Football and wine? They're a better match than you think

Wine and tailgating go together like Rex and Rashied

Whether you're biting into hoagies from the deli or cuisine more suited to a five-star restaurant than a parking lot, you can find plenty of wines to complement autumnal tailgating.

Remember that the rules of pairing wine with food apply whether you're dressed in orange and blue or in pin stripes. First up: look for common denominators of flavor.

Fall foods step up in intensity from light summer fare, so step up your wine's intensity too. Pinot Grigio, for instance, is refreshing with steamed shrimp, but tastes insipid with grilled salmon; choose a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc instead. Rosè is a delicious quaff for cold cuts; with steak and stews choose a red, like Petite Sirah.

With all the asphalt grove grilling going on, this is one season in which the charry flavors of barrel-aged wine will enhance, not overpower, your menu.

For herbed seafood and green veggie dishes, such as Grilled Trout with Fennel and Tarragon, spinach dip and many Mexican preparations, select the herbal notes in Sauvignon Blanc. Retail shelves are full of great selections including: Miguel Torres (Chile, about $9) with direct, lime-like flavor; Kunde (California, about $14) with focused fruit and herb flavors; and Warwick Professor Black (South Africa, about $20) adding mineral complexity to an herb and tropical fruit mix.

Choose Chardonnay for dishes that incorporate mushrooms and squash and for grilled seafood and white meats without green herbs. Barnard Griffin (Washington State, about $14) adds a sprinkle of brown spice and pleasing butteriness to dishes like butternut squash soup or pork chops with apple sauce. For a mouthful of ripe yellow apple flavor, look for Kunde N.U., an un-oaked Chardonnay (California, about $20.)

Rule two: Consider the biochemistry of Bacchus. Because tannin (the astringent quality in red wine) binds with fat and protein, lighter foods (veggie pasta, seafood, white meats, etc.) call for white or low-tannin red, like Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages (France, about $12.) If meatier fare, like lasagna, chili or steak is on the pre-game menu, serve a gnash-and-tear Chianti Classico like Felsina Berardenga (about $20) or a Zinfandel, like Dancing Bull (about $12.)

Syrah/Shiraz is delicious with red meat, but popularity has pushed prices high. Try bargain-priced Petite Sirah (no relation) instead. For under $10, Bogle (California) offers ripe blackberry and plum fruit and pleasing tannin. For under $15, Guenoc (California) is both elegant and powerful. Choose Petite Sirah specialist Foppiano, (California, under $20) for rugged texture, black and white pepper flavors softened by ample fruit.

Of course you can break the rules without penalty sometimes, and one exception to the rule is hot spice. With three-alarm cuisine like pepper-spiked barbecue sauce or spicy sausage, serve a sweet or very fruity wine.

Riesling is a grape for all seasons. Its fruitiness marries with summertime fruits, but also with sweet autumnal preparations such as turkey with cranberries or squash baked with honey. Its acidity refreshes light seafood, but also cleanses the palate after juicy bratwurst. Its more-or-less sweetness cools the fires of spicy Southeast Asian cuisine as well as red hot ribs. Washington State's Chateau Ste. Michelle is a Riesling specialist with a good-value Columbia Valley selection ($9), an elegant Indian Wells selection ($17) and the complex Eroica ($22.) From Germany, ask your retailer for estate producers including Balthazar Ress, J.J. Prum and Schloss Schonborn ($12 and up, depending on designations.)

Red wine's tannin lays the palate bare to spicy heat, but -- depending on your pleasure/pain threshold -- fruit-forward Petite Sirah can be a good choice.

If your destination prohibits glass containers, choose a Tetra Pak, like Green Path Shiraz or Chardonnay, (1 liter, $11.99 at Whole Foods), or the bag-in-box Wine Cube (various flavors, 1.5-liters, $15.99 at Target.)

If bottles are allowed, don't forget to pack a corkscrew. Even if your wine sports a twist off cap, lending a corkscrew is a great way to make friends and maybe, taste some new winning combinations of wine and tailgate cuisine.

© 2007