One of the great pleasures of drinking wine is matching it with equally mouth-watering food.
Traditionally, red wine with meat and white with fish are no longer flexible enough to accommodate the multi-cultural taste influences that modern cuisine reflects. Common sense dictates that every wine experience should start with taste. When pairing food and wine, you should keep in mind that you are trying to find balance and harmony – balance between flavours, textures, intensity and taste. To increase your chances of a successful match, consider how the food was prepared, seasoned, the texture and also any accompaniments. Food and wine has its own flavour and texture, so too does every palate. So please use this tool as a guide only. There are no hard and fast rules, rights or wrongs. Just experiment to find your matching ideas.
Overview
Recommendations for wine pairings vary, depending on the toppings. For seafood pizzas, try an unoaked drier style Chardonnay. , while meat pizzas call for a Shiraz or red blends. Beware of pineapple toppings – the acidity in the pineapple affects the palate making most wine styles unsuitable.
Pizza Cheese & Tomato
Fresh, preferably Unoaked Chardonnays or Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc blends complement the basic tomato and mozzarella topping. Fruity but light, young Merlot or Shiraz blends are particularly good when herbs, onion and a mix of cheeses are added.
Pizza Meat Feast
Choose BIG, or then, huge flavoursome reds, such as peppery Shiraz, or Shiraz blends, which can stand upto the medley of ingredients. Or better still, chill a fruity dry rose to refresh the palate between mouthfulls.
Pizza Chicken
A rich buttery Chardonnay or a full-bodied Pinot Grigio work well here. A simple Merlot will pair the red fruits with the BBQ chicken flavors of the pizza. The cool, crisp flavours of the Rose work in harmony with the Pizza and give a delicious lasting impression.
Pizza Seafood
A gourmet seafood pizza, made with fresh grilled tuna and shellfish, deserves an elegant dry, ideally unoaked Chardonnay. A sparkling dry Blanc de Blancs works well. A simple Chardonnay / Semillon / Colombard mix will lift the tuna and olives version to another dimension.
Pizza Vegetarian
Chardonnay, Chardonnay blends or an aromatic Sauvignon Blanc are good accompaniments to a vegetarian pizza. When served loaded with veges and olives, ie the full works, a young light to Medium bodied Merlot or Pinot Noir will satisfy.