Pairing with Food
Simple Food & Wine Pairing
The primary tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami—interact differently with wine, affecting how flavours are perceived.
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Sweetness: Sweet food makes wine taste drier and more bitter. Pair sweet dishes with wines that are equally or sweeter (e.g., dessert wines like Sauternes with crème brûlée).
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Acidity: Acidic foods reduce the perception of acidity in wine, making the wine seem rounder and fruitier. High-acid wines like Sauvignon Blanc pair beautifully with acidic dishes like salads with vinaigrettes.
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Saltiness: Salt amplifies the perception of sweetness and reduces bitterness in wine. Sparkling wines like Champagne complement salty snacks.
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Bitterness: Bitter food (e.g., charred vegetables) enhances the bitterness in tannic wines. Balance bitterness in food with fruity, low-tannin reds like Pinot Noir.
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Umami: Foods high in umami (e.g., mushrooms, soy sauce) can make wines taste more astringent. Pair with wines that have low tannins and good acidity.
Food and wine experience
The food and wine experience at punt road winery takes you through 6 wines pairing them each to food.
Pinot Gris White Label 2024 - Yarra valley goats cheese
Chardonnay White Label 2023 - Comte Cheese
Chardonnay Black Label 2023 - Comte cheese / Olives
Pinot Noir Black Label 2024 - Rabbit terrine
Holy Quinity 2020 - Manchengo cheese
Block 3 Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 - Cheddar cheese
Moules-frites / Riesling
2021 Notes Riesling -
'Our limited-batch Riesling began with cool climate Tassie vines and a small parcel of grapes from South Australia, ripened under the Eden Valley sun.
Fermented with a neutral yeast, then partially barrel-aged in old French oak to find the (not-so) sweet spot between succulent florals and refined minerality.
Bright and zesty with just the right amount of acid, it pairs well with a hammock'
Marley Spoon Recipe :
2 potatoes
1 carrot
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
parsley
2 vegetable stock cubes
2 x 500g Australian blue mussels
50g mixed salad leaves
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1. Bake fries
Preheat the oven to 200C, fan-forced. Line a large oven tray with baking paper. Cut the unpeeled potatoes into shoestring fries. Put the fries on the lined tray, drizzle with 2 tsp olive oil, season with salt and pepperand toss to coat. Spread in an even layer and bake for 26-28 mins until golden and tender.
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2. Prep ingredients
Meanwhile, finely chop the carrot and onion. Crush or finely chop the garlic. Finely chop the parsley, including the stems. Crumble 1 stock cube* into a heatproof jug, add 80ml (⅓ cup) boiling water and stir to dissolve. Strain 100ml mussel liquid* into a jug. Drain and rinse the mussels. (Our mussels are precooked and ready to use.)
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3. Cook vegetable mixture
Melt 20g butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the carrot, onion, garlic and most of the parsley, stirring occasionally, for 5 mins or until the carrot is softened.
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4. Make dressing
While the vegetables are cooking, put 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil and 1 tsp white wine vinegar in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and whisk until combined.
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5. Cook mussels
Add the stock, mussels, reserved mussel liquid and remaining parsley to the vegetable mixture over high heat and bring to the boil. Cook, covered, stirring halfway, for 2 mins or until the mussels are hot. Taste the stock mixture, then season with salt and pepper.
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6. Get ready to serve
Add the salad leaves to the dressing and toss to coat. Divide the mussels and friesamong bowls and serve with the dressed salad leaves.
Steak, chicken, rice egg mix up / Cabernet Sauvignon
Tokar 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon
after being inspired from cooking with Marley Spoon and grievously enjoying lots of Nasi Goreng, we had a big cook up of steak, marinated chicken, slaw salad with rice and a fried egg. Was a bit of a cook up of what we have left in the fridge but tasted amazing.
A week or so before we had visited Tokar Estate to pick up some of the Cabernet Sauvignon wine on sale. We ended up getting both the 2019 and the 2016 vintages. We went in to purchase the 2019 and ended u falling in love with the 2016 - it seems any cabernet from Tokar I fall in love with. Cool climate cabernets seem to please my taste buds very well.
