The following is a clip taken from Austin Beeman's interview on the Upside of 40 Podcast with Sean Mooney.

Topic: How to Pair Wine with Food: The One Simple Rule

"Sean Mooney: Well, and now let's get to the basics, because I grew up and I was a waiter at a place called The Vineyard, and I learned the basics and the different types of wine and I could suggest, and we had wine tastings, it was great. But a lot of people don't really know wine at all. And there's always been this you have a white with chicken, and fish, and pasta, and then you have reds with meat. And does that still stand true or is it whatever your preference is? And is there a reason for that, that they go better?

Austin Beeman: So wine pairing is absolutely a real thing based on chemistry and biology. If you wonder whether or not wine pairing is real, brush your teeth, drink orange juice. The last thing in your mouth matters..."

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Full Transcript:

Sean Mooney:

Well, and now let's get to the basics, because I grew up and I was a waiter at a place called The Vineyard. I learned the basics and the different types of wine and I could suggest, and we had wine tastings. It was great. But a lot of people don't really know wine at all. And there's always been this you have a white with chicken, and fish, and pasta, and then you have reds with meat. And does that still stand true or is it whatever your preference is? And is there a reason for that, that they go better?

Austin Beeman:

So wine pairing is absolutely a real thing based on chemistry and biology. If you wonder whether or not wine pairing is real, brush your teeth, drink orange juice. The last thing in your mouth matters. So if the last thing in your mouth is a fleshy, fatty piece of steak, then if you have something that is gooey and fleshy as well on the wine, it's not going to pair the way that having something that is firmer and can contrast it. So let me walk you through a couple of really simple things that a person can do to be better at wine and food pairing.

You always want to figure out what is the dominant flavor on the plate. And so if I'm doing a grilled chicken, then the dominant flavor is that chicken. If I'm doing a grilled chicken covered in a mushroom sauce, then the mushroom sauce is the dominant flavor. If I'm doing chicken, and turkey, and mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and it's all on the same plate, cranberry sauce is the dominant flavor on that plate. Find the most prominent, dominant flavor and then we talk about pairing that. And so if you have something that is lighter, go lighter.

So if you think about a fresh fish in like a butter sauce, a lighter bodied wine or something buttery like a Chardonnay, you're going to match those flavors and match the overall intensity. It would feel wrong to have a light delicate fish and pound it with a big Shiraz from the South of France. But it would also be incredibly wrong to have steaks on the grill and this delicate little fragile white wine. So match that intensity.

If you have both, if you need one wine to bridge two very distinct dinners, the classic she's having fish, he's having steak, and they're sitting down for dinner together, then you can do something like a dry rosé, which bridges the gap between, which is actually made with red wine grapes made in the style of a white wine, and that's how many rosés will often be made. So just match the overall intensity and you're going to have a real win.