Wine pairing is an art. There are some rules, but mostly loose guides left open for individual tastes and goals. In general you want to match weight, acid, and sugar. Then it's up to you how you want to mirror and contrast fruits, herbs, spices, vegetables, spices, nuts, etc. Sort of like a relationship, there are certain core areas you probably need to match on, but you don't want to date exactly the same person as yourself.
An easy method is to just match color and weight with a wine that is probably also high in acid. The higher the acid the more pairing options you have. Most wines are dry and high in acid, some wines are very high in acid. If you're doing a heavy rich tomato sauce pasta you want a deep rich red wine such as Super Tuscan. If its a light tomato cream sauce maybe a rose.
Other general rules: Salty foods are good with sweet and/or fruity wines. Consider oak and smokiness. Keep away tannins and fish. Acid and tannin can balance. Acid is good with salt. Consider both main component, minor components, and sauce. Keep alcohol from spiciness.
Famous wine pairings:
Cab and a slab - tannin balances out the fat
Sauternes and foie gras - matching weight and richness
Champagne and oysters - matching minerality, Champagnes high acid works well
Goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc - both strong flavor and high in acid
Where it gets tricky is when there are multiple contrasting things happening in a dish. For example, sauteed mussels in a white wine sauce with spicy chorizo. You almost don't want to do a white wine because of the chorizo, but you also need something low in alcohol and has some sweetness because of the spice. There is no exact answer, it's what flavors and components you want to complement.
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