Mimi's guide to wine pairing was simple.

Cold Champagne or California Chardonnay. For everything.

Opa's was similarly straightforward. Merlot. Merlot for apéros, Merlot with dinner, Merlot for dessert.

I have a better guide for you, one hard-earned after a decade and a half in the business.

You're welcome.

Also, make no mistake: I'm told that our grandparents had more refined and broader palates for wine when they were younger, but from my memory, circa 1995 and on, they were more than content with house wine, and that was prudent and frugal. I make no other judgements on this subject.

If you're looking for a little insight, please read on.

The most basic principle of pairing is to match a similar weight of wine to the dish/meal you're serving.

If you're having fish, keep the wine light.

This also applies to salads, 'girl dinner,' and most low-fat entrees.

What's light? Light means lower-body, which means lower in alcohol. While this typically corresponds with fewer tannins (the component of wine that creates astringency, though it can be perceived as bitterness), it doesn't always. In addition, most new world wines are not low in body, so lean Old World. As always, a solid wine retail salesperson or server will help here.

For reverence, wines with ABVs under 12.5 (officially) are classically considered light. I would also consider wines under 14% on the lighter side, since we have global warming and also New World wines de facto have more body since it takes more time in the sun for the grapes to ripen, and this means they're sweeter (and the fructose in the grape is what's converted to alcohol in fermentation).

If you're new to wine, or admittedly have basic bitch tastes (not new at wine but your palate hasn't progressed), this might be a challenge, and one you're really not interested in.

That's fine.

Just keep in mind that drinking an 18% Amarone (or bottle of Apathetic Red) will blunt your ability to taste what you're eating, if you are drinking the latter, you're ingesting a hell of a lot of added sugar (as well as a bevy of far less natural additives) that will likely cloud your head and make your night and next day generally less pleasant.

If however, you're drinking a very well-made Amarone, you might not even realize the alcohol level, but no one would argue that it's a a good pairing for insalata di frutti di mare, or Caesar salad.