There are moods to be taken account of with food and wine matching just as there are with food or wine on its own. Sometimes you want to strive for a knock-out effect and sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy the experience.

If you don’t remember anything else about matching food and wine, remember this: balance (of flavours, body and alcohol) is key.

Think of wine as a sauce. You probably wouldn’t drizzle an unctuous meat gravy over a fillet of lemon sole, because the boldness of the sauce would overpower the delicacy of the fish. Similarly, a delicate herb-flecked white wine sauce would be lost on a charred hunk of steak because the richness of the fat and seared meat would overpower the delicate flavours. Try matching full-bodied wines, with relatively lighter, less alcoholic styles, suit more subtle flavours.