

Although not the problem they're generally made out to be tomatoes are one of the vegetables that do have an influence on a wine pairing. Being quite acidic, especially when dressed with a vinaigrette, you want a wine that has a good level of acid too - and not too much, if any, oak.

If you’re the kind of person (like me) who puts garlic into practically everything you cook you may regard this question as an irrelevance but some dishes are much more garlicky than others.

Just as with every other ingredient the ideal pairing for mussels depends how you cook them.

If you’re making a dish as simple as fondue you need to use top quality cheese. Emmental and Gruyere are traditional but once you’ve got the hang of it you can play around with other alternatives.