Olive oil and balsamic, flavouring profile

Olive oil and balsamic, flavouring profile

Balsamic vinegar is sour and sweet at the same time, and the wine has to be at least as sharp as the vinegar and not much drier than its sweetness.

The compounds that matter. Acetic acid in the vinegar, which resets the palate so that any wine less sharp tastes flat. The concentrated grape sugar of aged balsamic, which makes a bone dry wine taste thin. In good olive oil, a peppery, faintly bitter bite at the back of the throat, which makes tannin taste harsher.

What it demands of a wine. High acidity above all, with a little fruit sweetness or ripeness to meet the balsamic. No tannin to speak of. Freshness matters more than weight, since this is usually eaten with bread before a meal.

Seek. Riesling Kabinett from the Mosel, off dry and searingly fresh, which answers sweet and sour together. For a bone dry glass, a darker Italian rosato such as Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, whose cherry fruit meets the balsamic. Frappato from Sicily, pale and cool, the rare red that sits happily beside vinegar. Where balsamic is poured over strawberries, Brachetto d'Acqui, sweet, pink and lightly sparkling.

Avoid

Tannic reds, since the vinegar and the bitter edge of the oil make their grip harsh. Soft, low acid whites and oaked wines, which the vinegar leaves tasting flat and heavy.

Three to reach for. Off dry Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany. Darker rosato, Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, Italy. Frappato, Sicily, Italy.