If you drink wine that matches the food you are eating the dish will be instantly lifted to a higher level and the wine will taste heavenly. Drink a wine that is a wrong match and the food will lose its appeal and the wine will taste like vinegar.

The good news is the rules for wine pairing are not as formal as they once were and it is OK to have a red with fish and a white with lamb as long as you choose combinations that are balanced. Symbiosis is the ultimate aim of food and wine pairing.

To do this you just need to consider a few suggestions below from the pros and experiment. Enjoy!

Pairing Suggestions
The wine should match or complement the dish, so don’t pair a delicate entrée with a gutsy wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon, and vice versa.

Some experts say simple wines with complex foods and complex wines with simple foods, mainly so that they are not fighting against each other.

Once you understand more about traditional pairings and why these suggestions work then you can go and create you own pairing suggestions, not the other way around. The key is to pair the wine with the most prominent flavour of the dish/food.

There might be a wine that you love to quaff at anytime but it doesn’t mean it will work with the pizza you ordered. The tannins, acids and sugars in the wine react with the food altering the flavour.

If you are invited to a dinner party and have not been asked to bring a specific wine don’t panic. Just make sure you buy a quality wine that will match the occasion. Note, champagne is always a hit.

If you are having more then one wine with your meal it is traditional to build on the wine as you build on the dishes by saving the heaviest wine for the main course or most robust dish.

Geographic matches often work well, especially with Old World wines.

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami are the five basic flavours that are discernable by the tastebuds. Umami refers to the savoury taste in such foods as mushrooms, soy sauce, and aged cheeses. Food that is salty, sour or bitter will react with the wine and increase the fruit taste (acidity), while foods that are sweet or umami will create a drier taste (astringency). For example the red wine that seems perfect with your steak is not likely to match the chocolate dessert.

The Hands-on Approach
To improve your wine and food pairing abilities buy a bottle of your favourite wine and then try to pair it with a dish you like to make. The dish can be easily adjusted, by increasing its saltiness or sweetness until it matches the wine.

Drink more wine with the food you eat. As noted American wine dealer and writer Alexis Lichine said, “When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw vintage charts out the window and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is in the drinking.”

Practice makes perfect – when out to dinner order wine by the glass with each course, and attend one of the city’s many wine appreciation courses. Also a number of the city’s fine restaurants and hotels hold regular wine tasting dinners – the wine for each course has been chosen as the perfect match for each course and is a fun way to learn more.  

The final thought belongs to Ernest Hemingway, “In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.”

Pairing References
http://www.wineloverspage.com/foodwine – click on the food options and it will suggest a wine variety that matches
http://www.wineanswers.com - similar to above, but you can access a match via food, wine or sauce.