Wine & Food

In this section you will find an increasing number of articles that deal with successful combinations of wine and food. Many of the dishes come from the Hanselounge kitchen, others we have developed or cooked ourselves. For wine lovers, the right combination is crucial, because there is hardly anything better than a successful combination of good basic products, which are prepared into a small or large feast, and the right wine. Because when the two go together, 1 and 1 don't become 2, but sometimes 3 or 4, that's how much wine and food can push each other. However, unsuccessful combinations can drag wines and food down and quickly turn sour or bitter.

Below you will find some basic tips that you should bear in mind. However, it is also important to experiment yourself and gain experience that you cannot learn from books.

Truffles & wine

The air becomes fresher and is often already filled with scents reminiscent of leaves, undergrowth and damp earth. It is the time for mushrooms, especially truffles in some areas. Those who have the opportunity to travel to Piedmont now are blessed. For others, there is still the option of combining fresh truffles with good wines at home.

Game fowl

Now in autumn, the season of wild poultry begins again. This can be a delicacy if you treat it right. Otherwise it quickly becomes dry, as pheasant, partridge and the like are not animals that have a particularly pronounced layer of fat to keep the meat juicy. It is therefore best to combine the meat in the oven with ingredients that add fat to the food, or to ensure there is enough wine in the food during cooking.

Moules de Bouchot

They are a delicacy on the coasts of Europe: Mussels, which have the unfriendly name of "mussels" and are rarely called "pile mussels". These mussels often come from the Dutch mussel beds. However, the tastiest variety of this type of mussel is the so-called moules de bouchot from Brittany. Why tastier? Because they are smaller. And Obelix already knew: the smaller, the better - for the Gauls, this applies to wild boar as well as mussels.

Wine and mushrooms

If you don't want to forage through the forest yourself, you can of course also find them at the weekly market or at your favourite greengrocer. In any case, September and October are the best months for mushroom dishes, which can be perfectly paired with many good wines. We have selected a few wines for you that go well with classic mushroom dishes: Mushroom risotto, porcini mushrooms fried in butter and wild mushrooms in a creamy sauce.

Lobster and wine

Today we're talking about lobster, or more precisely Canadian lobster and wine. Why Canadian lobster? There are several reasons.

The first is that there is a healthy and sustainable population of lobsters off the coast of Newfoundland. The second is that the water there is particularly clean, cold and crystal clear, which also has an effect on the quality of the lobster. It has wider claws and firm white meat with a fine, nutty flavour.

Asian cuisine

Asian cuisine is a great challenge for wine recommendations due to the complex flavours of the dishes. However, if you stick to certain basic rules, you can find very good combinations. Wines with a high alcohol content and a strong tannin structure are generally difficult. Asian cuisine requires wines that harmonise well with the complex flavours and buffer and accompany the spiciness and sometimes fatty dishes.

Salmon wild

There are classic combinations of food and wine that are simply unbeatable. One of these is salmon. Of course, with salmon, as with all dishes, it depends on the method of preparation and the sauces, but the basic rule is that salmon is a fish with a high fat content. And it is unsaturated fatty acids that create a pleasantly creamy, but also stimulating mouthfeel. Then there are the proteins, which provide different flavour nuances and pairings depending on how they are prepared.

Wine and cheese pairings

Cheese essentially consists of fat and milk protein. Nevertheless, the world of different cheeses offers a whole universe of flavour components due to the type of milk used and how it is processed. Firstly, there is the question of the origin of the milk. Does it come from a cow, a sheep or a goat? This has an effect on the salt content, but also on sharpness or sweetness, the proportion of acidity or flavour.

Crêpes & Galette

The wafer-thin patties are either made from buckwheat flour on a hot griddle to form galettes or from light-coloured wheat flour to form crêpes. The choice of galettes and crêpes is almost unlimited. They are available with savoury and sweet ingredients, although Bretons tend to prefer buckwheat pancakes with savoury ingredients and crêpes with sweet ingredients. They are eaten in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening. Sometimes with jam, chocolate cream or honey and lemon juice, sometimes with crème, fish and seafood or as a "Complet" with ham, cheese and egg - to name just a few classics.

Barbecue

Even though it's still a little chilly, at least in some parts of Germany, it shouldn't be long before summer returns. Actually, it's already here. Because barbecues, summer and wine go together perfectly, we asked Nils Rohardt from Hamburg's Hanse Lounge to give us a few tips on barbecuing while we picked out some suitable wines for you.

Basic principles for pairing wine and food

When wine meets food, complex flavours develop that influence both the wine and the dish. Although there are no rigid rules, a few basic principles can help to find harmonious pairings. A key aim is to balance the six flavours - sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami and fatty.

