I met Katinka several years ago as part of a small group who spent a three hour long lunch with her as she guided us through the principles and practice of matching food with wine. This experience was a revelation and gave a me greater respect for the wine which can be easily ruined by a

careless food choice.

Katinka is a consultant to winemakers and chefs as well as a visiting lecturer to hotel schools and catering colleges. Her fascination with food and wine pairing began when she was the young wife of a South African diplomat serving in New York. At the many dinner parties they attended, it was fashionable to end the meal with chocolate mousse served with champagne which Katinka found unpalateable – the lovely bubbly nuances became vinegar against the sweetness of the mousse. Feeling impelled to do things differently and expressing this to her husband Albert, he reponded by saying,

 We are young diplomats and will learn how it should be done.  Just follow what the others are doing. You’ll get used to it.

But Katinka’s taste buds did not get used to it and she set forth in her inimitable way, to alter convention. 

Thus her passion for what actually works and what does not when marrying food and wine, become a second career. Diplomatic postings to the United States, Israel, Germany and the United Kingdom and many glasses of wine later, gave Katinka ample opportunity to experiment.

At her workshops she discusses basic principles to think about which once practised a few times become intuitive.

These are - weight  which is for example the difference between a piece of grilled hake and a grilled sirloin steak. The fish is light while the steak is heavy. Wines too, can be light or heavy-bodied. Consider the difference between a dry chenin blanc and a wooded chardonnay. The weight of the food should balance the weight of the wine so that neither overwhelms the other.

Flavour intensity – this is the degree of flavour that a dish has. This is apparent if we have to compare the flavour profile of white meat like

The Food and Wine Pairing Guide

chicken breast, pork fillet or veal schnitzel to red meat. The added flavourings used to prepare white meats play a bigger role than those used for more robustly flavoured meats. Consider the flavour profiles of an unwooded chenin blanc, a riesling or a gewurztraminer and it becomes clear that the more fragrant wines pair well with ethnic dishes from say, Thailand, Japan, North Africa or Mexico.

The five primary taste sensations – sweetness, acidity, saltiness, bitterness and umami (savoury). Wines and foods share basic tastes with wines  having three: sweetness,acidity and in the case of red wine, umami.

Then there are secondary considerations such as sauces, cooking methods, pepper and the echo factor.

Happily for all of us Katinka has in collaboration with Brian Burke, produced The Food and Wine Pairing Guide which explains all of the above aspects in detail and with much more. It is available from Loot.

Even better, if you are in Cape Town contact Katinka to attend one of her workshops on katfoodwine@adept.co.za