Most of us have heard about pairing white wines with fish and poultry and red wines with red meats. While this may be somewhat useful advice, I find that it is not quite specific enough. Does all fish have to go with white wine? What about spicy foods or desserts? Here are some general tips to match your food to wine or your wine to food. Remember though, these are just guidelines that can help you find a great match. Experiment to find what you like best and enjoy!

Tips for matching your food to wine

• Appetizers go well with dry wines and a little acidity. These flavors really get your appetite fired up for the meal to come. Of course, a sparkling wine like Champagne always starts things off in style.



• There are a lot of choices for pairing wine with fish and seafood. Because the flavors can vary quite a bit, the best rule is to match the weight of the dish with the weight of the wine. Delicate, fresh white seafood go well with clean, tangy wines. Heavier fish like tuna and salmon go well with heavier wines, even reds like Pinot Noir or Merlot.



• When matching meat with wine, consider how the meat was prepared and match the heaviness of the dish with the wine. Lightly spiced meat (a basic steak with a little salt and pepper) can go with any red wine with some weight. Meat with lots of spices (like ethnic foods) pair well with reds that are light on tannins and have lots of fruit flavors. Gamey meats like earthy flavors in the wine (think Pinot Noir).



• Vegetables go well with tangy whites like Sauvignon Blancs and the crisp (not sweet) Rieslings. Roasted vegetables with intense flavors go well with wines with a lot of flavor and good acidity. Salads also pair well with tangy whites. If vegetables are a side dish, match the wine to the main portion of the meal.



• A great wine with your dessert can be a wonderful way to finish a meal. The wine should be at least as sweet as the dessert or the wine flavor will be lost. Some of the best partners match flavors in the wine with the dessert (for example, an apple dessert with a wine with an apple flavor).

Tips for matching your wine to food

• Match the weight of the wine with the weight of the food. Wine and food should compliment each other. Lighter foods like halibut with lemon and dill needs a light, tangy white while a peppered steak needs a big, spicy red.



• If you’re planning on serving multiple wines with dinner, start with lighter and drier wines and work your way through to more full-bodied and sweeter wines. Think of a dry champagne or Riesling with appetizers working into an oaky Chardonnay or a nice red with the main meal and ending in a sweet port with dessert.



• Tangy or acidic wines cut through fat and heighten flavor (like a squeeze of lemon does to food). These are usually whites, but can be some reds (Pinot Noir or Beaujolais) with little or no tannins. Acidic wine also pairs well with acidic foods such as dishes with lots of citrus flavors. The flavor in each will actually tone down the acidity in the other.



• Sweet wines taste great with sweet foods but avoid foods that are sweeter than the wine. Otherwise, the wine will taste tart. Also, lightly sweet wines cool the heat of spicy food and are a good match for these.



• Tannin really needs meat. The rich, fatty flavors of meat mellow out the tannin flavor to show off the fruit flavors of the wine.