Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings

Choose the right bottle for any occasion, whether you're out to eat or staying in, by learning to think like a sommelier—from the world-renowned wine expert and author of Wine Simple

Sommelier Aldo Sohm knows that the right wine can make or break a meal. As the wine director of New York’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Bernardin, he draws on his decades of experience to help diners navigate a carefully curated wine list and select the perfect bottle to accompany their food. The perfect pairing can be transformative: The wine makes the food taste better, the food makes the wine taste better, and the synergy between the two takes your meal to a whole new dimension. If you’re not a professional, however, understanding how to pair food and wine can be daunting. Enter Perfect Pairings.

Whether you’re scanning a restaurant's giant wine list or picking up a bottle for a dinner party, Perfect Pairings teaches you how to choose the right wine for the moment. Aldo distills his vast database of expert knowledge into a fun and useful guide that you can turn to at any time. Most wine pairing books simply list which wines to pair with which foods, but Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings goes a step further, teaching you how to think like a sommelier and create the pairings yourself. You’ll learn basic information about the wines you’ll be pairing, followed by ways to think about the elements of what you eat; together, these tools form an ingenious wine-pairing method created by Aldo. Plenty of visual guides, cheat-sheets, and hand-holding will guide you along the way.

With the tools Aldo provides, you'll learn how to find the perfect pairing for everything from Thai red curry (dry Riesling) to a burger with fries and ketchup (cabernet franc). Whether you’re new to wine pairing or want to level up your knowledge, Perfect Pairings will become your go-to guide for deciding what to drink with your meal.

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The main differences lie in artwork style, availability, price, and collector appeal. Ultimately, the choice between standard and variant covers depends on personal preference, budget, and individual collecting goals.

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