Sommelier Shares The Best Way To Pair Wine With Fast Food

André Hueston Mack is one of the most well-known sommeliers that New York City has to offer and he is here to offer up some interesting advice to the wine lovers out there.

He spoke with the good folks over at Bon Appétit about the best pairings when it comes to wine and fast food. Pairing wine with fast food may not seem like a common thing to do but Mack is here to change all of that.

“Pairing wine with fast food? I think it’s fun, I think it’s that contrast of high and low, and, you know, who doesn’t like good cheeseburger? Wine, in my opinion, belong on your table next to the salt and pepper shaker. It’s a condiment. …It doesn’t really matter if you’re having a steak dinner or you’re having a double quarter pounder with cheese. Ultimately the goal is picking the right wine to go with the right food,” Mack says in the interview.

McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, Popeye’s, Wendy’s, Little Caesars, Panda Express, Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, and Burger King fans will want to check out this amazing video. Mack did not look at each meal as a whole, either. Instead, he evaluated the taste profiles of each meal and tried his best to find a wine to pair with each of them.

“So let’s look at the burger first. I’m thinking toasty, there’s onions, so I’m thinking like more pungent, strong flavors, pickles for acid, cheese. So right off the bat, I’m looking at all these things, and for me, my mind goes to, what’s a hamburger? A hamburger is just chopped steak, right? So I’m thinking Brunello di Montalcino, Italian steak wine, completing the perfect happy meal here,” he says.

“Our favorite moment is when he adds some caviar to a Filet-o-Fish from McDonald’s. Instead of pairing this meal with wine, Mack suggests something a bit more bubbly. So Filet-o-Fish profile, you get this tartness from the tartar sauce, there’s relish so there’s a little bit of sweetness to it, you have this fried fish product, so you have the little kind of crunchy exterior,” he continues.

He added, “Inside it’s very warm and moist. … So my hack meal is why don’t we elevate it and step our game up? So I wanna add a little bit of Osetra caviar here, little fish eggs that kind of bring everything over the top….Yes, we’re pairing with caviar. And then ultimately we complete everything with a little bit of champagne here.”

Check out the video below: