1,480 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

The magic of local wines

It's never easy to find the right wine to serve with the dish you've just cooked for your guests, because we're not all amateur sommeliers, and then there are so many possible choices in wines that "the perfect match" seems like a distant utopia, almost impossible to obtain. Add to that a lot of preconceived ideas that we have unconsciously in mind, like fish = white wine, and meat or cheese = red wine, which make it very easy to get lost.

8,095 4.7/5 (15 reviews)

Keywords for this post:Wine Color Agreement Advice Regional Local

Last modified on: April 7^th 2020

For this post: Comment Follow Send to a friend User-friendly URL

The magic of local wines

Fortunately, you can ask your wine merchant for advice, which is always a good idea, or you can browse the web, but there you may also find almost everything and its opposite.

It is important to recognize that giving advice on wine is quite arbitrary, of course, matches that please everyone are possible, but there is also a good part of the taste, preferences and personal choices of the person who gives the advice that is found in the suggested wine, which is quite normal.

In short, all this to tell you that there are no established rules, and that the tastes of each person can give very different food-wine associations, and yet very successful.

So there are no rules? So it's true, globally, but there are some "tricks" that work all the time, and it's about one of them that I would like to say a few words.

There is a kind of constant in wine and food pairing, it is the wonderful association that happens almost every time with a regional dish, and the wine of the same region. Let's call it "The magic of local wines"...

I don't know which one influenced the other, but I have to admit that if you taste a regional dish, let's say typical of the area, you can safely opt for a wine from the same area, and be almost 100% sure that the match will be perfect.

I'll take two examples to illustrate my point:

cassoulet appellation cahors

1) Cassoulet and Cahors wine: If you serve a cassoulet to your guests, accompany it with a Cahors wine, a good one, which preserves its typicity, and not something neutral and smooth to flatter the globalized gullets, and you will be amazed by the result.

saucisse de Morteau vins du jura

2) Morteau sausage (a dish based on) and a wine from the Jura, in particular a white wine from the Savagnin grape variety, and there you touch on the marvelous... (Yes, yes, well, I'm probably overdoing it here, but what do you expect, this is one of my favourite dishes, and I should never get into it). Same thing if you taste an old Comté, with a lightly toasted sourdough bread.

This natural pairing is therefore an interesting option if you are hesitating about your choice of wine, and if your recipe is a little regional, look at the regional wines, you might just find what you are looking for.

Note of course that this agreement is not an obligation, besides there is never an obligation in gastronomy if you like, but just a very interesting option. And anyway, the possibilities are so numerous, and the tastes so different, that each one of us will have his way of seeing things, and thus of realizing his agreement. The ideal of course is that you, or one of your guests, say, after the first glass "Hey, it's not bad at all!

To sum up: Are you going to serve a (slightly) regional recipe? Always think of local wines to serve with it.

Lasts posts

Travel cakes

You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.
January 27^th 20252,375

The aromatic power of sugar

In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...
December 25^th 20242,7365

The little trap of thick cream

When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...
December 13^th 20243,2125

Sauce and salad: When and how to mix them?

When dressing a salad, there's a kind of golden rule: add the dressing very shortly before serving, especially if your salad contains crunchy elements such as croutons or fresh vegetables, which will retain their crunchiness or crispiness. But, as is often the case in the kitchen, there are...
November 29^th 20243,3505

No need to boil gelatin

Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...
November 21^th 20243,3085

See all posts Random post RSS feeds

Other pages you may also like

The right weight of pastry for a pie

Let's try to solve a thorny problem: How much dough will I need when I make my next pie? You're planning to make a pie, you're going to use your favourite mould or circle, but how much pastry will you need to fill it completely with a well spread pastry, without being too thin, or on the contrary...
March 20^th 202062 K4.3

Cream and sauces

Have you ever wondered why making beautiful tasty sauces is so easy when you use cream? .
October 15^th 201219 K4.4

The right way to use a blender

You may well have a blender in your own kitchen. You know, that useful gadget that allows you to liquidize stuff at high speed into a smooth liquid. Of course, the most obvious use that comes to mind is for soups: if you have boiled some vegetables in water, with just a quick blast of the blender,...
May 31^th 201720 K5

Lemon in recipes

Let's take a look at the lemon, yellow or green, which is used in a whole host of recipes, both sweet and savoury. It brings both its taste, and the small acidity that makes its charm. Mind you, I'm not talking about lemon used as an anti-oxidant that prevents it from turning black, or to just spice...
October 23^th 201713 K5

Coarsely chopped herbs

Although we are in the middle of winter as I write these lines, you should not hesitate to make salads at this time, it is actually quite simple, rather fast, and so pleasant. A while ago, I already told you that a salad is a salad, but a salad with herbs is immediately something much better:...
January 9^th 202111 K4.9