soft tannins flavour will be overwhelmed by bold and spicy foods, because it won’t be. Shiraz is great with BBQ as well.

Moscato d’Asti and other moderately sweet sparkling wines help to emphasize fruity tastes. A few recipe ideas include fruity panzanella, raspberry tart, tropical fruit cobbler, and other fruity desserts or appetizers.

California Cabernet and Bordeaux-style blends are always classy with lamb chops, although they go well with many other meats as well. If you don’t have a lot of money or time to spend on cooking, just serve these wine varieties up with simple meatballs. When serving California Cabernet with grilled red meats, be sure to add some whole mushrooms.

Now you have some ideas of what kinds of meals and appetizers to serve with wine at your celebration event. If you still need recommendations, consult a professional Toronto caterer.