The old saying that you need to know the rules before you can break them is a good way to describe the attitude of Anthony Gismondi in his book review of Perfect Pairings: A Master Sommelier's Practical Advice for Partnering Wine With Food. Gismondi does not buy into anything goes when it comes to pairing food and wine:

All too often, we hear that when it comes to food and wine, there are no longer any rules -- that one can drink any wine with any food. My response is, fine, as long as it's your wine and not mine. There may not be any rules but a, little common sense, and a little bit of knowledge goes a long way toward shaping a match that makes the food and the wine better.

In Perfect Pairings, Goldstein focuses on 12 key grapes and shares his thoughts about how they are made, what they taste like and, most important, for which foods they have an affinity.

I've been tasting a lot of sauvignon blanc this month so I looked to Goldstein for some pairing suggestions in what will be the first of two columns that offer a close up look at some of the very best sauvignon blanc in our market.

Goldstein is a fan of sauvignon, calling it "one of the best wines to drink with food," and I couldn't agree more. In particular, it's the young unoaked versions, with the tangy vibrant acidity and plenty of underlying mineral flavours that really shine.