Pairing food and wine
“Dinner without wine, a day without sun”, says an old Greek proverb. Pairing food and wine is about synergy - neither one should overpower the other. However, the question arises - Which wine with which type of food? Is there a criterion on which to base your decision?

A simple colour rule of pairing red wine with a meat dish and white wine with fish will do the trick.

Red wines
The complexity of a red wine requires a dish with strong flavours. A soft red wine, low in tannins, may be combined with a low fat meat dish like, while a strong red wine will be most enjoyed with a game dish. Red wine varieties of Peloponnese, like Mavrodaphne or Kotsifali, are well combined with low fat meat dishes like veal, chicken and turkey.

White wines
White varieties like Lagorthi, may be very well combined with seafood. A white wine helps to cut through the saltiness of a seafood dish while at the same time it helps improve its taste.

Sparkling wines
White varieties like Lagorthi, may be very well combined with seafood. A white wine helps to cut through the saltiness of a seafood dish while at the same time it helps improve its taste.

Exceptions to the rule
A white wine with relatively high acidity may accompany a chicken or a roast dish cooked in a white sauce, and even more with cold meat, pasta or lamb. A fish cooked in a red sauce may be served with the red wine used in preparing the sauce and moreover a fat - rich fish may be served with a light red wine

White and red, aged and new wines in the same meal. Is it possible?
As a general rule white dry wine is served in the beginning of the meal, followed by the red. The wine that follows must be of a lower acidity of the one previously served. At the same time, young wine should be served before an older wine.

Just keep in mind that the presentation of the menu and the wine should create a pleasant surprise to the dinner guests, so you should pass on from a simple dish onto a fancy one, from a simple taste onto a more complex one.

Final thoughts
Pairing food and wine is about synergy - neither one should overpower the other. Trust your palate when pairing food and wine to find similarities or contrasts in flavours.

A cuisine like the Greek one, which uses a lot of herbs and spices, needs wines which balance its intense flavours. This explains why in Greece the use of white and light red wine wines is more widely spread. The large number of Peloponnesian wine varieties provide you with an enormous range of options of wine and food combinations.


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