Wine and Food Matcher

Find the perfect wine pairing for any dish or the dish to go with the wine you already have by using the wine and food matcher below. You can also find a great wine for a birthday, wedding, dinner party and many more special occasions.

You can also post the wine and food matcher on your site or blog.

How will the Drinks Matcher look?

Here are examples below of how the Drinks Matcher widget looks on Facebook or a blog. You can also e-mail the widget to a friend or to share it on Twitter by clicking on their icons in the Get & Share box.

By Bill Daley

If you ask me, way too many people will mark St. Patrick's Day by sudsing it up with green beer. The rest of us can take heart; there are other liquid alternatives out there guaranteed to brighten the day. Take "green" wine. What fits the definition of green? Depends on whom you ask.

"When I think of 'green' wines, those that come to mind are zippy whites with herbal notes such as New Zealand sauvignon blanc, Italian verdicchio and Austrian gruner veltliner," said Natalie MacLean, author and creator of a free online food and wine matching system. 

By Judy Creighton

When it comes to the task of pairing vegetables with wine, an award-winning sommelier and wine writer is up to the challenge.

"A lot of us are eating a lot more than meat these days, and even if you haven't gone completely vegetarian, the move towards more healthy eating means there is a lot more greenery on our plates," says Natalie MacLean. But she does agree the match between the plate and the glass becomes more challenging when it comes to seeking veggie-friendly wines. 

A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken suits Natalie MacLean just fine, thank you. It creates a challenge to do what she does best — pairing wines with food. This internationally renowned wine aficionado and expert admits without abashment that she can't cook.

"But I've learned how to compensate for my lack of cooking skills by matching wines with every kind of meal, including fast food," says MacLean. She and her family indulge in all sorts of ready prepared foods from dining out, takeout, TV dinners and deli stuff to canned beans and "even our son's mac and cheese, which by the way goes beautifully with a Chilean Chardonnay."  

By Claudia Perry

How do you marry cheese and wine? As with any hopeful pairing, a little counseling never hurts.

"I think you should drink what you like and eat what you like and put them together in ways that create the most pleasure for you," says Natalie MacLean, a wine expert who wrote Red, White and Drunk All Over. "But I wouldn't have a job if I didn't give some guidelines for which wines work better with certain cheeses."

Among useful features on her website, nataliemaclean.com, is the Wine & Food Matcher, which allows you to select a food -- including more than 200 cheeses -- and get wine pairing suggestions. Say you'll be serving a French cheese such as Anneau du Vic-Bilh. Punch that in and get back two white wine suggestions: sauvignon blanc or semillon. 

By Gretchen Roberts

When it comes to wine matching, avocado has a reputation as a difficult date. "I call ‘Green Wine Stalkers’ because their natural compounds don’t marry well with many wine styles,” says Natalie MacLean, author of Red, White, and Drunk All Over. MacLean suggests pairing avocado dishes with zesty whites, such as New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. “The mouth-watering acidity in the wine cuts through the sweetness and fattiness of the fruit. That’s why a non-vintage sparking wine or Pinot Grigio also works.”

Red wines are a tougher match, MacLean says, because the tannins in the wine can clash with the fruit’s high oil content. She likes to pair avocados with light, fruity reds such as Beaujolais and Pinot Noir.