There is nothing worse than having a plate of food with a glass of wine that really don’t go together. This article will attempt to advise you of the different types of red wines available and the sorts of foods that they taste best with.

The rules to consuming wine and drink say that red wine is best served with red meats and cheeses. This is true the majority of the time, but during your adventures with wine you will find that there are exceptions to the rule. This article is just here to give you tips and suggestions which will get you started. You will soon get to know what you like the taste of and what you think works well together.

Let’s start with an easy one. Tapas. Tapas is Spanish for lid. This is because over the years Spanish people used a piece of bread to cover the top of their wine to keep the flies out of it. This piece of bread gradually became more than just a piece of bread, and developed into the amazing array of cheeses, sausages and other delicacies that we know tapas to be today. The best thing to drink with tapas is therefore wine. Wherever possible it should be a Spanish wine. (And if possible, a Rioja.) This is always a good tip: if eating a dish that is of a certain country, it is a good idea, where that country is a wine producer, to drink a wine from that country with the dish. Rioja is traditionally a red wine (although there are white versions available), and this does go really well with the sausages and cheeses that are typical of tapas fayre.

So what about other types of food? Well, if you have a thing for French cooking, French wine works well with it. But what type of French wine, I hear you ask. A French Pinot Noir, which is a great tasting red wine, is a must with game. Pigeon, grouse and pheasant are all complemented with this fine, rich tasting wine. Pinot noir is equally at home with fungi too. Something simple like a mushroom omelette with a good chunk of French bread is excellent with this red wine. And for a classic French dish, go for beef bourgignon, which wouldn’t be the same without a red wine such as a Pinot Noir to complement its richness.

For something a little more accessible in French red wine, there is a merlot. This is slightly more rich than a Pinot Noir, but is great with food too. It works well with slightly more peasant-like fayre: roast lamb, pasta with pesto, or just simply roasted vegetables taste great with this.

And if we are to head further south to Italy, you can’t go wrong with a bottle of Chianti. This red wine works wonders with a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese. Often seen as a jug wine, Chianti is a much underrated red wine, which is brilliant with rich Italian sauces.

So as you can see, there are many different red wines from many different countries. They all work well with a variety of different foodstuffs and I hope this article has given you some inspiration.  Fiona Muller