full-bodied white wines with some oak age, like a Meursault or Viognier. And finally, hard cheeses with some age on them, like a nutty Parmesan or Cheddar tend to go with equally nuanced and nutty Sherry or a full-bodied and complex red wine, like a Bordeaux or Barolo. Weights of wine Below is a rough guideline of the various weights of wines. Winemaker and regional style as well as oak treatment can cause a wine to be lighter or heavier in body. For example, Pinot noir can vary from being very light to more medium bodied. Another example is the influence of regional climates. Warmer climate wine regions tend to produce wines with higher alcohol levels and thus more fuller bodied wines so that a Sauvignon blanc from California may have a heavier weight than a Sauvignon blanc from the Loire. Lighter whites Pinot gris, Pinot blanc, Riesling, Sauvignon blanc, Chablis, Champagne and sparkling wines, Gruner Veltliner, Vinho Verde Medium to heavy whites Oaked Sauvignon blanc, Alsatian wines, Albarino, White Bordeaux (Semillon), White Burgundy, Rhone whites (Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne), Tămâioasă Românească and New World Chardonnay Lighter reds Beaujolais, Dolcetto, some Pinot noir Medium reds Chianti, Barbera, Burgundy, Chinon, Rioja, Cabernet franc, Merlot, Malbec, Zinfandel, some Pinot noir Heavier reds Syrah, Brunello di Montalcino, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port, Barbaresco and Barolo Focus of the pairing While a perfect balance where both food and wine are equally enhanced is theoretically possible, typically a pairing will have a more enhancing influence on one or the other. Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein notes that food and wine pairing is like two people having a conversation: "One must listen while the other speaks or the result is a muddle". This means either the food or the wine will be the dominant focus of the pairing, with the other serving as a complement to enhance the enjoyment of the first. In regards to weight and intensity, if the focus of the pairing is the wine then a more ideal balance will be a food that is slightly lighter in weight to where it will not compete for attention with the wine but not too light to where it is completely overwhelmed. If the focus of the pairing is to highlight a dish then the same thought would apply in pairing a wine. Pairing British cheese with wine There are more varieties of cheese available today. The narrative tracing