If you eat fish, you should have white wine, and with meat, red. It's an association that some people still make automatically, especially among older generations, but times are changing, and it's time to move beyond it. The growing diversity of wines being produced, along with a cuisine that prioritizes subtlety over strong flavors, has led to a wide range of options when it comes to pairing food with wine. So nowadays, it's not difficult to find a perfect match for fish with a red wine or meat with a white.

With gazpacho, artichokes, or a spicy dish, we can break out in a cold sweat when we decide to pair them with a wine: Is there one that truly belongs? Or are we doomed to take unpleasant sips until we finish the dish and move on to the next? Since it's difficult to find a wine that suits dishes like these, there's even talk of impossible pairings, but we shouldn't give up at the first attempt. Sommelier Ferran Centelles, in charge of drinks at Bullipedia—the gastronomic encyclopedia led by chef Ferran Adrià—admits that "there are products and dishes that are much more difficult to combine," but he has successful suggestions for even the greatest challenges he faces.