Acid With Acid

[Thomas]

Last night I enjoyed a complete dinner with just one wine all the way through it. We started with three different oysters on the half shell--just a squirt of lemon, if you please, no hot sauce, thank you; then we had fiddle heads (sp) over fetuccine; then we had sauteed soft shell blue crabs with garlic smashed potatoes and asparagus. Lots of different things going on in that meal--minerals and brine, tartaric acids, you name it. Heron Hill 2000 Dry Riesling, with an acid content of about .8% and a mineral quality that speaks volumes about the level of achievement in the Finger Lakes region.

Why do I point this out? Some would say those crabs go well with Chardonnay, and until last night I would have been one of them.

Definitely, preference plays a role, but I think chemistry plays an even more important role. One's mouth ph is important when talking about taste preference.

I like both same/same and contrary tastes when I pair wine with food, for different reasons. And, while we are on the subject, not every Chianti is as acidic as the one before or after it. It is too general to make broad, sweeping statements and I promise to stop doing so from now on...