International

Charles de Gaulle is reported to have once said 'How can you govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?' But whatever may have been the administrative skills of that old French soldier, he was right about one thing. There are a great many kinds of cheese in the world, a tribute to the inventiveness of cheesemakers.

Wine starts with the grapes; red wines get their character from the grapes used to make them. The nature of the grapes defines how the wine will be.

Learn how much foam a glass of beer need, if any type of beer require a different pouring technique and if there Is a beer-pouring technique at all.

For those more interested in finding a delectable drink to savor than being clever, the following might be useful.

A wine cellar can be as small as a kitchen cabinet or as big as the maze of secret passages underground a castle. It does not matter as long as conditions are right for storage and maturation of wine.

There are so many different possible pasta recipes it might seem impossible to provide general guidelines. But all good pasta recipes have a few things in common.

One of the great things about pasta is its versatility. Not only is it nutritious and tasty, but it goes with any wine you happen to favor. Still, you'll want to select a wine that goes with the whole dish.

Do you wonder why serving cheese with wine is so popular? Cheese is salty and salt enhances the tasting experience for many wines. A medium wine served with cheese may look like a better one and a good wine may appear fabulous; but there is more to it.

The idea of giving deep thought to which food to serve with a selected wine goes back centuries. It will surprise many that the same is true of pairing a good beer with a favorite dish.

There are more than one concept to take the measure of a beer. Hops influence the bitterness, malts determine the sweetness. Finally, the alcohol content provides one last dimension to the brew.