How to Pair Food and Wine

Are you planning a dinner party but not sure what wine goes with what food?

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According to Arcamax, with a basic understanding of wine and food combinations and some creativity of your own, you won't go wrong.

The first thing to remember is that there really are no strict rules for pairing a particular wine with a type of food. If something tastes good, go with it -- and enjoy.

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Arcamax offers a few pointers to get you started:

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1. Try to match a wine's sweetness, flavor, acidity, etc., with that of the food you are pairing it with as your wine is meant to complement the taste of the dish, not overpower it.

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2. It is not a strict rule to match the color of the wine with the color of the meat.

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3. We have often heard to serve red wine at room temperature. In actual fact, red wines should be server slightly below room temperature (65° - 60°) with the exception being light bodied red wines. These benifit from being chilled slightly. White wines can be served chilled (55° - 60°) but not cold; this is to be left for Champagnes and sparkling wines.

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4. Try matching a wine with foods from the same region, for example, choose an Italian wine to go with an Italian dish.

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The above tips should give you some confidence to making your own combinations but before you do, you may want to check out the recommended food and wine combinations from Arcamax.