The best food pairings for dry (or off-dry) riesling

It’s sometimes hard to predict what type of food will pair well with riesling because they’re all so different - some being bone dry, some ultra sweet, some positively floral, others zingy and citrussy.

But let’s concentrate on dry and off-dry rieslings in this post - the sort you’d have with starters and main course dishes - and focus on the sort of dishes and ingredients that tend to go with them best.

The good news is that there are a lot of them!

Good pairings with dry rieslings

Raw, cured and smoked fish

Particularly salmon and trout though any selection of smoked and/or cured fish should work well as you’ll see from this pairing for cured salmon. Also sushi, particularly with the slight touch of sugar you get in sushi rice (riesling is rarely bone dry)

Fresh or lightly dressed shellfish

In fact riesling is the perfect match for a prawn or seafood cocktail - especially with a Washington State riesling like the Kung Fu Girl riesling or, back in the day, the Bonny Down Pacific Rim riesling. In fact prawns (or shrimp) generally, with their slight touch of sweetness, are a good pairing for riesling as is fresh crab, particularly the white meat.

More surprisingly oysters and riesling can work well too, particularly when accompanied by other riesling-loving ingredients such as apple and pork.

Creamy sauces

You might think of a smoother, creamier white like chardonnay which certainly works but riesling offers more of a contrast. It’s a pairing they’re fond of in Alsace where you’ll find coq au riesling or riesling served with fish dishes with a creamy sauce.

Pork

Particularly fatty cuts like pork belly, better still if accompanied by some kind of apple* purée or sauce. And I love a glass of riesling (Alsace, again) with choucroute.

*Speaking of apple this match with an apple and smoked haddock salad was spot on

Lightly pickled veg

Which are appearing on restaurant menus all over the place right now. A good accompaniment to a riesling aperitif.

Goats cheese

Young riesling with young goats cheese but an aged riesling with a mature goat cheese is possibly even better.

Good pairings with off-dry or medium dry rieslings

photo Huahom from Pixabay

Just. Think. Spice.

So many spicy dishes work with an off-dry riesling - Thai, Vietnamese, even Indian. The hotter the dish the sweeter the riesling, basically.

Personally I find Australian and New Zealand rieslings pair really well with Asian food but try rieslings from other countries too.

Asian-style salads with coriander and lime go really well with limey Clare and Eden Valley rieslings as do Thai fish cakes

You’ll see I’ve often flagged up a good riesling pairing in my Match of the Week slot, for instance with

Thai beef salad

Crisp duck salad

Fish sauce chicken wings

Spicy noodles

Prawn laksa as in this German riesling food pairing

When it comes to Indian food I think street snacks work better than curries but I’ve drunk off-dry riesling right through an Indian meal with great success. And with a multi-course Chinese new year feast.

Goose

You may instinctively want a red (in which case check out this post on what to drink with goose) but a grand cru or spätlese riesling is a really spectacular pairing especially, as with pork, with an apple sauce or stuffing.

See also

Top food pairings with Clare and Eden Valley riesling

Asian food isn’t the only way into German riesling

Top pairings for dry and off-dry Alsace whites

Top image ©New Africa at Adobe Stock.

Top food pairings with Clare Valley and Eden Valley riesling

One of the most distinctive styles of white wine, dry rieslings from the Clare and Eden Valley in south Australia have a distinctive limey twist that makes them a particularly good match for Asian and Asian-inspired food.

Spot ingredients such as ginger, kaffir lime, lemongrass, coriander and fresh chillies on a menu or in a recipe and Aussie riesling* is the obvious go to.

There are three main styles:

Inexpensive young rieslings

Here the flavour of lemon and apple is more obvious than the characteristic lime which makes them a great match for raw and lightly cooked shellfish like prawns, crab and seared squid or light noodle dishes with seafood

Also try: smoked salmon, fish and chips and light Mexican-style seafood dishes like tacos

More mature dry rieslings

These tend to develop a more intense lime and kerosene flavour (much nicer than it sounds). These can handle a fair bit of spice but are still relatively low in alcohol so won’t overwhelm delicate ingredients such as crab or crayfish. They’re especially good with Vietnamese food

Also try: milder Thai dishes such as Thai beef salad, raw Asian fish dishes such as sashimi and fish tartares and seared tuna with sesame

Some people go for creamy sauces with this style of riesling but I’m not convinced. Dairy seems too heavy with this style of wine

Medium-dry rieslings with a touch of sweetness

These can handle hotter food such as the fish-fragrant aubergines I cooked a while back for the Chinese new year or the Indonesian rijstaffel I had in Amsterdam.

