From rosé with a kebab to sparkling wine with fish and chips, the perfect tipple for your meal

DO you select a soave or choose a chablis?

According to a new survey, we are clueless on wine and pick our plonk on the basis of price or label.

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But wine expert Victoria Moore says the right pairing of food and wine is a match made in heaven.

And she has come up with the best choice for a host of family favourite meals in her new book.

She says: “The bottle you open makes a difference to the way you experience and enjoy your food. In good matches there is a kind of harmony. Each complements the other.”

Victoria says the trick is finding flavours that work well together — and avoiding those that don’t.

She adds: “The best way to understand this is to consider a bad match — orange juice after toothpaste, say. I’ve yet to find anyone who enjoys that.”

Here, she shares her perfect pairings.

Fried Eggs And Rioja: What To Drink With Absolutely Everything (Granta, £12.99) is out now.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

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BALANCE between wines that suit the food and the mood.

A rich blend of syrah, grenache and mourvedre from southern Rhone, Languedoc, California or Australia, or an Australian Bordeaux blend for stuffings and sauces.

FISH FINGER SANDWICH & KETCHUP

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A CHEAP softly fruity red, like Fitou, is perfect with ketchup and the crunch of bread­crumbs.

I also like a cheap Cotes du Rhone a Californian zinfandel or an Australian syrah-cabernet sauvignon.

CURRY

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WINE with a bit of sweetness helps to neutralise the burning effect of chilli.

Without that sugar, it can be hard to taste the wine.

A fruity, off-dry rosé or an off-dry sparkling wine holds up well against most curried foods.

CHINESE

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THE bold flavours and sweetness in Chinese food means three mainstream wine styles can be relied on to work well – chardonnay, riesling with a little bit of residual sugar (that is, off-dry riesling) and pinot noir.

BEANS ON TOAST

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BAKED beans are so sweet and so processed that it is usually for the best if the wine you have with it is fairly sweet too.

Just go for a cheapo supermarket red, which is likely to have a smidge of sugar in it.

CHICKEN KIEV

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OOZING with garlic butter and covered with crisp, tasty bread­crumbs, a yummy chicken Kiev goes very well with a nice crisp white such as sauvignon blanc, vermentino or picpoul.

FISH & CHIPS

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THE best match is English sparkling wine. Its vehement acidity and biting bubbles are good with salt, vinegar and fat.

A young, non-vintage champagne would also work along the same lines, though I prefer the cleaner swoosh of the English.

KEBAB

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LAMB kebabs in pitta are fantastic with a robust rosé (maybe from the Lebanon), or a robust red (from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon or Portugal).

A chicken kebab, however, needs an inexpensive and neutral white for best results.

BURGERS

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THE ultimate red wine food that makes nearly every type look good.

Fruitier reds that hold up to garnishes include a carmenere-cabernet sauvignon-merlot from Chile, a Salice Salentino from Puglia in Italy and malbec from Argentina.

JACKET POTATO (WITH CHEESE)

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WHEN the potato is cook­ed in bonfire embers or the oven without foil to keep the skin tender, it has a crisp, smoky-smelling thick jacket.

Try a smoky oaked St Chinian, a claret or a cabernet sauvignon-syrah from Australia.

PIZZA

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I SPENT a year in Italy so I am pre-programmed to favour Italian reds.

They have a bite that meets that of the tomato and the heat of any spicy cured meat.

My go-to reds at home are a sangiovese or the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

CRISPS

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I AM happy to say that one of the very best wines for ­accom­panying crisps and other salty snacks is champagne. No, I’m absolutely serious.

Champagne has a high acidity, which is very good when it meets with salt.

MINCE PIES

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THE crumbling pastry and luscious dried fruit of mince pies suit the molten raisin flavour of a sweet oloroso or cream sherry.

It works with dry sherry, too, though pick a robust one – an amontillado or a punchy fino rather than a manzanilla.

LASAGNE

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TRY an Italian red wine, most of which have the acidity to cut through the creamy sauce, as well as the savour to match the meat.

Sangiovese is a good catch-all or pick a Chianti Rufina if you want the wine to be more refreshing.

MACARONI CHEESE

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FOR a white that’s refreshing against all that gooey cheese, pick picpoul.

An old-fashioned glass of red Bordeaux – youngish for the refreshing edge, and with plenty of cabernet in it – is also satisfying.

BIRTHDAY CAKE

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IF you are drinking wine and eating cake on a birthday, then you probably have fizz in your glass anyway – and quite right too.

But it’s a case of the sweeter the better, as dry wine tastes a bit odd after sugar, so go for prosecco over cava.

FRIDGE RAID

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WHEN you stand hovering with an empty plate and big appetite by the open fridge door, prepared to eat anything, have a bottle of sherry ready.

Even if it has passed into cooking sherry territory, it’s good with leftovers, chunks of cheese and raw veg.

HANGOVER

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I tend to drink Lucozade and endless cups of tea if I’ve got a hangover.

I believe that the “hair of the dog” cure is completely overrated.