Regional Wines and Traditional Food Pairings

Wine does not care about tradition

Some people might tell you, especially when we are talking about traditional European countries. That if you have a regional wine, you should pair it with a local, traditional dish, since the food and the wine “were raised together”. And yes, going to a region like Muscadet the regional seafood will be a great pairing with the local Melon de Bourgogne. But also, a wine is so much more than just its origin. Yes, many regional wines will be amazing pairings with the local cuisine. They were after all designed for each other, over generations.

But that is not all that a wine has to offer!

Given a chance, wines are happy to cross borders and meet and fall in love with new dishes from all over the world. It you haven’t yet tried a German Riesling with a Chinese sweet and sour tofu dish. You have not lived! New Zealand Pinot Gris with Thai green curry, Argentinian Malbec with a classical stew with a lot of juniper. The combinations are unlimited. And now when the food trend is fusion to the extreme, the best wine pairings will come from unexpected, cross-border combinations.

Tradition is great and should be respected, but for the future, we must also be open minded, to embrace the new cultures we are exposed to. And make the best we can from the new fantastic combinations that become available to us.