Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Remember that a meal is more than chicken, fish or beef, it's the sauces and how the dish is prepared that help us decide on a wine match. While the old generalisations served a purpose, we can do better these days. A great meal is a combination of delicious food and well chosen wine. Choose the wrong wine - one that doesn't suit the food - and you could be disappointed.

Successful pairing is all about matching weight and flavour - light wines go with light foods and heavier wines with heavier foods. A good rule of thumb is that you don't want the food to completely overpower the wine and you don't want the wine to be so strong that you can't taste your meal. Part of the fun is experimenting with different combinations to see what works best for you.

Here are some General Guidelines you may find helpful when selecting a wine to enhance your meal:

1. Select light-bodied wines to pair with lighter food, and fuller-bodied wines to go with heartier, more flavourful dishes. A full-bodied, heavier wine will overpower a light, delicate dish, and similarly, a lighter style wine will not even register on your personal flavour meter if you sip it with a hearty roast. You may as well drink water.
2. Consider how the food is prepared. Is it grilled, roasted, or fried, for instance, and what type of sauce or spice is used? For example, chicken with a lemon butter sauce will call for a different, more delicate wine to play off the sauce than chicken cacciatore with all of the tomato and Italian spices.
3. For every food action, there is a wine reaction. When you drink wine by itself, it has a particular taste, but when you take a bite of food, the wine tastes different. This is because wine is like a spice. Elements in the wine interact with the food to provide a different taste sensation like these basic reactions:

• Sweet Foods like Italian tomato sauce, Japanese teriyaki, and honey-mustard glazes make your wine seem drier than it really is so try an off-dry (slightly sweet) wine to balance the flavour (Chenin Blanc, Riesling).
• High Acid Foods like salads with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, soy sauce, or fish served with a squeeze of lemon go well with wines higher in acid (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and Pinot Noir).
• Bitter and Astringent Foods like a mixed green salad of bitter greens, Greek kalamata olives and charbroiled meats accentuate a wine's bitterness so complement it with a full-flavoured forward fruity wine (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). Big tannic red wines (like many Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz / Syrah wines) will go best with your classic grilled steak or lamb chops, as the fat in the meat will tone down the tannin (bitterness) in the wine.

We spend a lot of time matching wines with grand dinners or holiday festivities, but what about pairing wine with the food we eat on a Daily Basis?

Here are a few match-ups you might want to experiment with! Try a:

• Dry Rosé with a ham sandwich
• Dry Riesling with a turkey sandwich
• Dry Riesling with Chinese food
• Dry Riesling with Thai or Indian curries
• Pinot Noir with Macaroni & cheese
• Any Red with frozen chicken pot pie
• Syrah / Shiraz with hamburgers
• Merlot with hot dogs or sausages
• Dry Rosé with fried chicken
• Dry Rosé with fish & chips
• Chardonnay and a BLT
• Dry Rosé and mild Texas Chilli

Pizza.

Whether you're into frozen or fresh, pepperoni or pineapple, nothing pairs better with pizza than a glass of red or white wine. For cheese toppings a Chardonnay or Sangiovese is great. For spicy pizza, try a Dry Riesling. If you're into sausage, mushrooms and onions combo, try a full-bodied Chardonnay, Merlot or Syrah / Shiraz. For the classic veggie pizza, a herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc or the ever-light Pinot Noir won't overpower the vegetable flavours.

Dessert.

Pair creamy and fruity desserts with an Eiswein (Ice wine), a Sauternes or a fine Barsac. Champagne will suit most desserts of this nature as well. Chocolate desserts, on the other hand, can present somewhat of a challenge. For a chocolate dessert, skip wine all together. Go with a creamy liqueur or a warmed Brandy. I also serve a good Port with a chocolate dessert. If you are not sure, serve Champagne, you can not go wrong with it.

Party Tip.

Having a crowd of people over or catering for a large gathering can be daunting. Choose a light, dry white such as a South African Sauvignon Blanc or a dry German Riesling and have plenty of ice for chilling them in an ice bucket. A good fruity red with soft tannins and a medium body should keep the red wine drinkers happy. Try a South African Merlot or a French Bordeaux or Languedoc.

Remember, it's very difficult to please everyone, so one should try to keep the majority happy. Get advice if you cannot decide what to serve. Most people in the trade will be able to guide you towards a 'crowd pleaser' but do remember that life is too short to drink bad wine. Above all, have fun!