Also try: hotter Thai dishes, pork belly with Asian spicing

* Other dry rieslings will work with this type of dish too but south Australian riesling has a particularly vigorous zesty character that makes it work particularly well.

Do you have other favourite pairings for Clare and Eden Valley rieslings?

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What wine (and other drinks) to pair with poke (updated)

If you haven’t heard of poke - the Hawaiian dish of cubed raw fish usually with rice and/or vegetables - you soon will. It’s everywhere (and pronounced, by the way, pokay not poke).

It’s not generally spicy so you don’t have to contend with that but usually has a dressing based on soy sauce which gives it an umami (savoury) character. 

It’s the sort of light dish you might have at lunchtime so alcohol might not even be appropriate though there are definitely wines - more often that not white or rosé - that will work well with it. 

There are also many alcohol-free options that go well, particularly citrussy ones, given that it more often than not features seafood.

Here are eight suggestions

Riesling
A crisp fresh young riesling - from the Okanagan Valley or Washington State, for example - would be delicious

Sauvignon Blanc
Generally good where seafood is involved and poke is no exception. I’d choose a citrussy style from Chile for example rather than the more powerful, punchy sauvignons from New Zealand

Grüner Veltliner
If in doubt turn to Austria’s Asian food-friendly Grüner Veltliner. Especially with Asian flavours

A fruity rosé
I tried a low alcohol (10%) off-dry English rosé based on pinot noir and meunier called A Little Bit from Westwell in Kent with a salmon poke and it was spot on.

Sake
Poke is actually not that different in flavour from sushi and although the Japanese wouldn’t traditionally drink a rice-based drink with rice there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

A good crisp pils
C’mon! You can do better than a Bud! Buy a proper German pils or a crisp craft lager. They’ll both pair well with poke.

Pina colada
Bring back those retro cocktails! We should stop being sniffy about pina colada and drink it with the kind of food for which it was intended.

And thinking pineapple and coconut, pineapple juice would also be a good (and appropriately Hawaiian) pairing as would ultra-fashionable sweet, creamy coconut water. 

If you want to know more about poke read this excellent introduction from Bon Appetit.

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Six of the best wine (and other) pairings with chicken pie

Chicken pie - or chicken pot pie - is classic comfort food. But what sort of drink goes with it best? Wine, beer or cider?

Variations on chicken pie exist, which are bound to affect your drink pairing. British-style chicken pies are often creamier than American-style chicken pot pies, for example.

Assuming you’re going for the classic creamy filling, here are my favourite pairings

Top drink pairings for chicken pie

* A smooth, creamy (but not too oaky) chardonnay is always good with chicken in a creamy sauce. A Chablis or Macon-Villages would be a classic match

* An old vine chenin blanc with a lick of oak works really well too

* Try other smooth dry white wines such as viognier or other medium to full-bodied Languedoc or Rhône whites

* A medium dry cider is lovely with chicken, especially if the sauce is made with cider too or the pie contains leeks. As is perry (aka pear cider)

* A blonde or golden ale is a great match if you prefer a beer

* If the sauce is made with red wine and/or tomato I’d go for a medium-bodied red such as a merlot or an Alentejo red.

For American-style chicken pot pie, which often includes a heartier mix of vegetables or gravy-like sauces:

* Fuller-bodied whites like California chardonnay or viognier will go well with with the savoury and slightly sweet vegetable elements.

* Richer reds, such as Pinot Noir or a Grenache, work surprisingly well if the filling leans into roasted or caramelized flavours.

* You might want to go for a fuller style of beer like an IPA or amber ale

See also What wine goes best with chicken - red or white?

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