The best food pairings for Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is one of the most versatile red wines to match with food and a great option in a restaurant when one of you is eating meat and the other fish.

There are ingredients that will pair with practically any pinot noir, for example, it’s a classic wine match for duck. Pinot can also pair well with salmon or tuna, depending on the way you’ve cooked them and the style of pinot you’re drinking.

Here are some food pairings for different styles of pinot noir, most of which (barring the mature pinots) should be served cool or chilled:

Light, fresh pinots

Such as: inexpensive red burgundy, Alsace pinot noir and other less expensive pinots, especially from poor vintages

Good pairings: Charcuterie, ham and other cold meats. Patés and terrines. classic French dishes with light creamy sauces such as rabbit or kidneys with a mustard sauce. Goat cheese. Grilled asparagus. Spring vegetables such as peas

The best pairings with red burgundy

Sweetly fruited pinots

Such as: those from Chile, New Zealand and California with bright berry fruit

Good pairings: Dishes with a touch of spice such as crispy duck pancakes (and hoisin duck bao buns as I’ve recently discovered!), grilled quail, pulled or char siu pork, seared salmon and tuna. Barbecues. Roast or other cooked beetroot dishes. Dishes that include cherries or figs like this duck and fig combination at Kooyong in the Mornington Peninsula

Silky, elegant pinots

Such as: top red burgundy and other Burgundian-style pinots

Good pairings: Roast chicken or guineafowl (even with lots of garlic as this post illustrates. Pigeon. Rack of lamb, served pink. Rare fillet steak and carpaccio. Beef Wellington. Roast pork with herbs and fennel. Chicken or turkey sausages. Calves liver, sweetbreads. Dishes with morels and other wild mushrooms. Mushroom risotto. Roast or grillled lobster

Rich, full-bodied pinots

Such as: those from Central Otago or pinots from a hot vintage

Good pairings: Butterflied lamb, chargrilled steak, venison. Dishes like cassoulet or duck with olives if they’re more rustic. Roast goose. Hare Royale as you can see from this post. Coq au vin where the sauce is made with pinot noir. Glazed ham. Roast turkey. Brie and similar cheeses. Milder blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola dolce.

Mature, truffley pinots

Such as: older vintages of Burgundy

Good pairings: feathered game such as grouse, partridge and pheasant. Cold game pie. Dishes with truffles.

See also

Pinot Noir and Asian food - some observations from Ch’ng Poh Tiong

9 Fine Wine Matches for Duck - Including Pinot Noir and other suggestions 

Photo by freeskyline at shutterstock.com

The best wine pairings for vitello tonnato

One of the best hot weather dishes, this piquant dish of cold poached or roast veal (or sometimes pork) with a tuna, anchovy and caper mayonnaise invariably pops up on menus at this time of year. But what to pair with it?

(You may also come across a vegetarian version based on tomatoes which I have to say is equally good. There’s a recipe here.)

As with most dishes it’s more about the sauce than the basic ingredient. Given that’s a tuna and anchovy mayonnaise that’s the key element you’ve got to match.

Here are some ideas that might help.

* as it originally comes from Piedmont a Piedmontese white like Roero Arneis or a Gavi seems a good place to start. Other neutral dry Italian white wines such as a Vermentino or even a quality Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige would be a good match too.

*It’s not traditional but a mineral Chablis or Aligoté would work as would a mature Muscadet-sur-lie or an Albarino.

*Try a dry rosé - especially Provençal rosé (see also this longer list of good Provencal rosé pairings)

* Personally I think it’s more a white wine dish than a red but a young Langhe Nebbiolo or other light Italian red like a Valtellina or even a light red burgundy would work fine. (Not too lush and fruity a pinot in my opinion as the anchovies and capers will accentuate its sweetness. Italians rarely drink wines without a fair amount of acidity in them.)

Image © zoryanchik - Fotolia.com

The best wine pairings for spaghetti puttanesca

Spaghetti puttanesca - or ‘whore’s spaghetti’ to translate it literally - is a full-flavoured pasta dish with strong, punchy flavours but which wine should you pair with it? As with other pasta dishes, it’s all about the sauce.

There are various theories about how the dish - a comparatively recent invention - got its name, the most plausible being that it was a simple storecupboard dish that could be slung together between clients’ visits.

