The dangers of pairing wine to food

1 April 2024

Pairing wine with food is all about finding the perfect combination. The wine and the food together should enhance your dining experience.

There are lots of books and apps out there ready to tell you what you should and shouldn’t be drinking with a particular meal. There is no harm in reading them and taking the advice they offer, but if you don’t agree with the advice, that is absolutely fine.

It is all too easy to get wrapped up in ‘the rules’, but everyone should be free to make their own choices based on their own personal tastes, without feeling that they are in some way wrong. Otherwise, something which should be a pleasure becomes a stressful situation.

There is a myth that to enjoy wine, you should be able to ‘understand’ it. That takes years of experience, which most people don’t have. The good news is, it’s not actually necessary to understand wine on any sort of deep level. The only thing you should understand about wine is enjoyment.

By tasting lots of wines and combining them with lots of foods, you will come to understand the really important thing – which wine is best for you.

a group of people are toasting with wine glasses

Pairing wine and food

If you are confused about food and wine combinations, speak to us here at Three Choirs Vineyard or at a wine shop rather than the supermarket for some advice to get you started. Tell them your budget and what you are planning to cook and they will be able to come up with some suggestions.

This will give you ideas to use in future, as you start to understand the right pairings for you and the people you are cooking for.

Food tends to affect the taste of the wine more than the wine affects the taste of the food.

If the food is sweet, the wine might taste more bitter, more acid, less fruity and less sweet. If the food is salty, the wine will taste less bitter, more fruity and less acid. If the dish is acidic, the wine will taste less bitter, less acid, more fruity and softer.

There are some general rules that many people follow, which seem to work well. In short, full-bodied wines tend to go well with full-flavoured dishes, while lighter wines with less alcohol tend to complement food with more subtle flavours.

Some of these basic rules are:


  • Salty foods, such as fish, work well with white wines. Champagne and sparkling wines also complement seafood.
  • Spicy foods can be overwhelming with some wines, but a sweet white wine can help reduce the heat of the food. Others might prefer a fruity red wine with a spicy curry.
  • Red meats work well with red wine, while white meats, such as chicken, tend to work better with white wine, including sparkling wines.
  • Sweet foods should be paired with a wine which tastes sweeter than the food, or the wine will be overwhelmed by the food and lose its flavour.

several bottles of three choirs wine are lined up on a table

No rights or wrongs

The danger with food and wine pairings is that there is so much information out there, that it can become overwhelming and take all the pleasure out of drinking wine.

Enjoying wine with dinner should be one of life’s pleasures and the feeling that you’re drinking the ‘wrong’ wine can take away some of that pleasure. But there are no rights or wrongs, and nobody should judge you for your choices. If you prefer a white wine, there is no reason why you can’t drink it with red meat.

A wine you love combined with food you love will generally taste amazing. But that might just be because it’s good food and good wine, not that it is some magical combination which is greater than the sum of its parts.

Sometimes you might pair a wine and food which aren’t the right combination for you. That isn’t a great problem, because you will know not to pair them again in future, and you can continue to experiment with better combinations.

Variable factors

When you drink wine, there’s lots of factors going on which influence how you personally taste that wine. And that will be different for everyone.

There are lots of variables which influence how we each perceive a wine. These range from how well rested and hydrated you are to what you ate or drank before the first sip of wine, what kind of emotional state you are in and even the influence of knowing the price of the wine. And that is before we take into account that everyone tastes things slightly differently.

A sour tasting meal will taste much sourer for some people than for others. So, a wine recommended to pair perfectly with that meal will taste great for some people but may taste unpleasant for others. That means even an absolute sure-fire combination of food and wine will still be a ‘failure’ for some people because there are just too many variables to take into account.

When it comes to pairing wine to food, there is no ‘wrong’. There is no shame in choosing a combination which isn’t recommended by the experts or that your friends and family don’t think is right. The only important thing is to enjoy the food and to enjoy the wine.

If you choose food you like and wine you like, you can’t go wrong. You can take and follow advice from books or apps or from a waiter in a restaurant, but you shouldn’t expect it to be something more magical than it actually is.

And if you do choose a wine which really doesn’t work at all with what you’re eating, simply put the cork back in and put it away in the fridge to enjoy tomorrow on its own or with a different meal! What is so bad about that?

The danger of pairing wine to food is that pursuing the perfect combination takes away some of the joy of just eating and drinking. The truth is that there is always more than one right combination of food and wine. In fact, there are generally many bottles of wine that are right for a particular dish and very few that are wrong.
And if you’re drinking a wine you like with food you enjoy, but the combination isn’t perfect, does it really matter? You are still enjoying good food and good wine, and that is a win in most people’s eyes.

