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“Relax,” is Chris Tracy’s advice to people who stress out over food-and-wine pairing. “If you don’t like your first attempt, try the next. Wine should be fun, educational, and—most important—delicious.” And he would know. Along with serving as winemaker at one of Long Island’s best, most interesting wineries, Tracy is a French Culinary Institute–trained chef, ex-restaurant reviewer, and certified sommelier.
When choosing a wine to drink with a particular food, he quips that the most important factor is to “Know and drink what you like.” He suggests focusing on “the body of the wine, (then) residual sugar and tannins are the most important components to consider. Forget about color.”
For ethnic dishes—such as bobotie—Tracy suggests focusing on the “weight of the food, complexity of the flavors, and the nature and intensity of the seasoning—spice and heat.”
Not surprisingly, Tracy mentions Long Island as one of the world’s most food-friendly wine regions, but adds that “Every wine region has its strengths, and nearly all wine is created to be consumed with food.”
With bobotie Tracy recommends a few different wines. From his own cellar, he’d pour “our 2007 Rosato di Merlot or 2007 Rosato di Cabernet Sauvignon . . . or both,” For a wine closer to the dish’s origin, he suggests “a soft, fruity South African Pinotage” too.
Just remember to relax. There isn’t any one perfect wine for any dish. “Every day the perfect match can change according to hundreds of factors.”
