Lesson 05 · At the table
or why your grandmother was right without knowing it
What it is
Matching food and wine comes down to two ideas, not a thousand rules. Opposites can balance each other: a sharp, lively wine cutting through a rich dish. Or like can answer like: a powerful wine with a powerful dish, a delicate one with a delicate one. Neither is better. And the simplest guide is often the best: what grows in the same region usually gets on well on the same plate.
It is the most practical lesson in the school, because it happens at your own table.
The principle
Two opposite characters that balance each other. A lively acidity cutting through the fat of a dish, a bit like lemon squeezed over an oily fish in a butter sauce. Or the deep sweetness of a Sauternes (a rich sweet wine) against the salty, punchy power of a Roquefort (a blue cheese).
Two intensities that echo each other instead of clashing, and back each other up instead of cancelling out. A powerful wine with a powerful dish, a delicate wine with a delicate dish: each leaves the other room to linger.
Neither is better than the other. The best guide is often the simplest: what grows in the same region usually ends up getting on well on the same plate.
Regional pairings
The lively acidity of an Apremont or a Roussette, two Savoie whites, cuts through the fat of the melted cheese: pure opposites. But the real genius of the Savoyards lies elsewhere. They turned an evening of melting cheese and emptying bottles of white into an essential winter ritual, almost part of the heritage. All without hiring a single consultant.
OppositesAlmost too perfect to be true. The goat's cheese takes its name from the hamlet of Chavignol, tucked in among the vines of Sancerre. The mineral liveliness of the Sauvignon, the grape in the glass, echoes the fresh tang of the cheese. Like with like, and nobody had to think about it: the land did the work.
Like with likeLike with like, all the way. Vin jaune, the Jura's "yellow wine", is deliberately oxidative (it is allowed to meet the air) and develops aromas of walnut that run straight into the same notes in a well-aged Comté. The two answer each other without arguing: one of the rare pairings where two almost extreme products end up perfectly on the same side.
Like with likeThe classic of classics, and the cleverest of the four. The wine is mineral and briny, echoing the sea in the oyster (like with like), while its liveliness cleans up the richness of the flesh (opposites). A pairing that refuses to pick a side, and quite right too.
Both at onceAnd our own
Our first wine, Éric Darles's Irancy, comes from Burgundy, the home of jambon persillé and gougères, and from the Yonne, where Soumaintrain is made a short drive away. As with the pairings above, the land did the thinking. Marcel adds one rule of his own for a young bottle: give it something with protein, cheese or meat, because the protein binds with the tannins and keeps your mouth from drying.
Dijon · snails, as one must · September 2026
Nîmes · at the table · June 2025
The traps
Some foods are not being difficult on purpose. They are just awkward with wine by nature, and we did not invent this: generations of sommeliers wrote it down long before us.
To avoid
Some combinations are not just clumsy. They are downright counterproductive.
A tannic red with oysters or any other raw seafood: the iron naturally present in the wine reacts with the seafood and leaves a metallic, almost fishy aftertaste. A classic to avoid, as a rule. A very sweet dessert, above all chocolate, with a dry wine: the sugar flattens the wine's acidity and balance, and it suddenly tastes thin and bitter. The golden rule here: the wine should always be at least as sweet as the dessert. And a very spicy dish with a strong, high-alcohol wine: the alcohol turns up the burn of the chilli instead of calming it. Better a wine lower in alcohol.
At a glance
| If you are eating | try |
|---|---|
| Oysters, raw seafood | a Muscadet, never a tannic red |
| A chocolate dessert | a wine at least as sweet as the dessert, not a dry one |
| A very spicy dish | a white such as Riesling or Gewurztraminer rather than a red, and nothing too strong in alcohol |
What tannin is, and what it does in your mouth: see the Tannins lesson.
What grows in the same region usually gets on well on the same plate.
Wine on its own
Some wines, on the other hand, are enough on their own. The great sweet wines such as Sauternes can be so concentrated, so rich, that they work as a dessert in their own right. No need to hunt for a clever pairing: a moment of quiet with the glass is plenty. Champagne may go elegantly with almost anything, yet it is probably the only wine we sometimes open just for itself, without a dish in mind at all.
Try it at home
Next time you sit down with a plate and a bottle, ask just one thing: do they complete each other, or echo each other? "Opposites, or like with like?" And if one completely flattens the other, it is nobody's fault. Just a marriage to rethink next time.
The words
| accord mets et vins | food and wine pairing |
| opposition | opposites: two contrary characters that balance each other |
| similitude | like with like: two intensities that echo each other |
| liquoreux | a great sweet wine, such as Sauternes |
| oxydatif | allowed to meet the air on purpose, like vin jaune |
| iodé | briny, tasting of the sea |
| cynarine | cynarin, the molecule in artichoke that makes wine taste oddly sweet |