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The history of Three Choirs Vineyard and English wine

24 July 2026
The very first vines were planted at Three Choirs Vineyard in 1974. There was just half an acre of vines, and it was more as an experiment than any serious intention to become English winemakers. Thomas Shaw, managing director of Three Choirs Vineyard, said: “At the start, with only half an acre, Three Choirs produced hardly any bottles of wine. It was just a bit of fun!” We weren’t the earliest English vineyard, but we were certainly in the first five. And that first experiment with vines at Three Choirs was a success, so we started planting more. Once we got to five acres of vines, we had to think more seriously about how to sell the wine. Thomas continued: “In those early days, there was lot of interest in English vineyards from organisations like the WI and University of Third Age. Coachloads of older people were going to vineyards wanting to drink a bit of wine. That market has changed and we don’t have those visitors any more.” Those early grapes were Germanic in origin, which is what best suited the climate at the time. Historically, the English climate has always been closer to that of Germany than France – colder, wetter and with longer winters. By the early 1990s, there were 75 acres of vines here and the winemaking had got a lot more serious! At this point, the big outlet for selling our wine was the supermarkets. We’ve sold to nearly all the supermarkets at different times, including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. There are also small independent wine merchants who specialise in English wine. Now most high street wine merchants will have an English wine section. These sections are always quite small, because English vineyards are still not huge producers, despite climate change. Three Choirs Vineyard was the third biggest English vineyard in the 90s. Now it is in the top 20. Some of the other vineyards have done a lot of planting in the last 20 or 30 years. Thomas added: “We’ve stayed the same size since the 90s. It’s all the land we own, and I feel it’s the right quantity to be producing – matching our sales to production. “We have seen some of the bigger vineyards taking vines out in recent years because they’re overproducing.” Where is the best place in England to grow vines and produce wine? There’s no straightforward answer! Thomas said: “It depends what you want to produce as to where is the best place to grow vines. You have to consider what your conditions are best for. Everywhere is different. You have to look at your land, take advice and grow the best fruit you can. “Producers of sparkling English wine want to sell for £35 or £40 a bottle, but it’s hard to get that sort of money for a bottle of wine.” English wine has always been predominantly grown in the south of the country because the north has always been too cold and too wet. There is also a South West/ South East split, because the climates between the two regions do differ.
A tasting flight of wines from Three Choirs Vineyard

What to expect from a vineyard wine tasting day

22 May 2026
Thinking of coming along to Three Choirs Vineyard for a wine tasting day and not sure what to expect? There is no need to feel nervous. What you can expect is a fun and relaxing day. Thomas Shaw, managing director of Three Choirs Vineyard, said: “A lot of people are intimidated by the thought of going to a vineyard wine tasting. Pompous talk of wine scares people. They’re worried that they need to know a lot about wine and scared of making a fool themselves or asking a silly question. “But we’re here to make it friendly, relaxed and enjoyable. If you know nothing, it doesn’t matter, nobody is going to make you feel uncomfortable.” In the UK, we don’t have a culture of visiting vineyards. But in parts of Europe, Australia and California, visiting a vineyard and tasting the wines is as normal as going to the pub! Here at Three Choirs Vineyard, we offer both guided and self-guided wine tasting sessions. Self-guided sessions include either lunch and a vineyard walk or just a vineyard walk. The guided tour includes a visit to the winery and lunch. For a self-guided session, you do everything at your own pace, with a pamphlet for information. A guided tour is led by a member of staff who will show visitors the winery operation and talk them through the wines. Thomas continued: “There are different experiences depending on what you think you would like. Have a look on the website to see what’s currently on offer and what you feel suits you best.” You can explore the different options on our wine tasting packages page . For a self-guided tour, you can do it as a pair or in a group of up to six friends. For a guided tour, you will join a slightly larger group, but we always keep numbers low, so you have plenty of opportunity to chat to the staff member leading the session. On a wine tasting day, you will taste five wines of 50ml each, which adds up to about a large glass of wine in total. The wines will be selected by the guide or member of staff on duty, but the selection will usually include a red, a rose, a sparkling wine and two whites. Thomas said: “If you don’t like one of the wines, don’t drink it! You might not like all five and that’s OK. When we give you five wines to taste, we want them to be different, so it is possible there will be one you don’t like as much as the others.” You may have seen wine tasting on TV, where someone sniffs the wine, swills it around their mouth and then spits it out. We don’t encourage that here! It can be off-putting and intimidating for others wine tasting with you. We want everyone to enjoy their wine when they come to a wine tasting session, which means drinking it as normal. If you are visiting for wine tasting, do allow time for a walk in the vineyard. We have 75 acres of vines and there is lots of wildlife to see, whatever time of year you visit. We encourage visitors to stick to the trails because we have active rabbits on the vineyard who dig holes in the ground which can be an accident risk! If you are planning to do wine tasting, have lunch, visit the winery and have a walk, we would recommend allowing three to four hours for your visit. You can book a table for lunch or supper in our restaurant here . For a special occasion, a nice, relaxing way to visit is to do wine tasting in the late afternoon, have supper in the restaurant, stay overnight and have breakfast the next morning. You can check availability and book accommodation here . And if you’re visiting for someone else’s celebration, but you don’t like wine at all, you can just have a G&T or something else while your partner, friend or family member is enjoying the wine. Thomas concluded: “There’s something for everyone here. There’s no pressure to like wine or to be interested in it. It’s about relaxing and enjoying yourself in our peaceful vineyard.”

