As an amateur wine maker, you will be occasionally subjected to my revelations about wine. My latest revelation came about last night when I attended a local wine tasting event in which we were given 5 comparable commercial wine samples (New Zealand Merlot, New Zeland Gewurtraminer, South African Cabernet Sauvignon, Alsatian Riesling, Atalian Docettto) and five small morsels of food (chocolate, egg role & plum sauce, chocolate, cheddar, smoked salmon & lemon) to pair them with. Confession: I generally don't mix my food and wine as I often prefer to "wash my food down" with skim milk.

The revelation part came when I became uncertain as to how exactly I was supposed to properly judge that a morsel of food and wine pairs well. Was I supposed to observe whether the wine accentuated the taste of the food, whether the food accentuated the taste of the wine, or whether the combination somehow brought about the best in both? The term "wine pairing" is agnostic with respect to which of these possibilities we should be looking for.

I asked one of the other wine tasters at my table (we had some experienced wine makers and tasters at the table) what possibility I should be looking for. He said that what he was looking for was whether the food affected the quality of wine, so, for him, pairing was more about how the food impacted upon the taste of the wine. This would explain why cheddar "pairs with" high-tannin reds (old black tea also has high tannins) because it smooths out the astringent finish associated with high-tannin wine. The quality of a well-paired wine should change before and after you eat a food as a result of the interaction of the residual flavors on the food and the wine. It could, for example, smooth out the mouth-feel or finish and not affect the initial taste of the wine. I'm not claiming that this is the only interpretation of the term "wine pairing", but it is one interpretation of "wine pairing" that one would expect wine afficianado's to use.

One other observation I made is that if you do a little ritual where you take a small sip of wine, consume a morsal of food making sure to coat your mouth and tongue with the flavor, and take another small sip of wine then it will take you quite awhile to finish your food. It may be a way to achieve "slow food" if you would like to spend more time enjoying your food and company at the dinner table.