I then asked my experts to bring a red wine they thought would pair well with the stew. We compared the wines' virtues without the food and then again with the boeuf bourguignon. This wine had a pretty bouquet, full of cherry fruit. On the palate, this wine was a velvety mouthful. We discovered cedar and spice and lots of tannins.
Tannins are the chemicals in grapes that give wine structure, especially during aging.
Too many or too youthful tannins can be astringent or dry out the mouth. The harshness of tannins softens with aging. Drinking this wine with the food brightened the cherry fruit tastes. This pairing worked well, because the boeuf bourguignon calmed the tannins and the wine stood up well to the food. This wine was full of big fruit, especially blackberry and currants, plus coffee and licorice.