Fish With Heavyweight Flavors

• Chefs often describe tuna and salmon as "meaty," meaning their flavors are strong, their flesh is dense and dark and they contain lots of rich, fatty oils. Both fish pair well with red wines that have mild levels of tannins, such as malbec. Other fish that are somewhat less rich but also work with malbec include anchovies and mackerel.

Barbacue Sauces of All Kinds

• Whether you use an Asian-inspired hot sauce for halibut or cod, or a whisky- or bourbon-flavored American barbecue sauce for shrimp, you need a wine that stands up to the heat and the strong flavors of the sauce. Malbec works well with those types of heavy sauces; its dry taste balances the sweetness of sugary glazes, giving your palate a welcome contrast.

Red on Red

• Color sometimes gives you an indication of which wine to pair with which food. For example, if your seafood entree has a tomato base, such as a cioppino soup or spaghetti with clam sauce, malbec has enough body to match the strongly flavored tomatoes. Further, if your dish has both tomatoes and red wine as ingredients, such as a tuna steak cooked with wine and capers, malbec makes a good match.

Dishes With Fish and Meat

• For seafood entrees that also contain meat, especially a strongly-flavored meat, malbec is a good match, standing up to the strong flavors but not overpowering them. Seafood gumbo or jambalaya with spicy sausages are two examples, as is paella with ingredients like seafood, sausage, chicken, tomatoes, saffron and paprika. A white wine might be lost among such a strong assortment of ingredients.