How to pick a wine to warm winter meals

The surest antidote to winter's sting is a luxurious meal, to warm through and through body and soul.

For those craving the high-priced spread, Chicagoland's be-starred restaurants and gourmet markets offer the most expensive flavors on earth. But luxury needn't cost a bundle.

Whether you dine out or snug at home, from the finest china or takeout container, whether in company or (like Henry David Thoreau) in companionable solitude, a well-chosen wine will turn any meal into a gourmet occasion.

Follow these easy and time-tested guidelines for any dining and wining experience.

Guideline One: Start the meal with a light wine, move to a rich wine and; Two: Start with a dry wine, move to a sweet wine.

Light, dry wine tickles the palate and tummy, teasing the appetite for what's to come. A wine rich in alcohol and/or sugar clobbers the palate and dulls the appetite with empty calories.

For a light, dry and festive opener, serve Champagne or a fine sparkler from Italy, Spain or the U.S. Sparkling wines perk up flavors, lifting even the decadent goo of Baked Brie to dance across the palate.

Guideline Three: Look for common flavors in wine and food. Treat wine as every recipe's final ingredient, to extend food flavors.

For instance, Pinot Grigio, with characteristic lemony acidity, enhances seafood served with lemon. To enhance a peppery rub on steak, serve wine with peppery flavors including France's Cotes du Rhone.

For a seasonal specialty, pair the lusty earthiness of winter truffles with an earthy red such as Italian Barbaresco or Oregon Pinot Noir.

The well-documented aphrodisiac success of truffles, along with their scarcity, contributes to truffles' value of more than $3,000 per pound. But even a few drops of truffle oil ($17 per 3.5 ounces, at specialty grocers including Whole Foods Markets) will up the social interaction factor of the comfiest recipes including roast chicken, mashed potatoes, risotto or salmon.

Pacific Northwest salmon prepared with Oregon truffles, served with Oregon Pinot Noir is an example of Guideline Four: Wines from a region often complement regional cuisine or, “What grows together, goes together.”

To learn more about this national culinary treasure, see our 2/9/2012 Good Wine column, “Ignite passion with truffles and wine” or visit: www.oregontrufflefestival.com.

Guideline Five: Pairing common flavors in wine and food is the best strategy, except with hot-spicy or fatty dishes. In these cases, look for opposites that attract.

For foods hot enough to make you sweat — including Chinese Sichuan Hot Pot, Indian Vindaloo or hot-n-spicy barbecue — choose Riesling, French Vouvray or other not-so-dry wine to protect the palate with an asbestos-like layer of sweetness. To paraphrase a nursery rhyme, “Sugar and spice makes everything nice.”

If your passion is ignited by sauces lavished in butter, triple-creme cheeses, fried and other finger-lickin' foods, serve wine high in acid to cleanse the palate.

In general, wines grown in cool climates — northern France, Alpine Italy, Oregon and New Zealand — are high in refreshing acidity.

Wines made of the Barbera grape, grown in the Alpine Piedmont region, offer high acidity, red-berry fruit and soft tannin, making it Italy's third-top planted red grape, perfect to pair with rich pasta and pizza, duck and other game birds and hearty stews.

Guideline Six: Remember the Biochemistry of Bacchus. Red wine gets to be red by soaking red grape skins with freshly-pressed juice.

Along with color, skins contain tannin — the astringent, bitter element also found in coffee. Because tannin makes a molecular bond with fat and protein, red meat softens red wine's bitterness — just like cream softens the bitterness in coffee.

There's another benefit to “red wine with red meat”: red wine helps the body digest fatty dishes, freeing your animal instincts for more enjoyable activities before, during and after dinner.

• Write to Advanced Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator Mary Ross at food@daily herald.com.

Ross' choice

Name: Rosé Sauvage

Region: Champagne, France

Producer: Piper-Heidsieck

Vintage: Nonvintage (a blend of multiple vintages)

Availability: At major wine & spirits chains, about $60

(Distributed by: Breakthru Beverage Group, Cicero)

A sommelier's go-to guideline is “When in doubt, serve Rosé.” True to the rule, this Rosé bubbly will satisfy nearly all your cravings. In those gnash-and-tear moments, this wine's high proportion of Pinot Noir provides soft tannin worthy of meat (tho' filet not T-bone.) There's delicate sweetness for succulent mouth-feel and to pair with dishes from spice to sugar, including spicy barbecue ribs and dark chocolate-dipped strawberries. And while Champagne enjoyment is compared to “drinking stars,” you can join your favorite stars in drinking Piper-Heidsieck, the exclusive Champagne of the 88th Academy Awards.