What wine goes with tonight's dinner?

How wine and food fit together

Matching wine to food is less about rules than about four things you can taste: weight, acidity, tannin and sweetness. Weight comes first. Light dishes want light wines and rich dishes want fuller ones, so that neither drowns the other. Acidity is the great refresher; a wine with good acidity cuts through fat and salt and stands up to sharp sauces, which is why tomato-based pasta and bright Italian reds get on so well. Tannin, the drying grip in young red wine, softens against protein and fat, which is why it belongs with red meat and quarrels with delicate fish, lean white meat and chilli heat. Sweetness in the wine tames spice and balances salt, and with pudding it has to outweigh the sweetness on the plate. Pick what’s for dinner above and you will see the wine types and grapes that sit well with it, grouped the way Cellar Book groups them when it suggests a bottle from your own rack. None of this is a test. A pairing that follows every rule can still be dull, and a bottle you love will usually be good with whatever you are eating; treat the suggestions here as a place to start, not a verdict.