Meet Your Match: A Domaine Carneros Guide to Pairing Food & Wine

Salt: Wine's Best Friend

Salt makes wine feel silkier and more expressive. It's why méthode traditionnelle sparkling and caviar are eternal companions, and why our 2019 Ultra Brut sings alongside briny oysters. Salty foods—from potato chips to fried chicken to burrata with flaky salt—make high-acid wines feel rounder and more generous. Pair our 2021 Estate Brut or 2021 Brut Rosé with anything crisp and salty.

Acid: Match the Brightness

Acidic dishes reduce the perception of acidity in wine, making it taste sweeter and fruitier. But if the food is zingier than the wine, your wine falls flat. The fix? Match bright foods with bright wines. Lemon-dressed salads, ceviche, and tomato-rich dishes love our 2019 Ultra Brut or 2021 Estate Brut—both offer the high-acid structure to stand up to tangy preparations.

Sweet: The Wine Should Always Win

Sweetness in food makes dry wine taste more bitter and less fruity. Rule of thumb: your wine should be at least as sweet as your dish. For glazes like honey-mustard salmon or fruit-forward dishes like peach and prosciutto, opt for wines with generous fruit flavors rather than bone-dry styles. Our 2022 Verméil Demi-Sec's luscious profile is a much better match for sweet-leaning dishes than Ultra Brut.

Spice: Cool It Down

The heat from chili peppers isn't technically a taste—it's a pain signal. Capsaicin activates pain receptors, and alcohol amplifies that burn by dissolving capsaicin and spreading it across your palate. High-alcohol or high-tannin wines make spicy food feel even hotter, while sweetness, bubbles, and lower alcohol provide relief. Our 2022 Verméil Demi-Sec (off-dry sparkling) is ideal with Thai curry or spicy tacos. If you want to stay dry, opt for bright, fruit-forward styles like the 2021 Brut Rosé over tannic reds. The carbonation in sparkling wine also helps cleanse the palate between bites.