So if you like sweet Spanish wines with roast beef, and vintage claret with fruit salad & ice cream, well good for you, and don’t let any wine snob tell you you’re wrong.

However, you might agree that these are slightly unconventional choices, and the rest of our thoughts are designed to help make wine choosing more of a pleasure and an adventure.

If you’re drinking without food, or offering drinks before a meal there are plenty of choices. Spirits can be a bit heavy if you’ve got plans for nice wines later. Something sparkling always goes down well and breaks any ice – and it doesn’t need to break the bank! Try Charles de Fere .

A pink wine is also a bit different, and makes a nice sense of occasion, especially in the spring or summer; Pinot Grigio Rose is very fashionable now, or English rosé Chapel Down Rose is delicious and makes a good talking point. For a white, very dry wines can seem harsh without food, so unless you’re serving reasonably substantial canapés, go for a ‘juicy aromatic’, for example Pinot Grigio.

Red wine can be difficult as an aperitif if you’re planning to have white later in the meal, as it can make the white taste insipid – however if you like to offer a red, try something in the ‘lively fruity’ category, eg Artazuri from Spain.

Ignore those old ‘white with fish, red with meat’ rules – there’s a world of difference between say poached breast of chicken with a creamy tarragon sauce, and a robust casserole of chicken with red wine, winter vegetables and herby dumplings – so you wouldn’t want the same wine just because it’s chicken.

If the food is cooked without sauces or other additions (eg just grilled, baked or poached), try the following:
White fish and shell fish – light crisp whites Muscadet Les Roitelieres, or Flint Dry.
Meaty fish – juicy aromatic whites, Ch Pique Segue, or Verdicchio, or for white but not oily fish, lively fruity reds - aim for flavours with low tannin, Hawkes Bay Pinot Noir.
Chicken, light game birds, pork – lively fruity reds such as Fleurie, or Artazuri.
Lamb, more ‘gamey’ birds – ripe smooth reds such as Ruitersvlei Pinotage, or Duboeuf St Louis Cabernet Sauvignon.
Beef, venison – rich dense reds, Finca Antigua Temperanillo, Rothbury Estate Mudgee Shiraz, or the smoother Mudgee Cabernet Merlot.
All our wines are allocated to one of these categories in the tasting notes.

If you’ve spent time & effort on a ‘made in heaven’ dish, the last thing you want is to overpower it with the wine. Rich, creamy flavours in say a fish dish are usually enhanced by juicy, aromatic whites – very full whites can be too much of a good thing. So for that chicken in creamy tarragon sauce, try Chateau Pique Segue. Rabbit in cream and grainy mustard sauce would go well with Chablis Billaud Simon. With Holy Island mussels in a creamy sauce, try Chablis 1er Cru Hamelin, or Pinot Grigio

Winter casseroles of beef etc need a rich, full red – try matching the style of cooking with a wine of the same country or region, for example a boeuf bourguignon with Bourgogne Vielles Vignesfrom Albert Bichot. For venison casserole or roast try a claret, Ch Martouret or Ch la Parenchere, or a Rioja, LAN Rioja Crianza or LAN Rioja Reserva. Good Northumbrian lamb or mutton, especially if cooked on the bone, develops a rich sweetness that responds well to a ripe, smooth red such as Montepulciano, or a New Zealand Pinot Noir, Hawkes Bay or 'The Mercure' - it's no surprise that New Zealand produces wines that go well with lamb!

Some robust dishes need a white wine, and if the flavours are intense rather than cramy, you'll need a wine that will stand up to them and not fade away. Go for the 'full opulent' style, for example Pouilly Fume Les Chaillons, or Gavi di Gavi

Oysters with champagne, try the Champagne Testulat or a good flinty Chablis,say Chablis Hamelin. Salty seafood (plateau de fruits de mer) with Muscadet de Sevre et Maine, Most white fishy dishes will go well with Vionta Albarinõ, Sausages from Rothbury Family Butchers will go superbly with Stormhoek Siren Pinotage, Steak pizzaiola with Valpolicella, Grilled or barbecued red meats with good New World shiraz like Brushwood a shiraz from Australia.

The trick with desserts is to think again about the type of flavour - is it a fruity sort (summer pudding, raspberry fool) or an intense flavour (sticky toffee pudding, most chocolate puds)? Lighter desserts need lighter sweet wines, try Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. Strawberries often go well with rose wines, English Rose. For heavier puds, either abandon wine altogether, or try a Tokaji from Hungary, or the amazing Pedro Ximenez, which is a rich, sweet sheryy, fabulous poured over really good vanilla ice cream.

One final thought on desserts - many of us choose to eat more simply and often dispense with desserts altogether, in which case a glass of Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc can both round off a meal nicely with a little sweetness, and also stand in place of heavier after dinner drinks such as port or whisky - especially if you have to get up the next morning!

Cheese has so many flavours and textures – and it is not true that red wine is always the best choice. Creamy cheeses like ripe Camembert go well with light, crisp whites, try Cheverney, or. Hard, flavourful cheeses go well with ripe, smooth red wines; try some of Doddingtons with St Esteve de Neri. With fresh goats cheese, try a sauvignon blanc such as Tourraine Sauvignon from Paul Buisse, or the Cune Rioja Blanco.

Asparagus is a wonderful seasonal treat, and a complete killer of wine, especially red wines. Try a salty Manzanilla sherry such as Hidalgo La Gitana, and try roasting asparagus, coated in olive oil & sprinkled with sea salt, for ten – fifteen minutes in a hot oven. Delicious.
Spicey food is often a challenge. For the lighter Chinese styles try juicy aromatic wines such as Santa Rita Gran Hacienda Sauvignon Blanc or Rothbury Estate Hunter Valley Verdelho. More strongly flavoured spices need a simple well-chilled crisp white such as Cheverney.
For really strong curries, again you could try crisp whites, or the fruity type of red, say Artazuri from Spain, but few heavier reds will work as the spice brings out the tannins which does not help either the wine or the curry. In this case stick to good local beer or a well chilled cider.
Smoked food can be a challenge to match. Try to avoid oaked or tannic flavours as they can compound the smokey effect and leave you wondering why you feel you are chewing the table not the dinner! Some smoked food is also oily (eg smoked salmon or mackerel) and with these especially you need a white with some acidity to balance out the flavours. With cold smoked salmon try Chablis Domaine Hamelin or in half bottles Chezelles Tourraine Sauvignon Blanc. Or if you feel like it and the salmon is quite distinctly smoked a glass of a smokey malt such as Talisker is a match made in heaven.
Hot smoked salmon has a less oily mouth-feel so could take a New World sauvignon like Cairnbrae Wild South SB or Verdiccio. Smoked meats, including chicken, will go well with a fruity red, try a lightly chilled fleurie with chicken or Artazuri with smoked ham or venison.