Each bottle of wine is a new experience that cannot be repeated. Every vintage is unique; the exact conditions will never happen again -- the age of the vines, the weather, the winemaking and the aging. The circumstance in which you drink the wine influences the experience - the food, the mood, and the company. All these variables add to the uniqueness of the wine experience. When beginning to pair wines with foods and cheeses there are certain aspects of the wine to consider which include the sugar level, tannins and astringency, flavor profile, acidity, alcohol and body.

  Dryness is the absence of fermentable sugars or no perceptible sweetness left in the wine. It does not refer to the astringency of wine. A wine can contain sweet fruit flavors and aromas while being technically dry. Some people also detect alcohol as sweetness.

  Grape juice is made up mostly by water and sugars. The two main fermentable sugars in the juice are fructose and glucose along with other sugars the yeast cannot utilize. Yeast converts the fermentable sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. When all these sugars are consumed, the yeast goes dormant or dies and you are left with a "dry" wine. The term "residual sugar" refers to fermentable sugars still contained in the wine.

  The majority of red wines on the market, with the exception of ports and some zinfandels, are dry. Whites vary in style. Chardonnays are traditionally dry, but there are many on the market that have residual sugar. Sauvignon Blancs and Semillons are typically dry but are also produced in dessert styles. Rieslings, Gewurztraminer and Chenin Blancs are being made in dry, off-dry or slightly sweet, as well as dessert styles. A clue as to whether a wine has residual sugar (if it's not given on the label) is to look at the alcohol content: generally the higher the alcohol, the lower the sugar with the exception of dessert-style wines.

  Tannins are sensed as bitterness and can make your mouth feel dry. Your mouth feels this way because the tannins bond to the proteins in your mouth, drawing the moisture out of it. Leather is tanned in the same way - tannic acids bond with the proteins of the skin, drying it, thereby preserving it.

  Tannic acids (tannins)are also found in tree bark, black tea, coffee, coals, chocolate and many fruits, including grapes of course. Tannins are more prevalent in red grape skins than in white grape skins. When red wines are made, the juice is fermented with the skins and seed, lots of contact time for the tannins as well as color, complexity and flavors to be imparted into the juice. White wines are fermented after the juice is pressed off of the skins and seeds- less chance to gain tannins.

  When reds are young, they have a tendency to be rough or aggressive because the young tannic molecules are short and spiky, they feel rough on the tongue. As the wine ages, the tannins bond with pigment and other tannic molecules, creating longer smoother molecules. Tannins are one of the main preservatives of red wine, another being alcohol.

  The flavor profile is a personal interpretation of the aromas, i.e. how your personal sensors interpret molecules. No two people taste in the same way and everyone has his or her own sensory library to draw upon. All experiences in life are stored in the brain and smell is the strongest trigger of memories. You taste with your sinuses, you sense with your tongue. When you have a cold, it's difficult to taste things because you cannot sinuses are stuffed up. Sinuses have receptors that the molecules fit into like puzzle pieces, which your brain will interpret as a specific smell from its shape. Wine is just rotten grape juice that creates many complex molecules that will remind your brain of other things dependent upon your life experiences. Wine flavors can be fruity, mineral, earthy, chemical or all of these at the same time.

  The two of the principle acids in wine are malic and tartaric. Other acids include tannic, acetic, lactic, citric and ascorbic acid. Different wines have different acid balances. Young Washington Cabernet Sauvignon will traditionally be higher in tannic acid, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc will be higher in malic acid. The acids are dependant upon the varietal, vintage, the vineyards and the winemakers. Typically, acid will lend to the crispness of wine and is integral to the physical body and structure of the wine. Acid balance has little relation to sugar content, a sweet wine may still have a crisp finish. Winemakers may manipulate acids to improve and stabilize the structure of the wine. Not all acids are crisp and clean. For example, traditionally, reds and many Chardonnays are put through a secondary bacterial fermentation known as malolactic fermentation. This process converts the crisp green apple-like malic acid to the milder lactic acid, also found in dairy products, which makes the wine feel softer. As mentioned previously, tannic acids are very astringent, but throughout the aging process will change and soften.

  A clean, crisp wine can help to cut through the fat of rich foods if it has sufficient body and the appropriate flavor profile. Low-acid wines, even with the appropriate flavor profile, may be cloying and flabby when paired with rich foods. Acid heightens the flavors of food in general and whets the appetite, clearing the palate for the next bite.

  Alcohol levels are directly related to the ripeness or sugar levels of the grape when it is picked. The two by-products of yeast fermentation are alcohol and carbon dioxide. The more sugar or food the yeast has to eat, the higher the potential alcohol. A wine that is fermented totally dry will typically be 11 - 14% alcohol by volume. Grapes harvested for dessert wines are left on the vine to ripen longer to gain more sugar, producing a wine that is high alcohol and high sugar, such as a late harvest Riesling. High alcohol may be detected on the palate as sweetness, physical weight, and brandy-like heat.

  High-alcohol dry wines paired with spicy items, such as a dish with lots hot peppers and big cabernet sauvignon, may conflict and overheat the mouth, whereas sweet high-alcohol wines with rich strong flavored foods such as Munster and late harvest Riesling may be a pleasing match.

  The body of the wine is the sum of the sugars, acids and the alcohol. Body is the physical sensation of the wine in the mouth. Descriptives include, heavy, light, lush, thin, round, full and flabby.

  A light or thin-bodied wine would be best paired with more delicately flavored foods. A richer or heavier wine can hold up to more complex flavors if the flavor profiles are appropriately paired.

Material compiled by Alison Leber & Karin Collins