I was in that big warehouse store when I overhead a nice couple saying they should buy the cabernet sauvignon they were holding for Thanksgiving dinner and this got me to thinking that perhaps a number of us simply don’t understand wine pairing at a basic level. Surely you’ve heard the old “red with meat, and white with fish” rules before? That statement is why so many generations of Americans felt intimidated by wine. Pairing wine with food means that you have to understand what elements are going to be in the wine, what the intensity of each element is, and how those elements would pair or clash with something like food. These elements are acidity, alcohol, fruit profile/flavor and tannin. At a basic level, we’re only talking about 10 varietals or so. Those are the wines that we Americans predominantly purchase. I’m not going to cover all of them here, but let’s just talk about a few bad matches for Thanksgiving/Christmas and a few excellent matches. I’ve already illustrated one bad example: cabernet sauvignon. What are the elements in cabernet? Acidity is usually balanced, or possibly low. Alcohol is usually medium to high. Fruit profile ranges from black currant to black cherry and chocolate. How about the tannin? Off the charts. Tannin is that chemical compound found in fruit and vegetable skins, as well as the wood used for barrels, that attacks the protein in your mouth and makes your mouth feel “dry.” Thanksgiving dinner usually means turkey, stuffing and gravy. Why do we have gravy? Because no matter what you do to the turkey, it’s going to be a challenge to keep it from drying out. The gravy acts as a “foil” to the dry turkey. And, this is exactly what we need in our wine. The last thing you want to pair with turkey is something that will fail its test as a foil to the dry turkey and actually do the opposite: amplify the dryness. That’s what something like cabernet is going to do. Merlot and malbec would be similarly bad choices for pairing. Let’s pick a great foil. Which one of those elements really “foils” the dryness factor in the food? The acidity. Think of what a little bit of citrus does to your mouth: it makes your mouth water. Isn’t that the thing we need for our dry turkey dinner? So, what’s a good match? We need a wine that has high acidity and low tannin. In addition to the wines I already listed as bad foils, you can also rule out barrel-aged chardonnay (high tannin) and domestic sauvignon blanc (low acidity). Good matches for this dinner would include riesling (high acidity, low tannin, complementary flavors), sparkling wine/champagne (high acidity, effervescence), pinot noir (medium acidity, low tannin, complementary flavors), and syrah (medium acidity, low tannin, complementary flavors). I’d also throw zinfandel into the good category for the same reasons. What you’re really trying to do with food and wine pairing is to not only weed out the dogs, but to find those gems that elevate both your perception of the food and your perception of the wine. To do this, you’re going to want to find complementary flavors to what you’re eating. Holiday dinners include a lot of earthy elements like cranberries, sage, root vegetables, rosemary, apples, and pumpkins (with nutmeg and cinnamon). What kinds of wines have some of these elements? Pinot noir is the classic earthy red, frequently with flavors of cranberry and herbs like sage. Riesling frequently shows notes of apples, pears and spice. Of course, sparkling wine or Champagne is perhaps the most perfect match. Don’t be intimidated when trying to match wines with food. Use your knowledge of a varietal to help guide you. — Mike Kallay and his wife, Stephanie, own the Cask Room, a wine bar in East Village. www.caskroom.com