The best pairings for amontillado and palo cortado sherry

Amontillado sherry has richer, nuttier flavours than a classic fino or manzanilla sherry and calls for different food matches. Think more in terms of cured meat, game and cheese than seafood and richer, meatier tapas.

Which match works best depends on the level of sweetness. An inexpensive medium-dry amontillado will tend to suggest different pairings than an aged dry amontillado which will be much drier and nuttier - arguably best sipped on its own.

Palo cortado which starts life as a fino but finishes it like an oloroso is similar calls for broadly similar pairings

Dry amontillados and palo cortados

Jamon iberico - amontillado can handle the extra richness and depth of flavour of iberico ham - and an extra bit of fat

Cheese - Aged manchego is classic but amontillado is also surprisingly good with cheddar, aged Comté and similar cheeses and parmesan as you can see from this rocket and parmesan salad

Almonds and hazelnuts - try it with the Middle-eastern dip dukkah

Sautéed mushrooms

Kidneys

Albondigas (meatballs)

Patés, especially game patés

Cold game pie

Smoked duck and other smoked meats

Pork scratchings

Salad with sautéed chicken livers

Chestnuts

Jerusalem artichokes

Roast root veg

Braised rabbit

Chicken yakitori

Peach - according to Heston Blumenthal!

Medium-dry sherries work best with cheese, patés and even plain fruit cakes like Dundee cake. The same suggestions would apply to medium-dry montillas

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The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

Manzanilla, as you probably know, is a fino sherry made in the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda rather than in the cities of Jerez or Puerto de Santa Maria which gives it its characteristic salty tang.

Like fino it needs to be served chilled and drunk fresh so always buy from a shop or online retailer that has a good turnover of bottles

From a food point of view the two are very similar though I would tend to go more for manzanila with seafood and fino with meat and cheese. What both have in common is that they can handle strong flavours like garlic and chilli and tricky to pair ingredients such as asparagus and artichokes.

Both are obviously very good with Spanish cuisine (especially tapas) but lend themselves well to other dishes such as smoked salmon, fish and chips and sushi. Treat the suggestions below as just that - suggestions - and don’t be afraid to swop them around:

Food matches for manzanilla

All kinds of seafood including:

grilled and fried squid

octopus and octopus salad

mussels, especially with chorizo

anchovies

oysters

raw fish such as sashimi or tartares

fried fish (and chips)

fried soft-shell crab

fish soups

feta cheese (such as this dish of beetroot borani from Morito)

pickled fish such as mackerel en escabeche

grilled fish, especially oily fish like sardines

garlicky prawns or shrimp

smoked salmon

smoked mussels

smoked dried beef

Food pairings for fino

nuts, especially almonds

olives and olive pastes like tapenade

jamon/ham

grilled or preserved artichokes

hard sheeps’ cheeses such as Manchego

chorizo

tortilla

grilled asparagus or leeks with romesco sauce

white asparagus

pimientos de padron

clams cooked with sherry

cider-battered onions (from my good friends Dan and Elly of The Basement supper club

croquetas

tandoori salmon and teriyaki salmon

smoked eel

white gazpacho

sushi, sashimi, tempura and any kind of Japanese food where you would drink sake

Food matches for 'en rama' styles

These are unpasteurised versions of either fino or manzanilla which have a limited shelf-life but a more intense flavour and texture

richer, hot or sauced fish dishes

grilled tuna

black rice with cuttlefish arroz negro

deep-fried sweetbreads

hake with allioli (garlic mayonnaise)

Japanese food generally

 

More food and sherry matches:

• The best food pairings for dry oloroso sherry
• The best food pairings for amontillado and palo cortado sherry
• The best food pairings for sweet oloroso and PX sherry

 

 

Top photograph © delarue - Fotolia.com

The best wine pairings for peppers

Peppers or bell peppers, as they’re also known, crop up in so many dishes, that you may well have wondered what wine goes best with them - or even if they’re the element of the dish you need to match.

It depends partly on the colour and partly on whether or how you’ve cooked with them or served them raw. In general I tend to think raw peppers pair best with a white or rosé and cooked peppers with a red wine but that’s not a hard and fast rule

Of course there are also hot peppers which I’ve touched on here but which will be the subject of another post.

Wine with red peppers

Red peppers have the most distinctive flavours of the pepper family, developing a rich sweetness as they cook, especially if they’re grilled or roasted

Raw peppers as crudités or in a salad. A crisp dry white or a rosé

Grilled and roasted peppers

Much richer and sweeter. They could also be accompanied by other big flavours such as garlic and anchovies as in the classic Piedmontese peppers or this roasted red pepper and anchovy salad from chef José Pizarro. I’d be inclined to go for a young rioja or mencia or a juicy young grenache but a robust Spanish rosado would also work. If you’re drinking white wine I’d choose something with a bit of weight like a New Zealand sauvignon blanc or Rueda.

