Food and wine get along just like people do—or don't.
People fare well because they're similar. Like likes like.
Just so, some wine and food matches work because they're alike. There aren't many dishes more deliciously decadent than French Sauternes and quickly sautéed foie gras.
Both are as rich as Croesus and both—luscious, viscous, fatty and sweet—capture in one dish the four major food groups.
Other same-with-same marriages of food and wine: succulent braised lamb shanks and silky red Rhone; salted almonds with dry, 'salty' fino sherry; acidic goat cheese and tart, young Sancerre.
But sometimes, food and wine—like people—get along because opposites attract. In truth, most classic Western wine and food marriages work because elements in each differ or contrast.
For example, when the astringent tannins of a robust red Cabernet Sauvignon have their way with the blood proteins and fat of a thick, grilled steak, your tongue goes to heaven.
Stilton cheese and port are a famous match because the saltiness in the cheese and sweetness in the wine marry happily ever after. What works between salty, briny oysters and steely, acidic Chablis? Their differences. Acid is a perfect foil for salt. Think vinaigrette.
We like beer and chips because the 'scrubbing bubbles' and bitterness of the suds nicely clean up the salt and oil from the chips. For the same reason, we go for light-bodied Champagne with caviar or spritzy Italian Moscato with tortilla chips (they're just beer-and-chips in other modes).
Finally, some couples get along because they're told to. Despite the old rule of 'white with white,' red wines often pair better with fish than white wine. Much of the seafood we cook these days is like a steer with gills: king salmon, tuna, swordfish and, oh yes, ono. These are meat, not 'fish' like sole, flounder or turbot (that sort of seafood is best with white wine).
With meat-like seafood, meat-like wines: softer, less tannic reds such as pinot noir from Oregon; elegant or light-bodied reds such as Rioja or Beaujolais; or even dry rosés from Provence or the southern Rhone.
One other big consideration when you're pairing wines with foods. Remember texture.
Some of the best food and wine matches don't just taste good, they feel good.
Your tongue is like an extra pal at the table. Treat him. Don't slosh the same texture over him bite after bite. A thick, rich Chardonnay and a chicken breast in cream sauce are so ... boring. The taste and texture of both wine and food are too close.
But match that chicken breast with a high-acid, clean and refreshingly dry Sauvignon Blanc, or light red Zinfandel, or any wine that feels clean, lean and green—and your tongue will thank you for the culinary yin and yang.
Put some sausage through your lips, snap the casing with your teeth and let the little balls of meat and fat roll through your mouth. What's the wine? A Shiraz from Australia, as smooth and soft as a kitten's ear, as juicy as an over-ripe blackberry.
Many people say that the best food and wine matches are whatever's on the table when the cork is out of the bottle.
But a little thinking helps, too, and makes for marriages that will last.