 While some Italian wines may seem tannic, lean or tart by themselves they often will show a very different profile when paired with boldly flavored Italian foods.There have been some historical anecdotes that have related to food and wine pairing before modern times.One anecdote often attributed to British wine merchants is ""Buy on an apple and sell on cheese"" meaning that if a wine tastes good when paired with a raw, uncooked apple it must be truly good and pairing any wine with cheese will make it more palatable to the average consumer and easier to sell.