Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Sparkling Wine

Exquisite sparkling wine flavour pairings and recipes, revealed through data science.

Sparkling wine is marked by the flavour of sour apple and yeast. But look beneath its obvious sourness and you'll discover a captivating symphony of softer notes, a whisper of chalk, a hint of peach, and subtle accents reminiscent of butter. These are the notes that lend it such remarkable, resonant depth. The key to a remarkable combination lies in understanding how these notes interact and harmonise.

To illuminate these harmonies, we embarked on an ambitious journey, analysing thousands of ingredients. Each was meticulously deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, allowing us to pinpoint precisely which notes complement in both classic and unexpected ways. Our exploration reveals, for instance, how the pungent, spicy capsaicin in chilli flakes can infuse with sparkling wine, and how red chilli's capsicum notes forge a beautiful synergy with its crisp tartness.

An ingredient's flavour profile is determined by its core characteristics (e.g. acidic, floral, and nectarous) enhanced by layers of subtle aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim for a mix of core traits to build balance, and select complementary aroma notes to create harmony.

Unlocking Flavour Combinations

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Malic Notes

Our analysis reveals a strong connection between sour apple and bell pepper flavours. Since sparkling wine has a distinct malic flavour, try pairing it with the capsicum flavours of red chilli.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing sparkling wine with red chilli.

Harmonious Flavours Of Sparkling Wine

Just as our analysis shows that sour apple and hoppy flavour notes combine harmoniously, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in sparkling wine. For instance, the yeasty accents of sparkling wine are strongly associated with rosemary and sage-like flavours.

The aromas linked to the various notes of sparkling wine can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of chilli flakes offers many of the aroma notes complementary to sparkling wine, including capsaicin and capsicum notes. Because the flavour profile of chilli flakes has many of the of the features that are complementary to sparkling wine, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of chilli flakes across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with sparkling wine.

Recipes That Pair Sparkling Wine With Chilli Flakes

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the aromas that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of sparkling wine, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of sparkling wine, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aroma notes complementary to sparkling wine.

Which Vegetables Go With Sparkling Wine?

Choose vegetables that enrich its toastiness or anchor its crisp tartness. Jalapeño and green chilli offer vibrant, clean counterpoints, their verdant freshness lifting the palate. Serrano pepper add a gentle, oniony brightness, while red pepper introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace vegetables that harmonise with sparkling wine's juiciness. The addition of piquillo pepper, with its subtle lacteal notes, can complement the peach beautifully, while bell pepper lends a mild pepper aroma.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Sparkling wine), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.