Order of Wine Service

Begin the meal with the most temperate wine and progress to the headiest and most fragrant.

At a simple meal where one wine is served, chose a wine that best compliments the main course.

When two wines are served, serve in the following orders:

sparkling wine is served before still wine;

dry wine before sweet wine;

light wine before heavy wine;

young red wine before mature red wine; and

ordinary wine before fine wine.

The following order of wine is suggested for a multi-course meal:

Appetizers: Aperitifs, dry sherry, dry champagne, and dry white wine
Soup: White burgundy, dry champagne, chablis, or sherry (when sherry is an ingredient in soup)
Fish: Dry champagne or dry white wine, such as white burgundy, chablis, chardonnay, and sauvignon blanc
Fowl: Dry champagne or dry white wine, such as alsatian, pinot blanc, semillon, sylvaner, and traminer
Game: Dry red wine, such as barbera, burgundy, cabernet sauvignon, gamay, pinot nair, or zinfandel
Red Meat: Dry red wine, such as burgundy or claret, or those listed under "Game”
Salad: no wine is served
Cheese: Dessert wine, such as madeira, muscatel, tawny port, sweet sherry, or tokay
Dessert: Sweet champagne, such as doux, or dessert wine, such as madeira, malaga, marsala, port, sauterne, and sweet sherry
Fruit: Dessert wine
Chocolate: Port or cream sherry