Building a Wine Flight Pairing

A wine flight presents multiple wines in sequence, typically moving from lighter to fuller-bodied. When building food to match, each dish should complement its wine's weight, acidity, and flavour character: a crisp dry rose suits bright, fresh preparations; a rich chardonnay needs something with body and fat; a bold red calls for earthy or meaty flavours. The most effective approach, as the winning blue team showed, is to find a single ingredient or theme that runs through all three dishes, creating a progression rather than simply three separate pairings. The through line gives the diner a story to follow as the wines build.