Why Bother Matching Food and Wine? (Here's Why - and How)

Wine Blast with Susie and Peter

Some people say choosing the right wine for your food (or vice versa) is too complicated. Or that it's all nonsense, so not worth bothering with - just go with whatever you fancy.
We beg to differ - in the most strident of ways.
We've both spent more than 20 years matching wines to food on TV, radio, events, podcasts and print. We know food is one of the best ways to make sense of wine, to learn more and to get beyond the pretentiousness - by focusing on basic flavours and personal pleasure.
Finding out what works best for you and yours takes a bit of time and an open mind, though. So let us help you!
This episode is the first in a mini-series (in association with Wine Club by Majestic) focusing on food and wine pairing. In this one, we sock it to the naysayers and serve up our 7 top tips to match wine and food successfully, illustrating the basic logic by pairing a series of wines to a cheese board. (The results are almost certainly not what you'd expect).
We also grill Majestic buyer Elizabeth Kelly MW on her favourite food and wine matches, guilty pleasures and top tips - and we hear briefly from Louis Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon and gastrophysicist Professor Charles Spence.
All that, AND we answer a question from Jonathan in New York about whether his wine fridge is ruining his treasured bottles...
Following on from this appetising entrée will be a series of short-form video pods, in each of which we'll take one dish and find a wine or two that works as a delicious pairing. Again, explaining the logic as we go along, and having a bit of fun along the way.
We hope you enjoy the episode! Do let us know your thoughts on Instagram or Twitter. Or send us a voice message via Speakpipe.
Wines featured in this episode to match with cheeses (all available from Majestic):

• Chateau de Crezancy Sancerre 2021, 12.5% (£17.99)
• Marques del Atrio 2 Cepas Rioja Blanco de Guarda 2019, 13% (£199 as part of the Grand Tour Wine Club case)
• St Veran Haute Cuvee 2020 Rijckaert F Rouve, 13% (£16.99)
• Definition Hautes Cotes de Nuits 2017, 12.5% (£14.99)
• Castelanu de Suduiraut 2014, 13.5% (£12.99 for half)

As ever, all wine details, links, photos and more are on our website: Show notes for Wine Blast S3 E25: Why Bother Matching Food and Wine?

Chapters

1. A 'sort-of' season finale (00:00:05)

2. The Magical Science of Taste (00:00:47)

3. What this episode - and mini-series - is all about (00:01:49)

4. Question from Jonathan in NYC: is my wine fridge ruining my treasured bottles?! (00:03:00)

5. Previous wine and food matching on the pod (00:05:31)

6. Weirdest wine and food matches survey (00:06:10)

7. Why we love this subject (00:07:29)

8. Our food TV experience (00:08:45)

9. Why arguing is important (00:11:11)

10. Why this subject is controversial (00:12:02)

11. Why we disagree with the naysayers (00:13:49)

12. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon talks of 'a higher level of happiness' (00:15:31)

13. Professor Charles Spence talks magic (00:18:11)

14. Why are we qualified to talk about this? (00:18:52)

15. Interview with Elizabeth Kelly MW (00:20:51)

16. What to pair with fizz? (00:27:37)

17. Matching the RIGHT wines to a cheese board (00:28:52)

18. Our all-time top 7 food and wine matching tips (00:41:36)

19. The short-form video-pods to follow this episode (00:46:43)

20. We'd love to hear YOUR thoughts! (00:47:10)

21. Check out Wine Club by Majestic! (00:47:47)