Successful wine and food pairing can be daunting, but it's worth experimenting with matching wine and food because the right combination creates flavors that are vastly superior to how the wine and food taste independently. There are many different factors to consider when pairing food and wine, but first it's helpful to look at the big picture: the different levels of success or failure one can achieve when pairing wine with food, from poor to refreshing, good, and synergistic pairings.

It's easier to appreciate and understand the tastes of red wines if you are familiar with the sorts of flavors normally associated with red wines. The flavors and aromas people identify in a red wine are not precise, because no one adds pepper, licorice, or leather to red wine while making it. Instead people identify flavors and aromas based on what they are reminded of while tasting the wine. This is why it helps to know what you might be looking for by being familiar with red wine flavors and aromas.

There are frequent references in wine articles and wine books to "seasonal" wines — wines that are better for summer, fall, winter, or spring. How can a wine be better suited to one season rather than another? What makes one wine more of a "summer wine" but another more of a "winter wine"?

There is no simple formula for wines being seasonal; instead, it's a question of what wines feel like and how a wine pairs not just with food, but also with the surrounding temperature or weather.

What makes wine so attractive, interesting, and enjoyable is the amazing, complex array of flavors and aromas which individual wines produce. Each bottle of wine can be its own unique experience. If wines are all produced from simple grapes, though, how do they manage to produce so many different flavors and aromas? If wines are basically just fermented grape juice, why don't wines taste like grape juice? The answer to this question is the answer to what makes wine special.

It's easier to appreciate and understand the tastes of white wines if you are familiar with the sorts of flavors normally associated with white wines. The flavors and aromas people identify in a wine are not precise, because no one adds honey, pear, or vanilla to wine while making it. Instead people identify flavors and aromas based on what they are reminded of while tasting the wine. This is why it helps to know what you might be looking for by being familiar with white wine flavors and aromas.