Wine and Food Pairing Class Begins at Wine Spectator School

New course teaches simple, fun and easy ways to match wines and foods

It seems like everyone is turning to the Internet when it comes to matchmaking these days, and Wine Spectator School is jumping on the bandwagon. But rather than making matches, Wine Spectator School is teaching students to create their own perfect pairings with the latest course from Wine Spectator‘s online department of higher education.

The old «white wine with fish; red wine with beef» adage just doesn’t cut it anymore. Let Wine Spectator School’s three-hour Wine & Food Pairing class teach you to match wines and foods like the pros. The course covers how to determine the «weight» of a food or wine and how to use those weights when determining what to serve or order. Matching components and flavor bridges are explained, and a long list of pairing strategies is included. Food-friendly wines and wine-friendly foods are also covered, as well as not-so-friendly foods and suggestions for determining the best wines to pair with such difficult dishes.

A step-by-step tasting that you can share with your friends takes you through the process of evaluating five wines with a range of foods, thoroughly demonstrating why many of the combinations work and why some of them do not.

The class, which costs $39, also features commentary from professional sommeliers and vintners, including Christian Moueix of Château Pétrus, Jean-Michel Cazes of Château Lynch-Bages and Angelo and Gaia Gaja of Gaja winery, among many others.

The course can be taken at any time, at your convenience, and the reference materials can be downloaded and printed to save for future use. Wine & Food Pairing does require a rudimentary understanding of the basics of wine, and Wine Spectator School director Gloria Maroti Frazee recommends first completing the Wine Spectator School ABCs of Wine Tasting or Understanding Wine courses (or a similarly solid introductory class) before signing up. For more information, click here or e-mail [email protected].