Overview

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Food and wine pairing can feel subjective, but there are clear ways to make better choices. In this beginner-friendly course, you’ll learn how to evaluate both the wine side and the food side of a pairing by looking at structure, texture, aroma, and flavor. You’ll explore how to assess a wine’s weight and profile foods in a more systematic way so you can predict stronger matches. The course also shows you how to adjust a wine or a dish when a pairing is not working, helping you make more informed and flexible decisions. Along the way, you’ll examine the common pitfalls known as the “seven deadly sins” of wine and food pairing and use them to improve your tasting judgment. By the end of the course, you’ll build your own personal wine and food scoring system to support future pairing decisions. This course is a strong fit for beginners, wine enthusiasts, hospitality learners, and anyone who wants a practical framework for pairing wine with meals in everyday or professional settings.

Syllabus

Getting Started
Food and Wine Pairing Principles

Can you drink red wine with fish? In this course, we’ll discuss the often perplexing question of how to pair wine with food, and the physical, structural, textural, and aromatic aspects of both the "wine side" and the "food side" of the equation. We’ll discuss ways to improve your ability to make flavorful choices and determine the structure and "weight" of a wine. To help you predict a good food match, we’ll talk about the process of flavor profiling and how to decide whether to change a wine or food to make a pair work.

Food and Wine Pairing Activity

In this module, we’ll discuss the "seven deadly sins" of wine and food pairing, and you’ll develop a personal wine and food scoring system.

Review

This assessment evaluates your understanding of wine and food pairing principles, including wine structure, flavor profiling, pairing strategies, and common pairing mistakes. Learners will apply key concepts used to create balanced and complementary wine and food combinations.

Project: Fully Describe a Wine From an Unusual Region or Varietal

In this module, we’ll conclude our journey into wine tasting with a project that will demonstrate your understanding of the physiological process of wine tasting and the sensory techniques required for accurate wine analysis. You’ll apply the skills you have developed to making a critical evaluation and description of a specific wine. Working with fellow learners in this peer review process, you will demonstrate your ability to describe the appellation, climate, winery, varietal and winemaking style as well as describe the visual, and tactile aspects of the wine. You’ll also describe the flavor and aroma of the wine, and make decisions about the best and worst food pairings for the wine.