How to pair wine with food? The old adage that white wine pairs well with fish while red wine works with meat, serves as a good basis to start from, according to wine expert Brandon Walsh, president of Reston, Va.-based Hosted Wine Tasting (see video below).

Wines should always be served at their optimal serving temperatures, as well.

Another consideration, he suggests is the concept of matching weights of the wine with the food.

Lighter-bodied white wines include reisling and pinot grigio. Medium-bodied wines include sauvignon blanc while chardonnay is a fuller, heavier-bodied wine, he says.

Lighter-bodied wines go well with salads, as well as light fish, such as sushi. Medium-bodied wines works well with light and flakey fish as well as poultry. Heavier-bodied whites, such as chardonnay, pair very well with salmon or swordfish.

Red wines also range from light to heavier, fuller-bodied wines. A lighter-bodied red wine is a pinot noir or beaujolais. A medium-bodied red is a merlot, syrah (shiraz). Heavier, fuller-bodied wines include cabernet sauvignon. Pinot noir pairs well with salmon as well as some poultry. Syrah and merlot pairs well beef or pork. A cabernet sauvignon pairs well with beef, lamb and game.

See our review of The Best Wine Clubs offered directly from wineries here.