Top pairings

The best food pairings for dry Furmint
All countries like to boast that their signature grape variety goes with practically everything but in the case of Hungary’s furmint it’s true.
With “the aromatics of sauvignon blanc, the rich mouthfeel of chardonnay and the vibrant acidity of riesling” as my colleague Tim Atkin neatly puts it it really is a take-me-anywhere wine.
Hungary of course has a great gastronomic tradition of its own so you could obviously drink it with everything from foie gras which is hugely popular in the country to chicken paprikash.
But its rare combination of lushness and searing acidity makes it an incredibly good partner for the dishes that involve sweet and savoury elements that you often find in Asian cuisines and in Moroccan tagines. I reckon it would work with many Chinese, Korean, Burmese and Thai recipes that mingle hot, sour and sweet.
And at a recent online tasting, sommelier Isa Bal and Jonny Lake of Trivet played around with Japanese tastes and flavours using miso, sesame and kombu (seaweed) in their presentation.
I confess I’m still in the process of learning about this rather miraculous variety which you also find in Austria and Slovakia but some avenues you might want to explore are:
With fresh unoaked young furmints
Like other crisp white wines it would go with simply cooked fish and shellfish especially crab and prawns.
Smoked and cured fish like this beetroot cured salmon with horseradish I wrote about a while ago
Chicken with a creamy or herby sauce such as this Pot roast chicken with herby crème fraîche from Olia Hercules.
Sushi and tempura (Isa Bal suggested tempura of red mullet and sea vegetables (kombu) with a sweet and sour dip)
Salads and vegetable dishes that include citrus, especially orange
Lightly pickled vegetables
White asparagus
Goats’ or young sheep cheeses
You could also take a look at these pairings with Chablis which should work with lighter styles of furmint too.
With richer styles with oak or a few years maturity
Chicken or duck liver parfait (Ronan Sayburn and Marcus Verberne of 67 Pall Mall pair it with a chicken liver parfait with an orchard fruit compote of quince, pear, peach and apple in their book Wine and Food.
Seared scallops
Grilled or roast lobster
Roast goose
Duck à l’orange
Roast celeriac
Pork belly
Moroccan tagines
Aged Comté or Gruyère
Umami-rich Japanese or Japanese-influenced dishes (see above)
Off-dry styles which would still classify as dry rather than sweet should work with milder curries and, according to Hungarian wine expert Caroline Gilby, with chicken katsu! (In his book Tastebuds and Molecules Francois Chartier identifies a compound called sotolon which is present in curry powder and fenugreek and also in sweet wines such as Tokaji Aszú, Hungary’s famous sweet wine.
For more on late harvest furmints see The best food pairings for Tokai Aszu.
The wines shown above were provided as press samples by Wines of Hungary

The best food pairings for rioja
Rioja - and by that I mean red rioja - is one of the UK’s best-loved wines and one of the easiest ones to match with food too.
As you’d expect it pairs particularly well with Spanish food especially lamb and pork and recipes that contain red peppers, pimenton, garlic and saffron.
The main thing to bear in mind is the style of the wine - whether it’s a young (joven) rioja which can handle quite robust, even spicy dishes, or an older (reserva or gran reserva) one which would benefit from more simply prepared food.
Riojas that are made in a more modern style can also handle more spice than more traditional ones. Modern Indian food with rioja is a surprising hit.
These dishes will generally work with most riojas:
* Almost any kind of lamb dish from roast lamb to tender lamb cutlets grilled over vine clippings (a local favourite in the region) to slow braised lamb shanks or even a rogan josh. Shepherds pie, Lancashire hotpot, merguez, moussaka . . . It’s hard to think of a lamb dish that doesn’t work with rioja.
* Many pork dishes especially cooked Spanish style with beans. Chorizo and morcilla (black pudding) are both good pairings for younger riojas as are jamon (ham) and albondigas (meatballs) making red rioja a good match for more robust tapas.
* Dishes with red peppers and/or pimenton or paprika
* Almost any kind of mild or medium-hot dish with chillies like chilli con carne and other chiles. (Rioja suits south-west American food and American barbecue)
* Dishes with saffron such as paella or Moroccan tagines - including, surprisingly, chicken with preserved lemon and olives and Mediterranean-style fish stews
* Older gran reserva riojas are especially good with roast game birds such as pheasant and partridge. Indian-style game dishes work well with younger riojas
* Cheese, especially hard sheeps’ cheeses such as Manchego, although a mellow rioja reserva is a generally reliable choice with a cheeseboard - unlike many reds.
See also The best matches for white Rioja

My favourite food pairings with Viognier
Viognier (pronounced vee-on-yee-ay) is a rich, exotically fruity white wine, sometimes achieving quite high levels of alcohol so what are the ideal foods to pair with it?
It generally goes well with the sort of ingredients and dishes that match well with chardonnay and oaked chenin blancs but with a spicier twist.
Viognier food pairings
* Top of my list would be mild creamy curries like kormas or spicy south-east Asian curries. Even curries made with curry powder work well as do spicy dishes with a hint of peach or apricot, echoing the flavours in the wine
* mild spicy noodle dishes like Pad Thai
* chicken salads with apricot, peach or mango like coronation chicken
* fruity chicken - and even lamb - tagines with apricot
* dishes with ginger, saffron and coconut
* chicken, pork or rabbit with creamy sauces, especially if the dish includes a dash of viognier itself like this springlike dish. More intensely flavoured viogniers can stand up to roast pork, chicken and turkey
* Rich shellfish dishes such as seared scallops, grilled lobster and baked crab, especially with a hint of spice
* creamy and buttery cheeses
* sweet root vegetables especially carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes and spicy butternut squash
Note: Viognier’s original home is in the Rhône though oddly I don’t think it’s a great pairing for Mediterranean food. You also find great viogniers in California and Australia whose most noted specialist is Yalumba.
Viognier is also incorporated into rich white blends that would match similar dishes to the above (see this match of the week for example) - and also blended with Syrah/Shiraz though those would call for quite a different pairing
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