The wonderful aspect of having a fine dinner matched with wines at home is that you have ultimate control. You’re not limited by a set menu, nor by an overpriced or underwhelming wine list. You don’t have to consider the needs of three other people who ordered very different dishes, nor that your appetite for different tastes might break the bank. You’re in control: The menu and wine selection are in your hands.

The challenge, of course, is that you’re cook, sommelier, and host all wrapped in one, so you’d better plan ahead.

Wine First?

Sometimes, the inspiration for a dinner party is to share a special wine. Designing a dinner around wine is often easier than deciding on food first and then wine.

If you want to focus on a single wine, put it in the starring role, with the entree, even if it’s a white wine. Build out from there, adding lighter wines to begin. If a meal isn’t a meal without a red wine, add it at the end, with cheese or dessert. Some people think it’s fine to go from red wine to white wine, but it doesn’t work for me.

If you have an array of great wines to share, order them by weight and match the courses to their weight. That way, you won’t lose people as they fill up on richer dishes first, and every wine and dish will get its chance to shine without being overwhelmed by the previous course.

Food First?

The whole world is open to you if you’re starting from food, so make it easier on yourself and focus. Get inspired by the season, and design a menu around what’s in the farmer’s market, or choose a cuisine—from American to Zimbabwean—it doesn’t have to be that of a wine-producing country.

Decide how many courses you want, and arrange them by richness; for example, start with a light salad, move on to a fish course, and end with beef. Then pick the wines, keeping the basics in mind. Not every dish has to have its own wine, of course; some can share, or go without. Which leads us to the question, how much is enough?