Meet the varietals at Three Choirs Vineyard

27 April 2026
A varietal is a wine made completely or predominantly from a single grape variety. The word varietal is used uniquely for wine. There are a huge number of grape varieties grown all over the world, with some only grown in certain areas – from the northern hemisphere in Canada through to the sunshine of California, the temperate climate of Germany or the traditional wine making regions of France and Italy, down to the southern hemisphere and Australia and New Zealand. When the wine industry in the UK began, vineyards like Three Choirs Vineyard started out with German grape varieties, because we share a similar climate. These varieties include Schonburger, Reichensteiner and Siegerrebe, which have all grown successfully in England. Thomas Shaw, managing director of Three Choirs Vineyard, said: “The problem with German grape varieties is that German wine had a bad reputation. Things like Liebfraumilch and Black Tower were pretty poor quality wines. The Germans did produce some good wine, but they never exported it!” Over the years, the English wine industry has moved away from German varieties to trying to grow more traditional grape varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These are seen as more desirable than a lot of the German varieties, but will grow in slightly cooler climates like ours. Thomas continued: “That’s where the English wine industry is now. A lot of what is produced in England is sparkling and is made from traditional French grape varieties and in the traditional French style.” Here at Three Choirs Vineyard, we currently grow Seyval Blanc – a hybrid which has been designed to grow in cooler climates and to be relatively disease resistant. We’ve also got Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and some of the old German varieties like Schonburger and Reichensteiner. The vineyard has been on a rolling replacement programme over the last 10 years. We have 75 acres of vines and over the last decade we have replaced 50 acres of vines – mainly replacing German varieties with traditional grapes. In recent years, there has been a big push, particularly from the New World (countries like USA and Australia) to produce wines from one grape variety like Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. But the classic way of making wine in Europe (the Old World) was to have blends of two or three grape varieties to create your wine. At Three Choirs, we make both single variety wines and blended wines. And visitors to the vineyard can try both. Contrary to the view of many, Thomas believes the best wines in the world today are blended wines. He concluded: “All the grape varieties have different characteristics, which will vary from year to year depending on growing conditions of that year. If you’re making a single variety Chardonnay and it’s not a very good year, you’re not going to make a good wine. “That’s the beauty of the blend – if it’s not a good year for one, it will probably be a good year for another, so you can tweak your recipe.”

Spring in the vineyard: New growth, new promise

27 March 2026
Spring in the vineyard here at Three Choirs Vineyard is an exciting time of year, as we look forward to the bud burst on the vines. It is a relatively quiet season on the vineyard. All the work of the winter has been completed. The pruning must be finished before the vines start to show signs of life, and everything around the vines is tidy, to help reduce disease later in the year. As we move into spring, we hope the pollinators, like bees and insects, have wintered well and will be ready to start their work pollinating around the vineyard. Bud burst can happen any time from mid-April to mid-May and is the time when the vines, which have been dormant through the winter, first begin to produce new shoots. These shoots will become leaves or flowers. During the bud burst phase, the vines are quite susceptible to frost damage. Thomas Shaw, managing director of Three Choirs Vineyard, said: “It’s lovely to see the trees coming into bud in early spring, but we don’t want the vines to be doing that in March. “We don’t like spring to be too early, because we worry about the vines coming into bud and then being damaged by a late frost. “We prefer cold, sunny, dry winters to keep the vines dormant until the risk of frost has passed.” The bud burst is gradual, because all varieties of grape are different. Some varieties come into bud earlier than others, while some are more resistant if there is a late frost. As the buds burst and the leaves start to appear, that’s when we will get a hint of what we might expect in the harvest. The number of buds will indicate the number of potential fruit at harvest. With the excitement of the summer yet to start, spring at Three Choirs is a time to reflect on the beauty of the vineyard. Thomas concluded: “For me, spring is the time I like the most. It is the prettiest time of year. The vines are neat and tidy and there is a little ribbon of bright green new growth across the vineyard from the end of April and into May. “You see it all, full of new hope. Let’s hope it looks like it’s going to be another good year, with everything growing beautifully!” As the vineyard awakens for another promising season, spring is the perfect moment to experience its beauty firsthand. Why not join us for a relaxing break in one of our Vineyard Lodges and see the bud burst for yourself, or settle into our brasserie for a delicious Sunday roast while enjoying the beautiful views across the vineyard under the gentle warmth of the spring sunshine. We’d love to welcome you - come and enjoy the season with us.
winter grape vines at Three Choirs Vineyard

What happens in the vineyard over winter?

28 January 2026
People often assume a vineyard is dormant in winter, but here at Three Choirs Vineyard it’s actually the beginning of the year and a very important time.
A selection of wine bottles in a cabinet which have been produced by Three Choirs Vineyard

2025: A great vintage and first release

18 December 2025
Three Choirs Vineyard enjoyed an outstanding 2025, with ideal weather, warm summers and a long growing season delivering an excellent harvest.