Umami-Rich Mushrooms Can Actually Save Bad-Tasting Wine

To the wine sippers out there who take one swig of Cabernet, only to spit it out to avoid having your tongue further assaulted by its strong flavors, there is still hope! Don't write off bad wines just yet, because mushrooms are here to save the day. The right food pairing can be a real godsend when it comes to enhancing your enjoyment of wine. This has everything to do with the chemical reactions that take place when these umami-infused fungi hit your palette before or after a wine tasting. The goal here is for the flavors to balance and complement one another, rather than masking one or the other. Depending on the type of wine you choose and how you like to prepare your mushrooms, you can achieve a match made in heaven.

According to the mushroom experts at Field and Forest Products, you'll want to grab the earthiest-tasting mushrooms you can find for the best wine enhancer. They advise that "shiitake, portabella, porcini, and morel pair well with fuller bodied wines, like a barrel-aged chardonnay, pinot noir, Nebbiolo, Syrah, cabernet sauvignon, or zinfandel." You can also take it a step further by sautéing your mushrooms in butter to really bring out their natural savoriness. Better still, use them as a topping on some deliciously seasoned red meat — another food that can make the taste of wine easier to appreciate.

But what is so special about mushrooms, specifically, that makes this possible?

There's a lot that goes into the science of food pairing. A wine's alcohol content, tannins, acid levels, and sweetness all play a role in how effective your combo of choice will be. For example, you wouldn't want to pair red wine with a fatty main course like salmon or cod, since the tannins and fat would just negate one another. And if you're drinking wine with high tannin levels without any food at all to complement it, you'll be left with a dry, astringent-like taste in your mouth. Experimenting with different food pairings is often necessary if you want to give reds a real shot and expand your horizons. It's a surefire way to use the process of elimination to figure out what you like and what you don't since everyone's perception of taste is different!

Hearty meats, cheese, and other umami foods, like mushrooms, work best with wines that are low in tannins and have a higher acidity. Once the proteins and salty undertones in the food hit your tongue, the earthy flavors work to bring down the acidic taste, sweetness, and intensity of the wine, making it a less harsh tasting experience overall. Now your next step is to find yourself a cool-climate chardonnay or merlot to pair with your next savory, mushroom-slathered steak dinner and let the magic happen.