You know far more about pairing food and wine than you probably think. You know, for instance, that a big glass of dense, dark red wine isn’t going to look very refreshing on a 95 degree day. In fact, you’ll probably want to reach for a beer. So on those hot days, think light, crisp whites, like unoaked Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs. No doubt you’ve already chosen light foods.

Same thing goes for wintertime. If you’re starting dinner with a white wine, you might want to look toward richer whites, like toasty oaked Chardonnay or lush Rhones.

An easy way to think about what wines fit the climate is to think of what people drink in like climates. Summertime whites? Think of the Mediterranean. Wintertime reds? Think of northern Italy, and central and northern France. It’s not infallible, but it’s a good trigger when you’re feeling lost.

Guided by Vibe

This is a bit of a no-brainer: Match the wine to the vibe of the occasion. For instance, burgers and Grand Cru Bordeaux can be a wonderful match, especially if the burgers are served on bone china at a clothed table. In the backyard, fancy Bordeaux not only has the possibility of looking pretentious, but the wine will probably be wasted on people since the spread won’t feel like an occasion to pay much attention to what’s in your glass. Bulgarian Merlot might just be a better pick.

Weigh the Choices

You can answer many wine-pairing questions simply by asking yourself how weighty the dish is. Take a nice filet of sole with a butter sauce, for instance. How about a big, juicy Shiraz with that? I didn’t think so. The wine is going to knock that fish right out of the sea, not because it’s a red wine with white fish, but because the wine’s flavors are simply bigger, louder, more aggressive. How about a big, oaky Chardonnay? Better, but that’s still going to clobber the delicate sole. A wine as delicate and plain as the fish itself, like a crisp, unoaked Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc, sounds far better.

There are very few rules in pairing wine and food, but this is one of them: Match the weight of the wine to that of the food. If the wine is too heavy, it will obliterate the dish; too light, and the dish will obliterate it. Give them each a fighting chance to be tasted, and you’re halfway there, or more.

Texture

We tend to think of wines as simply wet, but when you get down to it, some are smooth as silk; others are heavier, more like satin. Some are rough with sandpaper-like tannins; others use bubbles to more genteelly rough up the tongue.

Think of a food’s texture when you’re pairing it with wine, and ask yourself whether you’d like more of the same, or some point-counterpoint. This isn’t the sort of interaction that will ruin a pairing, but it might make it more interesting. For example, with a smooth, rich pate, which would you rather have—a sweet wine as smooth and rich as the spread, or a bubbly that will scrub it off? One isn’t more correct than the other; they’re just different pleasant effects.

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What wine for what food isn’t a question to worry to death; wine is supposed to add joy, not anxiety, to a meal. There also aren’t any rigid answers to the pairing question. Although wine lovers will often say that a certain wine will be “perfect” with some dish, it’s only a manner of speaking, a guess that says more about the style of wine than its exact tastes in combination with a dish.

But it’s worth learning a little about the basics of pairing food and wine because when you get the right wine with the right food together in the same place, the whole is greater than its parts. And that means more deliciousness, which is the whole point of all the wine study, right?

So, what’s the big deal about pairing wine? Why can’t you just put a good wine and good food together and expect that everything will work itself out? Well, you can, but the effect might not be the one you want. The food and wine might agree to get along but not really combine in any interesting way, or they might go at it in your mouth, the wine pummeling the food until you can’t taste it anymore, or the food knocking out the wine with a powerful punch of flavor. Not so pleasant, right?

Worse even, the wine could play a nasty trick and make the fish taste like metal, or the artichokes could take revenge on the Chardonnay and make it taste like dessert wine.

Dinner is no place for battles of any size, even small ones that play out in your mouth between wine and food, and a little learning can keep those battles to a minimum. In the best matches, wine enhances food, like a splash of lemon, a pinch of salt, or a tangy sauce that can bring out more and different flavors in a dish. Wine can be more exciting and interesting than any condiment, because wine brings its own delicious set of flavors and sensations to the table, and food can enhance these, too.

How do you keep the battles to a minimum and aim for perfection? Much of it is just common sense.

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