A glass of red with dinner is hard to beat. The trouble is that red wine covers an enormous range, and knowing which one suits which dish is not obvious.
The principle is simple enough. The wine should lift the food, not bury it. Here are the six reds you will meet most often, what they taste like, and what to eat with them.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Sometimes called the king of red wine, and it has the reputation to back it. Bordeaux is its home, but it does its ripest work in warmer climates.
Full-bodied, with blackcurrant, blackberry and black cherry, plus cedar and green pepper. Time in oak adds tobacco, spice and vanilla.
Pair it with hearty stews, hard cheeses and red meat.
Merlot
A good entry point if you are new to red wine. Softer than Cabernet and easier to get on with.
Merlot ripens earlier, which lets it grow in cooler sites where Cabernet struggles, and it has spread just about everywhere. Bordeaux is still its heartland, and it is the most planted grape there.
Black cherry, plum and chocolate, medium body, soft tannin. Good with chicken and duck, and it works with roasted vegetables too.
Pinot Noir
The elegant one, and the difficult one. Thin skins make it prone to disease and fussy about climate, so it is grown far less widely than it might be.
Get it right and you get real complexity and a silky texture that nothing else quite matches.
Raspberry, cherry, mushroom, violet and vanilla. It also takes a slight chill well, which makes it the summer red. Serve it with salmon or a mushroom risotto. Duck is the classic.
Shiraz and Syrah
Same grape, two names, two styles.
The name signals what to expect. Warmer climates, mostly Australia, produce a fuller, riper, more intense wine and call it Shiraz. Cooler climates, mostly the Rhône, give you something more restrained and peppery and call it Syrah.
Shiraz suits slow-cooked barbecue and pork. Syrah goes with lamb.
Zinfandel
Known as Primitivo in Italy, and genetically the same grape. Grown mostly in California and southern Italy, and it wants heat.
Raspberry, black cherry and plum, with black pepper and anise behind it. Medium to full-bodied and usually high in alcohol.
Good with pizza, tomato-based pasta and barbecue.
Malbec
French by origin, Argentinian by reputation. It is still one of the six permitted Bordeaux grapes, but Argentina is where it found its form.
Deep, dark colour, dark fruit, with cocoa and violet underneath. High tannin, and it will age in bottle.
Steak is the obvious answer and the right one. Medium-rare beef, or anything with a rich sauce.
And Two You Have Probably Not Tried
Neither of ours is on the list above, which is rather the point of them.
Vranec is the backbone of Macedonian red wine. The name means black stallion. Dark, spicy, firm tannin, long finish. Of everything above, it sits closest to Syrah.
Kratošija is the lighter one. Redcurrant, cherry, brambly fruit and a little warm spice. An everyday red and a good place to start.
The rest are on the reds page.