Three false myths to debunk in wine and food pairing, from oysters with Champagne to a digestif at the end of a meal.

The absence of specific knowledge (in any field) often subjects us to behaviors and rituals that we repeat continuously without asking ourselves questions. Life often, due to the frenzy of its flow, leaves no room for questions to reflect on or considerations that can lead to further investigation. This is life, this is its fast flow. There are areas in which the question of whether it is right or wrong to act in a certain way, has no space precisely because it has always been like that and therefore the subconscious does not find the stimulus for a reflective analysis.

One of these areas is closely linked to our food and wine supply chain and here the Table, which represents a sort of perfect setting for it, is starting to be a “dangerous” training ground for incorrect style exercises.

There are many examples to bring to light, together with just as many corrective actions to be implemented, but it is not important to reel off the complete list, but rather, to understand why it is wrong to carry on rituals that studies and insights have revealed, over time, to be incorrect.

How many times have we found ourselves faced with a triumph of oysters paired with Champagne or Franciacorta (which would be better in principle since it is a local product...) believing that we were in front of one of the best combinations existing at the table? The answer is: always! Here the first myth collapses, one of the many certainties of lovers of good food crumbles. There are few things more wrong than the pairing oysters & bubbles .

The oyster, in fact, naturally produces a zinc sensation that in contact with CO2 generates metallic notes on the palate, but no one notices because in the collective imagination combining an oyster with a glass of bubbles represents the ecstasy of the senses, the sexiest combination that exists and therefore there is no discussion. Replace the bubbles with a Chablis, for example, and you will find a perfect balance between the two components!. ​​Chablis grows on a terrain formed by millenary stratifications of marine fossils, 90% of which is composed of oyster shells: on the palate you will find an unparalleled harmony and you yourself will no longer consider the bubbles when talking about oysters.

How many weddings, graduation parties, birthdays have you attended that ended with the inevitable " sweet ending " consisting of a beautiful cake accompanied by a sparkling wine (Trento Doc, Franciacorta, Champagne etc etc ...)? Do we want to say 90% of the time? The second myth is about to collapse ... The correct rules of pairing, in fact, always include a contrast between the tendency of the dish and that of the wine except for dessert: dessert wants dessert! Do not let a Brut contrast your dessert unnecessarily but let it be accompanied, depending on its type, by a wonderful Moscato d'Asti or a passito for example. Do it consciously and new sensations will open up that will help you understand the correctness of your choice.

The feeling of satiety (not to mention heaviness) that often accompanies the end of a dinner with friends in which perhaps one has overdone it a bit with food and wine, is very often alleviated by asking for a nice glass of grappa or bitter. The destruction (in this case the term is very appropriate) of the third myth, of the third popular legend is coming.

Ask yourself this question: in your opinion, does adding 40/45° of alcohol to a digestive process speed it up or slow it down? The answer doesn't even need to be written, yet our brain is so shaped by habits that it even convinces us that that glass that exudes such a high alcohol content is able to help us in that moment of objective heaviness, leading us to a satisfied exclamation like "Ah... now I feel better!"... and maybe we even take another glass!

Attention, the writer is a great lover of grappa and does not want to be a I accuse towards this precious liquid that often accompanies the end of our evenings, but simply wants to open a discussion on its correct use. Compared to what has been debated so far, the important thing is to start from a fundamental assumption: it is not a matter of being picky or wanting to necessarily contrast what we can call a sort of traditions handed down from time immemorial. It is only a matter of giving an answer to a question: why should we deprive our palate of the emotion that comes from a dish correctly paired with a wine?

After all, the pleasure of the Table is precisely this, don't you think? It's not just about filling your stomach, but about appropriating a conscious emotion that can give us a fair reward while respecting tradition and conviviality, yes, but dispelling false myths that deprive us of the right emotions of that Table on which our great Food reigns together with our great tricolor Wine of which we Italians should be ambassadors in the world. Bacchus, ancient God of Wine and Demeter, ancient goddess of Agriculture, represent the very idyll of marriage that the Table seals by placing itself as their home, but as with all marriages, the pillars for a lasting cohabitation require a solid foundation, a basic harmony that we are called to guarantee, in this case, as impartial arbiters of pleasure.

Whistle in mouth, then, and let a new one begin match in the name of conscious satisfaction of the senses!!

Written by Carlo Attisano for mangiaebevi.it