Wine and Dine

Food and wine have distinct taste of their own, your goal is to find a pair where the tastes complement each other, instead of overshadowing. (example: an aged red wine paired with steamed crab legs, bad pair) A quick word about wines: buying an expensive bottle of wine without knowing anything about wines not only is a waste of money but will make you look like a noob in front of others. there are good wines at all price ranges, in fact if you look hard enough, you can find a very tasty wine for about 2 dollars, thats almost cheaper than bottled water. The only way to remedy this is to read a book or two tutorials regarding wines (these will introduce you to production, what region produces what, what taste like what, etc. recommended: the wine bible, by some guy, will poast later) after indulging in reading material, fuckkin trial and error. get some wine, make some food, try it. Below are some general guide lines and examples.

Matching

This is a lot less complex than many people realize, and caterers will usually try to say otherwise to help justify their fees. However, it has now in fact been scientifically demonstrated (does anyone have a ref here? I lost it. Some scientists actually managed to get funding to test this for real) that the overpowering and more importantly lingering flavor of most cheeses all but destroys your ability to discern the finer points of the wine, meaning that it generally just comes down to deciding between red or white. Of course, if you are using a lighter cheese or just want to show off, a basic understanding of the guidelines can be helpful.

(put the actual guidelines in the wine and cheese article once someone finds time to make it)

Rule of Thumb: Red meats go with red wines, white meats go with white wines, red sauce goes with red wines, white sauce goes with white wines. This rule is absolutely golden, in the sense that you can't yield a bad pair following the rule, but breaking it wisely can yield pairs that are unbelievably good.

Pairs that are instant epic wins:

• Steak: Cabernet sauvignon, merlot, Shiraz, chianti (something heavy and red)
• Pork chops: pinot noir, Shiraz, young fruity Cabernet or merlot goes very well with pork chops, a few aged white wines might work, depending on how the pork chops are prepared, (try it out) anything that might work with steak should be approached with caution when it comes to pork, since pork is a lighter meat than beef.
• Spaghetti with tomato sauce: red, red, red. anything red. though if it is not equipped with meat-age (the pussy spaghetti), lighten up on the wine, go with a young fruity cabernet or pinot
• anything Alfredo or with a light white sauce: chardonnay, pinot grigio, Riesling (Protip: any white wine that comes out of Germany is an epic win when taken with Alfredo sauce)
• seafood (in general): any white wine will do, avoid heavily aged chardonnays
• pizza: beer. lots of it. gb2/the TV
• mac and cheese: listerine. what are you, underage B&? GTFO.