Tonights the night. Youve got that special dinner party with friends and you want it to be perfect. Youve got the menu completed but the question is which wine will compliment the meal best? Here are some tips for choosing fine wine.
Lighter foods need lighter wines while heartier foods need full bodied wines. For example, fish is light and thus a wine like Pinot Noir goes very nicely because it is also light.
The way the food is prepared will also influence the type of wine you choose. Whether your meal is grilled or roasted as well as the spices you use will affect your wine choice.
Bitter foods need a fruity wine that will compliment it, such as a Chardonnay or Merlot. Shiraz or some of the other heavy tannic red wines go great with a grilled steak because the fat in the meat tones down the bitterness in the wine.
Foods that are salty or oily go much better with a wine thats higher in acid like Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc. Sweet foods do much better with a slightly sweet dry wine such as Riesling or Chenin Blanc.
Dry wines, both red and white, work well with a wider selection of foods so if in doubt go this route. A general rule of thumb...