The One Type Of Wine You'll Regret Pairing With Salty Food

While a big bowl of french fries is a martini's best friend, and sodium-packed bar snacks and beer just happen to go together terrifically, wine can be a little tricker to match with salty foods. There are reasons why steak is classically great with so many reds, and why white is a winner for most raw fish. Each pour's own qualities complement what's on the plate. And, because saline as a general flavor does not get quite as much attention as the more obvious protein considerations, you might just end up with a lackluster combo the next time you're cracking open a bottle.

Chowhound uncorked some answers with Marc Lioussanne of Selune wine bar in Brooklyn, New York. "High-tannin reds like Bordeaux blends or malbec don't pair well because salt amplifies their bitterness and astringency," he says. But if you're truly married to rouge, a lower-tannin pour like a Gamay or a pinot noir might fare a bit better.

Champagne is perfect with caviar, and caviar is excellent with potato chips, so, by the law of luxury foodstuff implications, champagne is also going to be wonderful with other salty delights. A similar principle applies to wines that share champagne's characteristics, like a prosecco's bubbles, or the lighter effervescence of a vinho verde. More acidic still white wines like sauvignon blancs are also able to cut through salt's prickly profile quite nicely.

Once you've had your fill of fish eggs, sparkling wine is also great with those salty, fried foods. Prosecco being so much more affordable than real deal champagne makes the former more appropriate with popcorn on movie night, or with mixed nuts at happy hour. The vinho verdes also enliven all of those saline tinned fish varieties. And a crisp, cold sauvignon blanc, of course, is tops with freshly shucked oysters and their briny taste of the sea.