Drink Recipes - Food Recipes - Pairings
Pairings
Nothing can complement great food like great wine. Explore these suggested parings to find the perfect wine for your next gourmet meal.
Bar-B-Cue (and other spicy meats) - Zinfandel for burgers, ribs, BBQ’s chicken with spicy tomato based sauce, steaks with lots of seasoning.
Shiraz is great with spicy lamb and venison.
- Chianti classico often makes an excellent match for T-bone steak rubbed with crushed black pepper, grilled and brushed with olive oil). Works equally well with rosemary lamb and chicken bbq’d dishes.
- Tempranillo-based Rioja and Ribera del Duero are classic all purpose BBQ wines. They are medium weight red wines that are spicy and fruity.
Bitter and Astringent Foods ...like a mixed green salad of bitter greens, Greek kalamata olives, and charbroiled meats accentuate a wine’s bitterness. So complement these with a full-flavored forward fruity wine (Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot). Big tannic red wines (like many red Zinfandels, and Shiraz or Syrah wines) will go best with your classic grilled steak or lamb chops, as the fat in the meat will tone down the tannin (bitterness) in the wine.
Butter or Cream Sauces - Chardonnay with creamy seafood and pasta dishes. Riesling with turkey or most shellfish.
Cheese - Visit GourmetSleuth for the best (and very comprehensive) cheese/wine pairing chart we could find.
Chicken - Chardonnay if it is grilled or roasted.
- Riesling with Tandoori chicken.
- Merlot is perfect with braised chicken (like Coq au vin).
Chili - Shiraz or beer. And, of course, Champagne makes even a simple meal special.
Clams and Mussels - For those preparations that add spicy heat or sweetness such as coconut milk, go to a wine with lots of fruit such as viognier or chardonnay or one with a tad of sweetness such as an Austrian gruner veltliner or German riesling.
- For the simple steamed versions, most dry whites will work, especially sauvignon blanc.
Eggs - Generally, wine does not pair well with eggs. Ice cold vodka does! A simple white wine (like vouvray) goes well with a cheesey quiche or fritatta.
Emmenthal, Gruyeres, or Port-Salut Cheeses - Chardonnay for a white. Beaujolais or Châteauneuf-du-Pape for a red.
Fish and Seafood Dishes - Sauvignon Blanc - Light to medium bodied; herbal, fruity, aroma of fresh cut grass.
- Pinot Grigio (Gris) - Light to medium bodied, dry crisp wines with some fruit.
- Lighter chardonnay wines with simple dishes; bigger wines with rich sauces.
Fois Gras - Foie Gras, whether duck or goose liver, is an incredibly rich and luxurious dish. To balance both the richness and high fat content a very sweet wine with marked acidity is required. Sauternes is the usual partner to this dish.
- Duck Pâté is not quite as rich and so a slightly less unctuous wine is required. An Alsace Pinot Gris would be delicious, as would a sweet White Loire such as Vouvray.
Goat Cheese - Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre, or Vouvray.
Goose, Duck, Quail, or Guinea Fowl - A Pinot Noir, especially from Burgundy. Merlot is nice with chilled roasted duck.
Grilled Tuna - Try a chablis. Chablis wines have more acidity and less fruit flavours than other chardonnays, but their pure, minerally style has great elegance. They often have a “flinty” note, sometimes described as “goût de pierre à fusil” (gunflint).
Ham - A very lightly-oaked Chardonnay.
- A lean Pinot Noir (not too fruity) or Gamay Beaujolais is a good match with baked ham. If you want white wine, try a fumé blanc.
- Champagne is also nice, especially on a Sunday morning with a big plate of homemade biscuits, fruit preserves, and fried country ham.
- Riesling also goes well with ham. 2 million Germans cant be wrong!
Hamburgers - Try malbec or zinfandel if the burger is cooked over charcoal. Cabernet sauvignon is a good choice when the burger is cooked in a skillet, on a griddle, or over gas flame.
Hearty, Rustic Stews - Syrah - Medium to full bodied: tannic; aromas of ripe olives, rich fruit, exotic spices, earthy herbs. Or try a full-bodied merlot.
High Acid Foods - ...like salads with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, soy sauce, or fish served with a squeeze of lemon go well with wines higher in acid (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir). White Zinfandel, although not as high in acid, can provide a nice contrast to high acid foods.
Lamb - Merlot - Medium to full bodied, milder tannins; aromas of plum, cassis and cherry. Often used to soften Cabernet.
Mushrooms and Truffles
Pasta - Chianti or a Rosso from Tuscany for hearty dishes.
Pizza - Sangiovese - Medium to full bodied; acidic and tannic; aromas of black cherries, pine and leather.
Rabbit - Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir
- Roasted or Grilled Lamb or Pork; spicy foods
- Tempranillo - Medium to full bodied; Acidic and tannic; fruity and spicy.
Seared Salmon - Pinot Noir - Light to medium bodied; earthy, hint of herbs, aromas of red fruit, game, licorice.
Sharp or Hard Cheeses
Shellfish - Sauvignon Blanc with oysters or seafood salad. Dry Riesling or Chenin Blanc with crab or lobster
Shrimp Scampi - Gavi (cortessa grape), verdicchio, or a white wine from Orvieto.
Spicy Foods - Riesling with Asian cuisine. Gewurztraminer with curries.
Steak - Cabernet Sauvignon - Medium to full bodied; tannic; aromas of black currants, cedar and green bell pepper.
Strong Cheeses - Cabernet Sauvignon with bleu cheese or gorganzola.
Sushi, Oily Fish - Riesling - Light to medium bodied; fruity, silky, floral, mineral, with refreshing acidity.
Sweet Foods - ...like Italian tomato sauce, Japanese teriyaki, and honey-mustard glazes make your wine seem drier than it really is so try an off-dry (slightly sweet) wine to balance the flavor (Chenin Blanc, White Zinfandel, Riesling).
Tapas
Turkey - Turkey is the ultimate comfort food. So drink the wine you personally find comforting. Riesling if you like white. Merlot if you like red.
Veal - Chardonnay or Pinot Noir for light preparations. Merlot for richer dishes.
Venison
|
