6 of the best Spanish wines to pair with tapas

It shouldn’t come as a massive surprise that Spain can provide any style of wine you might fancy to drink with tapas.

Which, if you’re not familiar with it, it’s the Spanish word for the assortment of nibbles you get in a Spanish-style bar.

Which one to choose depends of course on your own personal taste and on the type of food you’re serving.

Tapas can embrace everything from a few nuts and olives to more elaborate hot dishes such as mushrooms and meatballs but here are the six wines I think work best.

Sherry*

Being a sherry fan I was bound to put it at the top of the list but in my view you can’t beat a good, freshly opened, well-chilled fino with the basic tapas of almonds, olives, manchego (cheese) and jamon. (Especially jamon!) Though with hot tapas like chorizo, mushrooms and meatballs (albondigas) I’d choose an amontillado. Waitrose has got a particularly good range under the Solera label.

Cava

Spain’s sparkling wine has suffered a bit of a hit since consumers switched to prosecco to the extent that it’s now both under-priced and underrated. It’s also a really good match for fried tapas such as chipirones (squid) and croquetas.

Rosado

Rosado is the Spanish name for rosé. Most comes from Rioja and neighbouring Navarra and is generally stronger and deeper in colour than those from Provence, which means it can cope with big flavours like spicy chorizo and allioli. Another good all-rounder.

Rueda

If you like sauvignon blanc you’ll like Rueda - in fact that’s what it’s sometimes contains although it’s more often based on the local verdejo which tastes very similar. Not all are good - they can have a coarse, catty taste about them - but the best are deliciously fresh and zesty. (Beronia does a good one which is stocked by Waitrose)

Rioja

I’m not talking about aged rioja here but young vivacious joven and crianza riojas that haven’t spent much time in barrel. They’re cheaper than the more mature reservas and gran reservas too. A good option for meatier tapas and for winter drinking.

Mencia

Perhaps the only one of these wines you might not be familiar with. It comes from Bierzo and Ribeira Sacra in the north-west of Spain and has a similar fruity character to Beaujolais. A good quaffing red for summer drinking, it would be good with cecina (cured beef), jamon iberico or indeed anything porky. (If you like it you’ll probably enjoy Bobal too)

*If you’d like to know more about sherry pairings download my book 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Sherry 

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Top wine pairings with goat cheese (chèvre)

Since goats cheese and Sauvignon Blanc is such a great match it might seem redundant to think of anything else but despite its reputation for being . . . well . . . goaty, goats cheese is easy to pair with other wines.

Unless you’re slathering it on a cracker as a sneaky snack the chances are you’re going to be eating it with something else - in a salad with asparagus, say, with roast red peppers or beetroot or on a cheeseboard with other cheeses - unless you’re in Provence where they don’t seem to serve any other kind.

With all those dishes it helps to have a wine with some fresh acidity of its own so here are my suggestions:

Sauvignon Blanc - you know that already. Doesn’t matter hugely where it’s from though I personally think the white wines of the Loire like Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé and even Sauvignon de Touraine work especially well. (The classic pairing is a Sancerre and a Crottin de Chavignol.)

Wines that taste like Sauvignon Blanc so other citrussy whites such as Bacchus, Côtes de Gascogne, Rueda and other crisp whites such as Albarino, Alvarinho, Chablis, Picpoul de Pinet, Pinot Grigio and other unoaked Italian whites, dry Riesling, Gruner Veltliner . . . (See what I mean about it being versatile?)

Crisp dry rosé especially Provençal rosé. Provence-style rosé and goats cheese is a great pairing (think summer picnics!)

Fresh, fruity reds such as Beaujolais and other gamays, inexpensive red burgundy and Loire cabernet francs like Chinon, Saumur and Saumur-Champigny

So basically any wine - white, red or rosé - that’s young, fresh, unoaked and lightly chilled will go with goats cheese. Which makes it the perfect summer cheese.

PS If you’re a cheese aficionado you may be a fan of more mature goats’ cheeses in which case I would go for an aged white like a Chablis or a mature Alsace riesling too as you can see from this post.

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6 of the best drink pairings for Brie (updated)

One of the world’s most popular cheeses, brie can be mild and slightly chalky or decadently gooey and quite strong in flavour.

The best wine pairing for brie will mainly depend on the maturity of the cheese rather than the origin. I wouldn’t recommend radically different drinks for a Somerset brie than a Brie de Meaux, for example (although there’s always the local cider!).

Basically you should think of lighter wines in terms of younger milder cheeses and more structured ones for more mature intensely flavoured ones.

Wine might be the obvious beverage to turn to but there are other drinks that work well too including beer and aperitifs. And I’ve. suggested a couple of alcohol-free alternatives too. 

Six top drink pairings for Brie

* Fruity reds such as New Zealand or Chilean Pinot Noir. (More mature bries or brie-style cheeses will need more powerful structured wines such as those from Central Otago.) Or try a fruity (but not too tannic) Merlot or a ripe ‘cru’ Beaujolais from a good vintage such as 2022. For milder bries a basic Beaujolais Villages is better

* A fruity dry rosé - lovely on a picnic

* A creamy, subtly oaked chardonnay - even a posh white burgundy!

* A cherry or raspberry-flavoured fruit beer (Kriek or Frambozen), particularly when the brie is accompanied by fresh cherries.

* A red berry fruit-flavoured cider. I’m not normally a fan but they do work well with brie. 

* Guignolet (a cherry-flavoured French aperitif) by the same logic.

If you’re looking for an alcohol-free alternative think in terms of similar red fruit flavours. Cranberry juice and pomegranate juice would both be good options.

See also Pairing wine and cheese: 6 ways to do it better

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Six of the best wine pairings with cassoulet

Anyone who has a passing knowledge of cassoulet will know that there are hotly disputed arguments about what constitutes the authentic version. But whichever way you make it it’s a substantial dish, a slow-cooked casserole of beans, meat and herbs. French-style comfort food.

I see little reason to stray away from the wines of cassoulet’s homeland of south-west France and personally much prefer red to white as a match.

Here’s what I’d go for...

6 Best Wine Pairings with Cassoulet

Marcillac

Probably my favourite choice, a delicious bright fruity red made from Mansois, the local name for Fer Servadou.

Madiran

Can be a little high in alcohol for such a heavy dish but if you like more robust reds it’s a good choice

Cahors (and other malbecs)

Another south-western French red that hits the spot. Malbecs from elsewhere in France and more savoury European styles of Argentinian Malbec would work well too.

Hearty Languedoc reds such as Minervois and Corbières.

Kate Hill, author of Cassoulet, A French Obsession, recommends a biodynamic Coteaux du Languedoc called Far Ouest made by biodynamic wine producer Mylene Bru.

Côtes du Roussillon

Lighter and brighter than some of the more expensive and extracted Roussillon reds, their freshness would offset the richness of cassoulet well.

Côtes du Rhône Villages

A good Côtes du Rhône especially from a named village like Séguret or Valréas would also be a good match as would a Costières de Nîmes

Red Bordeaux

This might be more of a surprise but can work really well as this pairing with Chateau le Puy demonstrates.

If you want to stray over the border into Spain there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t drink a Rioja crianza or other tempranillo.

For other bean pairings see The Best Wine Pairings with Beans.

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