Wine and food pairing is a great way to experience all that a wine has to offer. Certain foods have a way of bringing out the flavor in different types of wine that you may not experience if you sip on a glass by itself.
The acidity and flavors of the wine interact with the food to change the way your taste buds react, thus creating new and exciting flavor profiles you may not have experienced in one without the other.
The problem that most people run into though, is determining which foods will pair well with which wines, and vice versa. And that’s what we want to look at today.
At Hope Family Wines, we are known for our Cabernet Sauvignon wine, which is a great wine to sip on with a meal. But what foods pair best with Cabernet Sauvignon? Let’s find out!
Cabernet Sauvignon Food Pairings
Because Cabernet Sauvignon wine has a more intense, bold, flavor the food that pairs well with it should be heartier and richer in order to cut through the wine. If you pair this wine with a lighter dish, like some fish, the flavor of the wine is going to completely overwhelm the food itself, which isn’t what we’re going for.
When pairing food and wine the most important thing is to make sure that they compliment each other and don’t overpower one another.
Cabernet Sauvignon is usually best paired with a red meat entrée, but can also go well with vegetarian meals such as portobello mushrooms and certain cheeses.
Meat – Steak & Lamb
Who doesn’t love a good juicy steak when sipping on a glass of red wine? Well, there’s a reason for that. Meats like steak and lamb have a higher level of fatty proteins in them which help coat your mouth with each bite. This coating in your mouth can diminish the flavor of your next bite of food.
But by sipping on a wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, which has high levels of tannin and acidity, the wine will cut through that fatty coating to clear your palate, making each bite as delicious as the first.
As for which cuts of steak are best for pairing with this wine, we would recommend something on the fattier side, but your favorite cut of steak will suffice just fine.
If you’re not a big steak eater, but still want something with big flavor, roasted lamb is also a great option. The rich flavor of the lamb always goes well with a nice glass of cab.
When it comes to pairing wine and food, the number one goal is to make sure you’re enjoying what you’re eating and drinking. If you’re choosing a wine you don’t enjoy, based on the meal you’re eating, then it’s most likely not going to make the wine taste that much better to you. Always be sure that you’re enjoying your meal.
Burger
When most people think of wine and food pairings, a burger is not always what comes to mind, but they would be wrong. Of course, we’re not talking about a fast-food burger, but rather a good, hearty burger from a nice restaurant. Because, when you think about it, a burger is really just ground up steak placed on a bun, so why shouldn’t it pair well with a good wine.
A good burger will pair with a Cabernet Sauvignon just as well as any steak would. In fact, depending on the quality of the meat used in the burger, and the various toppings/extras added to the burger, you may find that it pairs even better than it would with a steak.
The key to this pairing is to make sure that the burger is not too well-done. We would recommend a medium-rare temperature for your burger so that the meat retains that juicy flavor that one comes to expect from a great burger.
Portobella Mushrooms
Don’t eat meat? Never fear, there are some great pairing options out there for vegans and vegetarians as well.
Portobella mushrooms, whether stuffed, grilled, or baked, pair greatly with Cabernet Sauvignon as well.
The texture of Portobella mushrooms provides a sensation similar to that of eating meat. And when topped with garlic, butter, cheese, or other fatty additions, these foods make a great pairing with any cab.
Cheese
Cheese can also pair very well with Cabernet Sauvignon, but you’ll want to steer clear of soft cheeses. Hard cheeses like aged cheddar, gorgonzola, or gouda, all pair very well with cabs.
Whether you’re setting up a cheese plate or adding these cheeses to the top of a burger, as long as you stick to the harder cheeses, you’ll find these to be a delectable pairing.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a great wine that can be enjoyed on it’s own or paired up with some delicious food. It’s important to understand the basics of wine and food pairing when choosing a food to pair with your Cabernet Sauvignon, but a good rule of thumb is that richer, fattier, heavier foods tend to go better than lighter foods when it comes to this wine. You don’t want the wine to overpower the food as you enjoy your meal.