Every meal needs the right wine to go with it. Here is the third lesson from Pierluigi's manual, on matching food and wine.
When a dish has a fairly oily component, choose a dry wine, a sparkling wine, or a sparkling white: this kind of wine cleans the mouth completely. A dry Lambrusco, for instance, is a classic match for sausage. My advice is to pair a soft white wine with light dishes, so it doesn't overpower the flavour — the classic example is rabbit with Vernaccia di San Gimignano.
Rich, bold dishes
Roasts, game and steak
With tasty, persistent dishes such as roasts, venison, wild boar, hare or Florentine steak, I recommend a red wine with real length, such as a great aged red. Another excellent match is classic-method sparkling wine with ripe Parmesan cheese.
First courses and fish
Pasta, rice and fish soup
With pasta and rice, look at the filling: the wine you choose needs to "marry" the sauce it's dressed with. A tasty fish soup, instead, calls for a light red wine with few tannins, served chilled.
What to avoid
Vegetables, fruit and meat
Never pair any wine with raw vegetables or fresh fruit — the result is unpleasant. With meats, red wines are the best match.
Cheese and dessert
From fresh cheese to the last bite of cake
Fresh, light cheeses go with light wines, while soft, rich and spicy cheeses call for liqueur and dessert wines — a wonderful match is blue cheese with a good Vin Beato. For sweets, choose sweet wines so the flavours don't clash: use sparkling wine to clean the mouth of creamy desserts, and pair cookies, pies and pastries with sweet wines and a good dessert wine.
