The Essentials of Pairing Wine with Food

In most cases, you probably drink wine while consuming food — whether at home, in a restaurant, or elsewhere. Some foods complement specific wines better than others. With practice and some essential tips for matching food and wine, you can discover which combinations work best for you.

Understanding How Wine is Sold in Restaurants

When you buy a bottle (or glass) of wine in a restaurant, you get to taste it then and there: instant gratification. Choose a wine that pairs well with the food you’ve selected for the best experience. [more…]

How to Read a Wine List

You may dread wading through a restaurant’s wine list, knowing that it can be an ego-deflating experience. There's no need to fear the wine list — with a little guidance and a few tips, you can learn to [more…]

How to Order Wine in a Restaurant

Plan to order the wine at the same time that you order the food in a restaurant — if not sooner; otherwise, you may be sipping water with your first course. If, after sizing up the wine list, you decide [more…]

Handling the Wine Presentation Ritual

In many restaurants, the wine presentation ritual occurs with solemnity and ceremony. The hushed tones of the waiter and the ritualized performance of the wine presentation can make you want to smile or [more…]

How to Taste and Savor Wine

Tasting and savoring wine is a slower, more deliberate and more thoughtful process than simply drinking wine. Wine is a complex beverage, and when you simply drink it as you would any other beverage, you [more…]

Restaurant Wine Tips

Drinking wine in a restaurant requires so many decisions that most people could use some tips or advice. Should you leave the wine in an ice bucket? What should you do if the wine is bad? And can you bring [more…]

The Dynamics of Food and Wine

Every food dish is dynamic — it’s made up of several ingredients and flavors that interact to create a delicious whole. Every wine is dynamic in exactly the same way. When food and wine combine in your [more…]

How to Match Wine with Food

Two principles can help in matching wine with food: the complementary principle and the contrast principle. The complementary principle involves choosing a wine that is similar in some way to the dish [more…]

Entertaining with Wine at a Dinner Party

When hosting a dinner party, you probably serve more wines than you would during a normal dinner. Instead of just one wine throughout the meal, you may want to serve a different wine with every course. [more…]