There is a reason why red wine is such a popular drink. It tastes great, it’s food friendly and may have some health benefits. Besides red wine exudes a certain sensuality and comfort that makes it one of the best drinks suited for sofa snuggles and date nights. However, you can get pretty confused on how to pair your red wine with food. The trick is to not get strict with it. While some rules about pairing red wine and food can get strict, you can eat what you want with whatever wine you want. However, if you want to take a more time-tested approach and gain awesome pairing skills that may come in handy at parties, then, there is no harm in knowing some of the rules before you experiment with them.

Fortunately, you can get red wine NZ easily by making a liquor store run or buying it online. You don’t have to buy the super expensive wine to enjoy it with food but instead, go for your favourite affordable bottle. Here are how some red wines pair with food:

• Pinot Noir: This pairs well with earthy flavours such as truffles and mushroom.
• Cabernet Sauvignon: Pairs really well with red meat
• Dry Rosé: Goes great with rich cheesy food
• Malbec: Great with sweet and spicy foods such as sweet and sour pork, spicy vegetarian stews and meat dishes.
• Merlot: This wine is great for chicken and turkey especially if they are roasted.

Appetizers that Pair with Red Wine

When enjoying your red wine NZ, you can consider the appetizers that will make the experience even better. Besides pairing red wine with main dishes, appetizers that go with red wine include cheeses such as cheddar, gouda, pecorino and asiago. You can also pair your red wine with other appetizers such as beef sliders, bacon-wrapped dates, cocktail meatballs, salami and parmesan crostini among others. If you don’t feel like cooking but want to pair your red wine with takeout then consider ordering buffalo wings, tacos, barbecue, burgers, pizza or burritos. Generally, you pair robust wines with robust dishes. To guide you on the ideal food and red wine pairings, here are some of the tips you can consider:

• Have sweet wine with sweet food to prevent it from tasting bitter. This is a great tip to keep in mind when you are pairing wine with desserts.
• Don’t have bitter foods with bitter wine as this will overwhelm your taste buds.
• Serve earthy wine with earthy food
• Match the sauce. When eating meat dishes there might be sauce provided and if that’s the case then pair your wine to the sauce.

With that in mind, you can put the above suggestions into practice and this will bring out the best in your red wine NZ while also making your meal a memorable and delicious experience.  Besides, this will help you find more awesome food and red wine pairings which will expand your palette because there is something truly special in enjoying great food with a sip of your favorite red wine NZ.