Basic rule 1: flavour before complexity

It doesn't always have to be the most expensive wine; it is more important that it harmonises with the intensity of the dish. Sauces often play a central role in this. For example, a rather subtle Wiener schnitzel should not be accompanied by an overly complex wine such as a wood-aged Chardonnay, but rather a fresh Grüner Veltliner. On the other hand, a fish dish with a creamy sauce is better served with a strong Burgundy than a light Veltliner.

What (almost) never goes well?

Bitters reinforce each other.
Acidity and bitterness often create metallic notes.
Tannins and protein make tannins stand out too much.

What works well?

Sweet & sweet: Here, sweet white wine goes well with light-coloured dishes and dark wine such as port with dark desserts such as chocolate. It is important that the sweetness is almost the same with both.
Sweet & salty: Salty and savoury cheeses harmonise with sweet white wines.
Fat & alcohol: Alcohol dissolves fat and helps to develop the flavour.
Sweet & sour: Works in the same way as sour drops
Sweet and bitter: try bitter chocolate with sweet port.
Sweet, fat & alcohol: an ideal combination is foie gras or fatty blue cheeses and sweet wines

Basic rule 2: Similar intensity

The strength of wine and food should be balanced. If you have a roast chicken, a young Chardonnay characterised by wood is not a good match because it would dominate the chicken. However, a young Grüner Veltliner or Welschriesling harmonises very well. This, on the other hand, would completely drown out a roast chicken with cream and morels. It needs something strongly flavoured, which includes a classic white Burgundy.

Basic rule 3: Pay attention to the fat content

Not all fats are the same, which is very important when pairing wine and food. Unsaturated fatty acids (vegetable fat, oil or fish fat) have a creamy and energising effect. Saturated fatty acids (animal fats, cream or butter) have a dense and lining effect.

Flash-fried meat with a lot of fat(entrecôte) requires powerful wines with tannin (e.g. young Bordeaux); flash-fried meat with little fat (fillet) requires more subtle wines (mature Bordeaux with melted tannin, Pinot Noir).
Tender meats such as boiled beef prefer white wines with a mild acidity. If a spicy component such as horseradish is added, the wine should have a residual sweetness to compensate for the spiciness.
With stir-fried beef, it is not the fat but the spiciness of the sauce that is decisive. Hardly any red wine harmonises with spiciness. White wines are better. The spicier the food, the richer and sweeter the wine should be.
Creamy wines such as mature Chardonnays, which have acidity but not too much acidity and have sufficient strength due to ageing in wood, go particularly well with creamy and buttery sauces.

Basic rule 4: Sauces are the key

Sauces essentially determine the harmony between wine and food:

Vinaigrettes are acidic and tend not to go well with wine. If they are, then it should be a rather strong and creamy white wine.
Beurre blanc is a classic basic sauce with acidity, salt and lots of fat. All of this also requires a rather strong, creamy white wine, which can certainly have wood. A young white wine would appear aggressively acidic and metallic. Red wine with tannins has a furry flavour.
Jus is a highly reduced and cooked, i.e. intense meat and bone-based sauce with acidity, salt and roasted flavours. It clearly enhances (umami) the flavours of a red wine whose tannins harmonise with those of the sauce. A young white wine, on the other hand, would not work. It would lose all its fruitiness and freshness and would not be able to cope with the fat. The subtle flavours of a white Burgundy would also have considerable problems.
Velouté, another basic sauce of French cuisine with butter, flour and stock. In principle, it is a roux that requires a fresh wine. A sparkling wine is ideal here, as it breaks up the firm creaminess of the roux.
Béchamel does not require any stock, but is made from fat and milk. A creamy white wine, which balances out the saturated fats, goes particularly well with it.
Tomato sauce contains a lot of umami, but also acidity. The acidity should be adapted to the wine. A Sangiovese, for example, has acidity and can balance the intensity of the sauce with its strength.
Chutney is an expressive sauce variant with hot, sweet and spicy components. This is the job of a young white wine. It packs the flavour and fruit of the chutney and binds the saltiness. The spiciness even makes it creamier. The same rule applies here: the spicier the wine, the more residual sweetness it should contain. A red wine would taste earthy and bitter here, a white Burgundy would be broad and soft, as it does not like the spiciness.
Chilli sauces are hot, fruity and often slightly sweet with honey, vinegar, oils and chillies. It is similar to chutneys. A fresh and sweet white wine is required.

Basic rule 5: Maturity and freshness

A classic example here is Sauvignon Blanc and goat's cheese. Sancerre and Chavignol are a regional match. Sometimes wine and cheese come from the same place. The rule is: if the cheese is young, the wine should also be young. If the cheese is mature, the wine should also be mature.