Etymology aside, the best wine pairings for pasta puttanesca should take into account its core ingredients. Puttanesca is heavy on garlic, anchovies, capers, chillies and olives - quite a lot for any wine to handle. My preference, given the base is cooked tomatoes, would be for a southern Italian red - even a basic carafe wine would do.

Here are some specific suggestions:

• Sicilian and southern Italian reds such as nero d’avola, negroamara and primitivo
• Inexpensive zinfandel (you don’t want one that’s too extracted or high in alcohol with this punchy pasta sauce)
• Barbera - from Northern Italy or elsewhere - always a good wine with a rustic dish
• Inexpensive Portuguese reds from the Alentejo - ripe and supple, they make a good stand-in for an Italian red
• and if you fancy a white try a crisp southern Italian white such as Falanghina or Greco di Tufo.

Needless to say if you’re making the dish with another type of pasta like penne the recommendations would be the same. You match the sauce not the pasta shape.

See also Wines to match different pasta sauces

Photo by being0828 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

My top wine pairings with strawberries

I’m sure you’re enjoying a bowlful or two of strawberries at this time of year. But what to drink with them?

The classic pairing of champagne is to my mind too dry unless the champagne is rosé or demi-sec but there are plenty of other possibilities depending on how you serve your berries and how sweet the dessert is overall.

If the dessert includes meringue, pastry or shortbread you’ll need a sweeter wine than if you’re serving the strawberries on their own or with pouring cream.

Unsweetened strawberries or served plain with a little sugar

Perfectly ripe berries, especially wild strawberries can be delicious with an off-dry sparkling wine such as Moscato d’Asti, Asti, Clairette de Die or even a sparkling white zinfandel or Australian sparkling rosé like Jacob’s Creek.

You could also serve them the French or Italian way macerated in a light red wine such as Beaujolais with a little sugar - a (reasonably) healthy alternative to cream!

Strawberries and cream

The perfect foil for a classic dessert wine such as Sauternes or (more economically) Monbazillac from just outside the Bordeaux region. Alternatively if you don’t want to serve wine you could choose a contrasting but complementary well-chilled fruit juice such as passionfruit or mango.

Light airy strawberry desserts such as mousses, soufflés or gâteaux

A demi-sec (sweet) champagne would be the traditional choice but pink prosecco with its touch of sweetness would work too

Strawberry tarts or shortcakes

The additional sweetness you get from the pastry or shortbread means your wine needs to be sweeter. Sauternes or similar wines from the Bordeaux region will probably work but I’d be inclined to go for a luscious new world botrytised or late harvest semillon or sauvignon. Sweet wines from the Loire such as Coteaux du Layon can also work well

See these Ultimate Strawberry Tartlets.

Strawberries with meringue such as a pavlova, sundae or Eton Mess

Light and airy but typically sweeter than a gateau. A sweet wine with good acidity such as a late harvest or Beerenauslese riesling can be good or try a strawberry or raspberry liqueur topped up with champagne (like a kir royale or strawberry or raspberry bellini)

Strawberry cheesecake

I really enjoy fruit flavoured beers with the rich but slightly savoury flavour of cheesecake and a strawberry beer such as the Belgian Fruli is quite perfect. It would also be a good choice if you served strawberries with mascarpone. (If you can’t get hold of a strawberry beer try a cherry or raspberry-flavoured one)

Try this snack of crackers spread with cream cheese and topped with strawberries with white zinfandel.

Strawberries dipped in chocolate

If strawberries are served with or dipped in chocolate you need to take account of the flavour of the chocolate too. With milk chocolate I’d go for a sweet red like the Italian Brachetto d’Aqui, with dark chocolate maybe a richer red like a Recioto della Valpolicella.

Strawberries with orange

Strawberries and orange have a surprising affinity but will tend to strip out the fruit flavours in any accompanying dessert wine. Try a frozen shot of Cointreau or a small glass of Pimms No 1 Cup, made slightly stronger than usual.

Strawberry ice creams and sorbets

Matching wine to ice cream can be tricky unless there are other elements to the dessert and you are simply serving a scoop in place of cream. I quite like to serve a chilled liqueur that will pick out the fruit flavours such as a delicate, strawberry-flavoured ratafia di fragola.

Since I first wrote this article a couple of years ago there’s a new generation of pink moscatos and other sparkling reds and rosés which would work really well too. See these suggestions in my Guardian column

Top image by HomeMaker on Pixabay