Wine and lamb: my 5 favourite pairings

It’s tough to say what the best wine matches for lamb are - it’s served so many different ways and there are so many wines (mainly red) that work but here are my five favourites.

Bear in mind lamb is a slightly fattier, gamier meat than beef and carries spicing well - you’ll find lamb dishes all over north Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and India. But it can also be quite delicate and sweet - when served rare for example.

Here are the five I most commonly reach for:

PINOT NOIR

The wine to go with more delicate lamb dishes such as rack of lamb served with spring vegetables, lamb noisettes or a spring lamb stew (See this report from the International Pinot Noir Convention a couple of years ago to see how ‘new world’ pinots performed against classic red burgundy)

RIOJA

Go to the Rioja region of Spain and you’ll invariably be offered a mountain of lamb cutlets cooked over smouldering vine cuttings - one of the most delicious examples of vineyard cuisine you’ll find anywhere. And a red Rioja reserva is the ideal partner.

CHIANTI

If you’re serving your lamb Italian-style with garlic and rosemary reach for a bottle of Chianti Classico. Its fresh acidity offsets lamb’s slight fattiness perfectly - one of those matches which makes both the wine and food sing.

RED BORDEAUX AND SIMILAR BORDEAUX BLENDS

Another part of the world where lamb is a favourite, particularly in the Médoc. Again likely to be served simply with garlic. A red Bordeaux or similar blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot will offset it beautifully. (Also good with classic British dishes such as Lancashire hotpot and shepherd’s pie!)

SOUTHERN FRENCH REDS AND OTHER GRENACHE/SYRAH/MOURVEDRE BLENDS

Wines from the Rhône and Languedoc-Roussillon are good for more robust lamb dishes such as braised lamb shanks, Moroccan tagines or other spicy stews and casseroles - even milder lamb curries.

For a longer list of options read Top Wine Pairings for Lamb

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Which foods pair best with Merlot?

Merlot has one of the widest ranges of styles of any red wine from the light, quaffable merlots of the Veneto to the grandest of Bordeaux.

Obviously one type of food doesn’t go with them all but merlot is your flexible friend when it comes to wine pairing, smoother, rounder and less tannic than cabernet sauvignon with which, of course, it is often blended.

Read this post to learn more about about Merlot  andwhat foods pair best with this versatile wine.

Why is Merlot Such a Food-Friendly Wine?  

Unlike cabernet you can pair merlot with a range of Italian dishes, especially tomato-based ones and it responds very well to the ‘umami’ (i.e. deeply savoury) tastes you get in foods such as roast chicken, mushrooms and parmesan.

Because a great many merlots are medium-bodied they tend to go well with richly sauced dishes such as steak (or even fish) in a red wine sauce or with casseroles, where a more powerfully tannic wine would be overwhelming. (It’s also a good wine to use when you’re cooking, making a rich base for red wine sauces)

Sides that pair well with merlot are caramelised roast veggies especially those with a touch of sweetness, such roast squash, red peppers and beets and - as mentioned above - fried or grilled mushrooms.

Fruity merlots also pick up on red fruit-based accompaniments such as cranberry sauce and salads that contain red berry fruits

Because of its inherent sweetness it also works well with foods that have a touch of hot spice, not so much Indian spicing as hot and smoked pepper: dishes such as blackened fish or jambalaya. I also find it works with the anise flavour of five spice and fennel.

The best food pairings for different styles of merlot

Light, quaffable merlots

Tend to work with dishes with which you might otherwise drink a gamay or a sangiovese:

• Pizza and other toasted cheese dishes such as panini and quesadillas
• Pasta dishes with tomato-based sauces, especially with pancetta/bacon or mushrooms
• Grilled chicken, especially with Mediterranean grilled veg such as peppers, courgettes/zucchini and aubergines/eggplant
• Charcuterie (e.g. pâtés, terrines and salamis)
• Milder cheeses like medium-matured cheddar

Medium-bodied fruity merlot

• Italian-style sausages with fennel
• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Baked pasta dishes such as lasagne and similar veggie bakes
• Macaroni cheese
• Meatloaf
• Burgers - especially cheeseburgers
• Spicy rice dishes such as jambalaya
• Bean dishes with smoked ham or chorizo
• Hard and semi-hard cheeses especially merlot Bellavitano cheese
• Seared - even blackened - salmon
• Chinese style crispy duck pancakes
• Braised short ribs

Classic, elegant merlots e.g. Saint-Emilion and other merlot-based Bordeaux

• Grilled chops - veal, pork or lamb - especially with herbs such as thyme and rosemary
• Steak, especially in a red wine sauce
• Beef Wellington
• Roast beef or lamb with a simple jus or a mushroom sauce
• Roast chicken, turkey and guineafowl
• Simply roast duck - and Chinese crispy duck pancakes again
• Roast turkey (a ripe merlot makes a good Thanksgiving or Christmas bottle)

With older vintages keep the sauces and accompaniments simple. Anything with mushrooms or truffles will be a good match

Full-bodied rich merlots or merlot-dominated blends

Basically you can pair these with the same sort of dishes with which you’d drink a cabernet sauvignon - especially chargrilled steak, roast beef and roast lamb - preferably served rare

See also The best food pairings with Saint-Emilion 

Top image © Nadin Sh: 

The best wine matches for Manchego, Berkswell and other hard sheep cheeses

Hard sheep cheeses are the winelover’s friend.

Nutty, tangy and savoury, they show off a good red like no other cheese which makes them a great choice if you’ve picked a serious wine with your main course.

You can also pair them with sweet wines, and with sherry and other fortified wines. Here are the pairings I think work best:

Mature Spanish reds especially Rioja and Valdepeñas (the latter comes from the same region as Manchego, La Mancha). Other oak-aged tempranillos too.

Mature Bordeaux

Reds from the south-west of France - an area which specialises in sheep’s cheese - often served with a cherry compote. Madiran, for example. Sweet wines from the same region such as Jurançon and Pacherenc-du-Vic-Bilh also work well

Mature Chianti - especially with aged pecorinos

Sherry, especially dry amontillado, palo cortado and dry oloroso. Aged tawny ports are also good - see this post on Zamorano and 30 y.o. tawny

Aged oaked white rioja - its nuttiness compliments sheep cheese perfectly as you can see here

Orange wines. Maybe not your cup of tea but their quince-like flavours are brilliant with sheep cheese (think membrillo)

Younger, fresher-tasting hard sheep cheeses are good with a crisp dry white such as albarino or vermentino

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The best wine matches for sardines

Freshly caught grilled sardines are a treat at this time of year but how easy is it fo find a wine that will go with them? Look to the French and Portuguese for inspiration!

In the Languedoc, for example ‘sardinades’ - big communal feasts with chargrilled sardines as the centrepiece - are regular features of the holiday season accompanied by the local crisp Picpoul de Pinet.

In northern Portugal, you may be surprised to find they often drink red wine with them - the local dark frothy Vinho Verde - though white Vinho Verde, which also has a slight spritz, may be more to your taste as might its more upmarket manifestation alvarinho - the Portuguese cousin of Spain’s albarino

Other crisp white wines will work equally well - simple sauvignon blancs (especially from Bordeaux or the Loire), Muscadet, the sharp, lemony Basque wine Txacoli and assyrtiko from Greece though I’d personally steer clear of off-dry and aromatic wines such as riesling and pinot gris (sardines will make them taste sweeter) and oaky whites such as chardonnay.

And a good dry Provençal or Portuguese rosé will suit sardines just fine ...

Photograph © anjokan