Step 1
How sweet is the food?
Pick the level that matches — when in doubt, round up.
Step 2
Wines that match
Six bottles to pour with confidence.
The why
Why sweetness matters
Your tongue measures sweetness relative to what came before. A dry wine sipped after a sweet bite of food tastes aggressively bitter — the sugar resets your baseline, and the wine has nowhere to go. This is why a fine Cabernet collapses against chocolate cake and why white Burgundy turns sour next to honey-glazed ham.
The fix: wine sweetness should equal or exceed the food's. You don't need a sugar bomb for a slightly glazed dish — off-dry handles most "hint of sweet" territory — but never under-match. The corollary: if you're stuck with one bottle, choose one a notch sweeter than you think. It only fails dry-going-up; rarely the other way.