Now that Memorial Day has kicked off the picnic season, it's time to get your wine racks in order for summer fun and summer cuisine. So many of the dishes that will be presented during the upcoming months al fresco have fruit or some other sweetening agent in the dish. Curried chicken salad with mango chutney, chicken fingers and honey mustard, fruit salsas, bacon-wrapped dates, melon and prosciutto all have a sweet component that require a wine with residual sugar to make the match.

The rule of thumb is: If there is sugar in the dish, there should be sugar in the wine -- and at parity -- or the wine will sour on the palate.

This rule applies even to our condiments. Barbecue sauce, cocktail sauce and ketchup all contain sugar. Whereas grilled ribs and hamburgers pair beautifully with a dry red, dousing these items in barbecue sauce or ketchup will require a different wine. The same rule applies to steamed shrimp. A dry white will marry well with the little crustacean if eaten with a squeeze of lemon, but accessorize with sweet cocktail sauce and you'll need a little residual sugar in the glass.

Not all wines give you details as to their sweetness level. This is especially true of some Old World bottlings. You shouldn't make assumptions just because a wine is pink or comes in a slope-shouldered bottle. Here are some guidelines:

If you are looking at the beautiful rosés of the Loire for summer sipping, know that Rosé de Loire is always dry and is usually a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, grolleau, gamay, pineau d'Aunis, malbec, pinot gris and/or pinot noir. The rosés from Touraine, a blend of both cabernets and pinot gris, are also dry, as mandated by law.

Rosé d'Anjou is off-dry and is required to contain a minimum of .7 percent residual sugar. Grolleau is the principle grape in this bottling. Cabernet d'Anjou and Cabernet de Saumur, both made from cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, are a touch sweeter, with a minimum of 1 percent residual sugar.

For point of reference most white zinfandels clock in at 2 percent residual sugar.

The rosés of grenache-based Tavel are always dry. These are the reddest pinks you'll ever drink, with regard to structure and grip, and can handle food with substantial weight. The rosés and clairets hailing from Bordeaux are likewise dry, as are the pinks of Provence.

When thinking pink, a rosé by any other name just might not taste as sweet. Now you've got the cheat sheet.

In the sweet white arena, Loire's Vouvray and Montlouis , made from chenin blanc, may be finished dry or sweet. Stylistically, they are labeled (from driest to sweetest) sec, demi-sec, moelleux and doux.

If we look at Italy, we'll find sweet bubbles in the form of Asti Spumante from Piedmont, and sparkle with no residual sugar in the Veneto's Prosecco.

Orvieto, predominately made from trebbiano and malvasia, is usually a dry white, but not if you see "abboccato" (off-dry) or "amabile" (sweet) on the label.

Many New World wines will talk about the sweetness level on the back label in terms of "off-dry" or "semi-dry," while some countries, such as Germany, have specified ripeness designations right on the label that intimate a hierarchy of escalating sugar terminology. But here is where you must pay strict attention. In Germany, the ripeness designations are: kabinett, spatlese, auslese, beerenauslese, eiswein and trockenbeerenauslese.

Beerenauslese, eiswein and trockenbeerenauslese will always be sweet. But kabinett, spatlese and auslese-level wines can be sweet or dry. The label is the key. Whereas many countries (such as France or Italy) indicate sweetness levels, Germany will tell you if the wine is dry. Words such as "trocken," "classic" or "selection" on the German wine label all translate as "dry." The words "feinherb" or "halb-trocken" indicate an off-dry wine.

Now you know ... just how sweet it is.

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