Stuffed peppers

Yes, the pepper element is important but it also depends on the stuffing. If it’s some kind of meat I’d go for a medium-bodied Italian red, a young rioja. zinfandel or a Côtes du Roussillon. Or a merlot. If you stuff them with grains like quinoa or fish as in this stuffed peppers with brandade (salt cod) which worked brilliantly well with a hunter valley sémillon, you might be more inclined to drink a crisp fruity white.

Red pepper soup

More likely to be red pepper and tomato soup like this one - it might even have a bit of a spicy kick. Dry whites normally pair well with soup so I’d probably go for something like a picpoul or an albarino but the other suggestions I’ve made for roast red peppers should work too.

Pasta with red pepper sauce

Similar ingredients and flavours to the above (as in this BBC Good Food recipe) but because it’s pasta you might feel inclined to go for a red - pretty well anything Italian and inexpensive (so not top Chianti or amarone) would work

Yellow and orange peppers

Usually milder than red peppers but I suggest following the suggestions above

Mixed peppers

Quite a few dishes such as chicken with peppers involve an assortment of peppers or, in the case of ratatouille other summer vegetables like courgettes and aubergines too. Both are quite robust so I’d go for a hearty southern French, Spanish or Italian red (Sicilian would be good) - the sort I recommend with grilled or roasted peppers.

Wine with green peppers

Green peppers are vegetal rather than sweet and I think generally better suited to a fruity white like a verdejo or a sauvignon blanc but there is also a green or bell pepper component in cabernet sauvignon that may make that work as well particularly if the peppers are stuffed with lamb. If you’re interested, here’s the science.

Wine with hot peppers

I’m not so much talking chillies here as spicy or potentially spicy peppers like the Spanish Pimientos de Padron or pickled guindillas, also Spanish. I think chilled dry fino or manzanilla sherry goes well with both but you could also drink a sharp white wine like a txacoli or a vinho verde with them especially as they’re likely to be part of a tapas line-up. Or a strong dry Spanish rosado.

See also 6 of the best Spanish wines to pair with tapas

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15 Easter wine pairings to learn by heart

If you're wondering what wines you should buy for Easter weekend here's quick guide to what I think are the best Easter wine pairings.

As with my previous ‘learn by heart’ posts it's a simple way to remember great food and wine matches at a busy time of year. There are of course other possibilities to which the links will guide you.

Colomba Pasquale and extra dry prosecco

Colomba Pasquale is the traditional Italian Easter cake and ‘extra dry’ prosecco perversely a slightly sweeter style that is perfect with sweeter things.

Lamb and rioja

You can drink so many red wines with lamb (Chianti and Cabernet being two other favourites) but rioja is such a crowd-pleaser. I’d go for a reserva myself.

Roast chicken (or turkey) and pinot noir

Hey, it’s spring (or supposed to be) so lighten up with a brighter, fruitier red. Pinot is perfect

Easter ham and Beaujolais

Baked or roast ham or gammon could also take a pinot but I’m rooting for a good Beaujolais like a Morgon

Duck and pinot

And yes, here’s pinot noir again! But you can’t find a better pairing with duck. Especially with peas.

Roast kid and Chianti

Kid would be a traditional Mediterranean choice for the Easter feast so I’d be inclined to go for an Italian, Greek or Portuguese red. Chianti is the easy-to-memorise option.

Salmon and chardonnay

Depends how you cook it but salmon pretty well always works with chardonnay. Especially en croute or in a creamy sauce. (If it’s smoked salmon try sauvignon blanc.)

Fish pie and Chablis

Maybe you’re planning a fish pie for Good Friday? Again chardonnay is a reliable match - I’d go for a Chablis.

Asparagus and Sancerre

There are major arguments over which wine suits asparagus best but Sancerre (or Pouilly Fumé) does it for me. Especially if goats cheese is involved. Other optionshere

Scrambled eggs and champagne (or cheaper fizz)

What else are you going to drink for Easter brunch? Seriously - eggs and bubbles is the way to go. (It works with eggs benedict too)

Torta pasquale (Italian spinach and ricotta pie) and Soave

Or any other smooth dry Italian white come to that. Like Gavi. Here's a lovely recipe from Gennaro Contaldo or, following the recommendation below, from Rachel Roddy. A great option for vegetarians.

Simnel cake and orange pekoe tea

Perfect combination!

Hot cross buns and marsala

I owe this one to the Italian wine buyer at M & S Jeneve Williams. (They have a really well-priced half bottle of marsala you should try which is no doubt why they came up with the suggestion!). Nice recipe here too.

Easter eggs and Brachetto d’Aqui

If you’re scoffing the remains of the kids’ Easter eggs this sweet, gently sparkling Italian red is hard to beat. But also hard to find, unfortunately. If you’re stumped try a rosato frizzante (pink prosecco by another name though they’re not allowed to call it that)

Lemon tart and late harvest riesling

Lemon tart can be tricky with wine - the more intensely lemony the tougher it is. The trick if you want to serve a dessert wine with it? Add cream either to the tart or a good splodge over the top. Late harvest riesling has the acidity to cope

You may also find these posts useful:

What sort of food to pair with prosecco

20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart

The best wine matches with salt cod (traditional Good Friday fare in Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Portugal.)

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