What wine goes well with this food? It’s a question that has generated millions of answers. Although there are some basic guidelines that have emerged over the years, the main rule to remember is that there really are no rules. It is important that you serve the wines you like with the foods you like. We sat down with our Winemaker, Dave Dobson to get his view. What rules of thumb do you apply to showcasing wines with food? I can’t say I follow any of the traditional rules, like white wine with chicken. My number one rule is that I go with what I like and hope everyone else does, too. That said, the wine is done. It's in the bottle. We're not going to add salt or lemon juice to adjust it. So the food has to be adjusted to fit the wine, and that can be easy. Taste the wine, taste the food, then add salt, pepper, lemon juice to help them balance, whether they complement or contrast with each other. Let's talk about that. Sometimes you want wine to complement food. Other times if a dish is at one extreme, you may want to go to the other extreme… If your wine is a buttery Chardonnay and you want to offset that richness, you'd choose a sharper, more acidic sauce or food. At the same time, butter and butter can pair really well, so you could continue with something buttery or with cream or olive oil, more of a base tone. Or you can go the other way and contrast. You can cut through a rich butter or cream sauce with a lean, crisp Chardonnay. Avoid contrasts that are out of balance – a light, delicate wine with a heavily flavored or spiced dish, or vice versa. I once heard Joyce Goldstein, chef at Square One in San Francisco and celebrated cookbook author, say that she didn't know any rules. She just knew if a wine and food worked together in her mouth. Is that something you do? Yes. I taste the wine while I cook, but not as much as I should. Part of the reason is I don't want people around me to start drinking on the job. By all means, tasting is the only arbiter. Pairing wine and food is just like pairing food with food. Flavors that you may not imagine would go together – you try them, and they do. That can happen with wine as well. Flavors that are typically considered "no-nos" can be manipulated or lightened to make them match. Bleu cheese, say in a sauce, so you only get an essence of it, not a harsh, overwhelming flavor. Just a nuance. What wines come to mind with cheeses? Oh, if I were using Roquefort, I'd choose a sweet wine, like a Riesling. With goat cheese, that's easy, sparkling wine or Sauvignon Blanc, for the most part, because not all Sauvignon Blancs are the same and Chardonnay is not just Chardonnay. That's a key point. It's why general rules like Chardonnay with sea bass are meaningless. Which Chardonnay style? How's the sea bass prepared? Exactly. That's why you have to be willing in the kitchen to alter the food. If I were having a glass of water with dinner, I'd make the food a certain way. If I were having that same dinner with certain wines, it might have to be altered. Personally, I pick a wine I like and make food I like. As long as I enjoy the two, I just have to make sure they don't battle with each other. That way I can at least enjoy them. Food and wine pairing is definitely a gamble unless you've tested something previously and you say, this works really well, let's repeat it. But the first time is just an educated guess. It's like casting a romantic movie with a beautiful actress and a handsome actor. Until you see them on screen, you can't be certain of their chemistry. What about, say, mustard sauces? That can match up well with Chardonnay or sparkling wine. The key is balance, and that depends on personal taste. What about wasabi? It would be hard to bite into wasabi and match up with anything other than cold milk, perhaps. But you can definitely use wasabi with any Asian foods, diluted, and I'd probably match with lighter, fruitier reds to soften it. You also could try heavier reds, aged reds with resolved tannins, with Asian foods. Are some foods a blank canvas? Indeed. You can start with a simple food and all the differences are in the sauce or the preparation. For example, I had some ahi recently. Typically ahi is done in a manner that a Sauvignon Blanc would go well with. But this was a heavy ahi tuna with shiitake mushrooms and a veal demi-glace, and it was really good, but it paired with a medium-bodied red wine because of all the components with it – wild rice, for example, which might call for a nice Merlot. Once again, a question like "what wine goes with ahi?" is too general. Yes. It's like asking if a pink tie will go with a blue suit. Depending on the shade of blue or what color shirt you choose, or even your complexion, the color of your hair and eyes, maybe yellow or burgundy is better. And then the question is, which yellow or burgundy tie? You have to look at all the variables or, in our case, taste them. The only thing I have going for me is a couple of decades of experience to help me guess. Are you willing to tolerate something a little off or different? Or does every note in the symphony have to be perfect? Some chefs feel that way. I don't. My priority is the food. Even though the wine is to be showcased, I'm there to hit the food, make it right. Although asparagus might not go well with many wines, somebody may enjoy it. I put some extra black pepper or citrus on it to help it. To use your note analogy, throw in a little jazz riff. Maybe a Sauvignon Blanc is ready to dance with it. The important thing is to have some fun. Take a risk and see what happens. It often comes down to personal taste, doesn't it? No matter how you prepare it, former President George Bush won't like the broccoli. Definitely. I know if I'm having wine with a meal, I can enjoy the two and observe their interaction even though they don't work perfectly. Later on I may try something else that works out very well. There are highs and lows throughout a meal. I don't want to rule out possibilities. It's impossible to have a peak experience in food and wine matching every time, but if you did, they wouldn't be peak experiences, would they? Most people don't question their food tastes. They are professionals, because they have eaten three times a day for their whole life and they know what they like. Right. They don't question their food. They don't say, "I don't know whether these onion rings are working with this hamburger." For that matter, most people at the barbecue aren't concerned that they didn't have a pale ale rather than a lager with their hot dog. But with wine, many people surrender their sovereignty over their own tastes. Some chefs do that with wine. And their profession is tasting. Let's face it, when it comes to wine and food pairing, in the real world, three or four people go to lunch and share one bottle of wine with three or four different entrees. Their strategy should be to choose a wine that isn't extreme. There are a lot of versatile wines - Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer -- so order what you like and enjoy it. And if you pay attention to whether it works well or not, you're on your way to better pairing.