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Preparing a romantic meal for your loved one this Valentine’s Day? Make sure you’ve got the perfect wines to go with it

Valentine’s food and wine matches

Wine with Oysters: Top matches

Matthieu Longuère MS of Le Cordon Bleu London, recommends going for a Blanc de Blancs if you’re opting for a sparkling wine or Champagne with your oysters.

Make sure it’s a fairly low dosage too; the wine needs to be acidic, especially if you’re serving with lemon juice or shallot vinegar.

If you want to try a still wine, a crisp, fresh white wine works well with lemon juice. A light fruit red, like Gamay, with little tannin, is an option for shallots in vinegar.

Wine with steak

‘A powerful California Cabernet Sauvignon with a grilled steak is pretty hard to beat,’ says Karen MacNeil in her food and wine pairing guide.

‘A high-fat food usually calls out for an equally rich, intense, structured, and concentrated wine.’

Try a Bordeaux blend, or one of these Bordeaux alternatives.

Don’t be afraid of matching steak with a white wine, however, says Longuère.

A mature and well-structured white Rioja, for example, can stand up to the steak.

Wine with chocolate

Fiona Beckett finds that the ‘wine needs to be sweeter than the dessert.’

Of course, the kind of chocolate and kind of dessert will play a key role in the wine to choose.

‘But in general, lighter dessert wines – such as Sauternes, Riesling and Moscato – work best with lighter chocolate desserts, and richer ones such as Tokaji and fortified wines with darker, denser ones.’

Ellie Douglas
February 11, 2017
Source: https://www.decanter.com

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