You can't just put any wine with a good meal! And this is because you don't want your guests to have two completely different tastes playing games with their taste buds.

Deciding what wine to serve with a particular dish should not be made in haste as it can destroy a perfectly palatable meal.

Brand manager for Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley, California Sharon Goldman was vacationing in Bermuda last week and talked to The Royal Gazette about being one of the many women now in the wine business and the rule of knowing how to pair a good wine with a tasty meal.

"As brand manager I am in charge of everything from pricing to packaging to wine inventory and marketing the wine,'' Mrs. Goldman said.

She added: "I am fortunate to be in a company that recognises women, there is also an organisation called Women for WineSence and that is a group of women in the industry as well as outside the industry that network concerning wine issues.

"And anyone in the world is invited to join.'' Mrs. Goldman also said that being a woman in this business does not mean there are barriers "unless you choose to put them up.'' "You are dealing with sales people, chefs, store managers, and if you know your business and enjoy being with people than the only barrier you have in front of you are put up by yourself.

"At Beringer Winery we make white zinfandel and we are America's premier white zinfandel. We also make chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. We are a fairly large size winery.'' She added that a typical day at job is spent looking at the labels, creating the front and writing the back, putting information together for the sales people, letting them know what they taste like, preparing literature to help restaurant tourers and picking their wine list.

Mrs. Goldman said she came into this occupation by way of the food industry -- she also ran a restaurant -- and instead of food combined with wine it became wine combined with food.

"Most people start with what food they want to eat and then they select their wine and when you are in the wine business you start with what wine you want to pour and build your food around it.

"The most important thing is there are no rules for pairing food and wine the only rule is to drink what you want to drink and eat what you want to eat. "I don't know anyone in the industry that does not believe in that saying We want people to enjoy the wine and not be worried, just enjoy it.'' Mrs. Goldman added that there are several experts in food as well as in wine at Beringer Vineyards and the trick to pairing food and wine is truly to look at what sauce is on the food.

She pointed out that master of wine Tim Hanni says food does something to the taste of a wine.

"Tart or sour food, for example tends to soften any acidity in a wine you drink with it. If you like that acidity, you might think the food ruined the wine, although most people might prefer the wine after the acidity in the food tames it,'' Hanni stated in the Wine Spectator magazine.

Hanni, who was among the first Americans to earn a British Masters of Wine certificate, travels the world for Beringer Vineyards.

He conducts tastings for chefs, servers, and restaurateurs, and he has discovered that if you can steer the conversation away from "This wine goes with this food'' to something like "If you have this wine with this food this is what can happen'' you can start making progress.'' And, Hanni has found, this all boils down to some fairly simple rules.

"Food that is sweet or has discernible bitterness tends to make wine taste drier and exaggerate any tartness or astringency. Food that is salty or sour tends to make food taste milder.

"Despite the often repeated advice to drink white wine with fish and red wine with meat, anyone who has played the food-and-wine match game very much knows it's the seasonings and sauces that really count, not the main ingredient,'' Mr. Hanni said.

IT'S ALL IN THE WINE-Beringer Vineyards brand manager Sharon Goldman who was visiting Bermuda last week.

ITALIAN WINE - Winemaker Gianni Gagliardo from La Morra, Piedmonte, Italy was in Bermuda last week conducting a wine tasting at J.E. Libhtbourn and Co. Ltd.

His wine is made from a rare grape variety called Favorita Grape - a 'table grape' Mr. Gagliardo's latest release Casa 96,is a bit young at the moment but is fresh, green and minty, the perfect complement to pasta dishes and smoked or lightly grilled fish.