A good way to match wines and foods is to rely on the contrast principle: it consists into combine food and wine while damping down on the most noticeable aspects of a course balancing them with the aspects of the wine and viceversa. Basically a sour course will be matched with a delicate white wine, a grease course will be served together with a dry wine, and so on. As far as the compactness is concerned the similarity principle should be followed: a rich food with strong taste will be served together with a wine of the same complexity, full-bodied and tough. The four basic tastes are sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness.

Basically:

* fat foods are best matched with sparkling white wines or tannic and alcoholic red wines;
* spicey and aromatic foods must be served with soft wines;
* well structured foods cooked for a long time are matched with full-bodied wines;
* sweet foods should be preferably served with sweet wines

When serving more wines during the same dinner there are some rules which allow a right and harmonic sequence.

Always start with soft and young wines with delicate scent, so they can be followed by stronger wines with intense scents.
White wines (unless they are strong white wines) must anticipate rosé wines which must be served before red wines.
Young wines must be served before more old and mature wines; less alcoholic wines always anticipate more alcoholic wines.
Always start with dry wines to gradually serve softer wines and then strong wines.
Cold wines must be served before room-temperature wines which have a stronger flavour; cold wines should be served again only at the end of the dinner.

Generally speaking red meats match only with red wines, while for white meats you can pick rosé and white wines as well.
Poultry, veal and swine meat with light sauce well combine with light and young red wines, sparkling red wines, rosé and white wines.
For savoury foods like cold veal with tuna sauce it is better to pick a good white wine. Especially fatty pork recipes require instead very dry and bodied red wines. Red meat slightly cooked best matches with yound and light red wines decently alcoholic or aged and half-bodied red wines. Savoury foods like roasts and games best match with red wines, more or less aged, strong and served at room temperature. Same goes for moist foods cooked for a long time like braised beefs which well match with strong and aged red wines. For fried meat with fatty sauces bitter red wines at high alcoholic gradation must be picked. Rosé wines are best served with cold cuts.

If a certain recipe requires a certain wine other wines cannot be used and the same wine must be served with the food. For example, "salsiccia al Nero d'Avola" must be served with Nero d'Avola.

Since the Roman Age fish comes along with white wine. Generally speaking this rule can be followed but moist fish and fish soup should be served with a good rosé wine or a young and light red wine.
Delicate shellfishes match well with soft and dry white wines or slightly sparkling wines.
Boiled fish requires a rather dry white wine which is not too much alcoholic.
Light white wines somewhat alcoholic and bitter are the most appropriated for roasted fish.
Fried fish should be served with a slightly bitter and quite alcoholic dry white wine, preferably aged for some year.
Complex and alcoholic white wines, strong rosé wines o light red wines must be picked instead to match fish soups and fishes cooked with spicy sauces.

Generally speaking the best wines to enjoy cheese are red wines, but in case of fresh cheeses light red wines and some white wines are especially fine as well.
Hard pastry cheeses like pecorino well match with complex red wines, full-bodied and somewhat aged.
Soft cheeses and fresh cheeses like tomino, mozzarella and scamorza require light white wines moderately alcoholic; mozzarella di bufala can be served with sparkling wines as well.
Taleggio and many seasoned soft cheeses well match with more complex white wines or half-bodied red wines.
Spiced cheeses can be served with young rosé wines, hot cheeses can be matched with fortified wines for desserts.

Sommeliers usually do not suggest to follow the contrast principle for desserts, since the best matches are sweet wines and fortified wines.
Oven-foods like cookies and shortcrust pastries are usually combined with fortified and sweet wines. If a dessert is made with a certain liqueur the same one should be served with.
Chocolate has a strong and overwhelming flavour therefore it is quite hard to pick up the right wine. As far as it sounds weird chocolate should actually served with cold mineral water or a sweet red wine like an aged Marsala.