Oenology in the kitchen: The sensory experience offered by culinary dishes cooked with alcoholic drinks, grapes and grape leaves

Abstract

A good pairing is based on the complementary role of wine on the four important factors of food: components, textures, flavors and colors. Common wine and food examples of food preparation with wine or vine products, such as grapes or vine leaves, exemplify numerous similarities and contrasting characteristics in those four parameters, which we can find in an enjoyable meal. The knowledge of the internal anatomy and composition of both grape berries, which includes the skin, the mesocarp and the endocarp, and vine leaf, which includes the vascular system, parenchymatous mesophyll and epidermis, is essential to know how to develop new, tastier and healthier dishes. An understanding of these ideas is important when defining gastronomic tourism strategies and even local restaurant concepts and ideas. The aim of this review is to provide some insights about the sensory experiences offered by culinary dishes cooked with grapes, vine leaves and wines and other alcoholic beverages like distilled spirits and liqueurs, bearing in mind that wine will be the drink of elation for accompanying such dishes.