Wine & Game
Whether you like it or not, the game season has truly begun. After all the white wine and rosé from last summer, the bold, hearty red wines taste wonderfully warming again. And even better when you pair your glass of wine with a delicious piece of game. The game season is back, running from October to December. You’ll find plenty of hare, venison, roe deer, rabbit, or poultry in stores. Game is also available outside of the season, but usually frozen, and not all types of game are available year-round.
Preparing Game
Preparing game is actually not that difficult. With a decent frying pan, some fillets of, for example, pigeon or duck, and some herbs, you can be done in 6 minutes. In that sense, it’s not much different from beef. However, game meat is richer in flavor, and therefore doesn’t need much else. A scoop of mashed potatoes and some boiled vegetables, and you’ve got yourself a delicious meal. Of course, there are various preparations for different types of game, and not all of them are that simple. But the basics are easier than most people think. Moreover, game is low in calories! Often even less than lean meats like chicken or veal. It’s usually the rich side dishes and creamy sauces that add the calories. And naturally, it’s all free-range meat.
Pairing Wine and Game
Game really brings the feeling of autumn. Full, rich flavors in a comfortably heated, cozy living room while the rain taps against the windows outside. There’s only one thing that can make this even better: a strong glass of red wine. The rich and refined flavors of the dish almost demand a red wine that can offer the same. And this is important in a good wine-pairing. The wine should never overpower the dish, or vice versa. They should complement each other. Therefore, choose a wine for a dish that has a similar strength and intensity.
Look for similarities in both. Wines with many ripe notes pair well with dishes where ripe flavors are also present. A very fresh dish pairs much better with a fresh wine. If a dish has a lot of flavor, a high flavor intensity, a wine with the same high intensity works better than a more elegant, smoother wine.
A refined dish with pheasant shouldn’t be paired with a heavy, muscular red wine, while a beautiful hare stew won’t pair well with a floral, light white wine. The quality of both is also important. It’s almost a shame to let a carefully and patiently prepared venison steak from that one small artisanal butcher in the city sit at the table with a simple swill from the bargain bin.
You can also “cook towards the wine,” as it’s called. In this case, it’s necessary to taste the wine before cooking, so you know what the wine’s flavor profile is. Not too unpleasant. During cooking, you can use this new knowledge to adjust the seasoning or leave something out so the final dish pairs better with the wine. It’s not possible to alter the wine after cooking to make it fit better with the dish.
