6 Wine Pairing Tips

1. Sweet Foods with Sweet Wines

Pair sweet foods with sweet wines. For example, chocolate and Port. If you pair a sweet food with an unsweet, or dry, wine, it can make the wine taste sour or, in a red wine, it can accentuate those bitter, dry-mouth tannins. Even a dish that's just a little bit sweet, like honey-glazed ham or chicken with mango salsa, can have enough sweetness to make a dry wine taste less than ideal. So while sweet dishes need sweet wines, slightly sweet dishes often need slightly sweet, or off-dry, wines.