The best wine matches for tomatoes

Although not the problem they're generally made out to be tomatoes do have an influence on a wine pairing.

Being quite acidic, especially when dressed with a vinaigrette, you want a wine that has a good level of acid too - and not too much, if any, oak.

I find it easiest to think in terms of uncooked and cooked tomatoes when deciding on a wine match:

Tomato salads, fresh tomato sauces and salsas and soups like gazpacho work well with crisp dry whites and dry rosés. With a classic French tomato salad I’d go for a Picpoul de Pinet or a dry southern French rosé, especially Provençal rosé. A light style of Sauvignon Blanc or a Côtes de Gascogne or Côtes de Duras works well too. With panzanella (Italian-style tomato and bread salad) you might want to go for a crisp Italian white like a Verdicchio

With pasta with a fresh tomato sauce like this one with prawns I’d go for an Italian white such as Pinot Grigio. Albarino is a good match with gazpacho.

With more intensely flavoured cooked dishes made with tinned, roast or dried tomatoes - especially if combined with grilled vegetables like aubergines or meat as in a lasagne - I think reds tend to work better, especially Italian reds such as Barbera d’Asti, Chianti, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and simple Sicilian reds. Other Sangiovese-based reds are good too.

Stuffed tomatoes are good with lighter southern French reds such as Côtes du Rhône Villages or Côtes du Roussillon.

You may of course be looking to match lighter cooked tomato dishes such as courgette and tomato gratins or tomato tarts. These can take almost any kind of dry Mediterranean whites, light reds or rosés - like uncooked tomato dishes. Tomato fritters (a speciality from Santorini) are fantastic with the local Assyrtiko.

What I wouldn’t pair with tomatoes are big tannic reds, classic reds like Bordeaux or oaky Chardonnays except, in the case of Chardonnay, with a tomato tatin that has acquired an edge of sweetness.

The best wines to pair with crab

Crab is one of the most delicious kinds of shellfish and the perfect foil for a crisp white wine. But there are other crab dishes that pair better with a fuller-bodied white or even a red.

In this post I’ll dive into my top wine pairings for different preparations of crab, including popular dishes like 

• Dressed crab
• Crab bisque
• Thai crab cakes
• Deep fried softshell crab

As always, it’s not just about the crab but how it’s prepared and the other flavours involved...

Top wine pairings with crab

Dressed crab

You want to be able to taste the delicate meat so I’d suggest a classic Chablis or fine white burgundy such as Puligny-Montrachet. (The same would apply to fresh crab sandwiches or a simple crab salad though I might well pick a Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé for the latter, especially if it included asparagus. See also this match with 17 year old Muscadet!)

Linguine with crab

Quite a spicy recipe that usually includes garlic and red chilli and occasionally lemon. You could drink a citrussy (rather than a herbaceous) Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Kabinett Riesling with it but I’d go for a good quality Pinot Grigio, Soave or Albariño.

Crab bisque

Rich and luxurious this recipe normally contains cream and cognac as well as having a dominant flavour of brown crab meat - a good opportunity to crack open a seriously good barrel-fermented Chardonnay with a couple of years’ bottle age. White Rhône and Languedoc blends of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier work well too.

Thai crab cakes

My choice would depend on whether I was having these as a snack on their own or as part of a Thai meal. If it was the former I’d go for a dry Riesling or a Loire Sauvignon Blanc. With the latter I’d look for a wine with slightly more sweetness such as a Pinot Gris or a spätlese Riesling. Witbier is the other great pick as you’ll see from this Match of the Week.

Maryland crab cakes

The classic American crab cake, much richer than the Thai ones, but with a spicy kick. Unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay would be the safe choice but I’m not sure I wouldn’t reach for an Albariño.

Crab, saffron and leek quiche

Saffron is the key in this Rick Stein recipe. I love Viognier and Viognier blends with saffron-infused dishes so I’d go for that.

Deep-fried soft shell crabs

Sometimes these are served with a strong punchy dressing but I think, if you want to appreciate the delicate flavour of the crab, it’s better to serve them relatively simply. As with other deep-fried foods they go fantastically well with champagne and other sparkling wines.

Crab in black bean sauce

Always a tricky one as black bean sauce is so pungent but I came across a brilliant match at the Four Seasons hotel in Park Lane where chef Tak of Lung King Heen, the Cantonese restaurant at the Four Seasons Hong Kong was cooking for a week to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

His version was the best crab in black bean sauce I’ve ever eaten - deep and aromatic in flavour, sweet but not cloying. It was matched with a decent but not exceptional Mud House Pinot Noir from New Zealand and the pairing was spot on. I suspect you’d need a fuller, richer Pinot with most commercial black bean sauces.

Image by Larisa Blinova at shutterstock.com

 

The best food pairings for Grüner Veltliner

Winemakers like to tell you that their wines go with everything but in the case of Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s best known white wine, it’s true.

Short of Sunday roasts and large juicy steaks you can pair it with practically anything.

There are of course different styles but the one you’re most likely to come across is the crisp, fresh young style that typifies most inexpensive Grüners. What makes them distinctive is a herbal note and a distinctive white peppery twist.

In Austria they would be widely drunk with cold meats, salads, light vegetable dishes and fish - think the sort of dishes you would serve with a sauvignon blanc or a riesling. Further afield they’re a great choice in Asian or Asian-fusion restaurants especially with Thai and Vietnamese food

Asparagus

Austrians love asparagus - there are whole asparagus menus in the spring and early summer. It’s mainly white asparagus served either in a salad or warm with hollandaise but you can equally well drink it with the green variety. See also this match with asparagus soup.

Artichokes

Not many wines pair well with artichokes. Young fresh dry Grüner is one of them

Smoked ham, especially cut wafer thin as the Austrians do it

Smoked fish like smoked salmon or trout. Even smoked eel though I think riesling is better

Raw fish such as sushi, sashimi, carpaccio and tartares - especially with Asian seasoning like ginger or wasabi as you can see from this post.

Salads

Especially seafood salads with an Asian twist and salads with apple, kohlrabi or cucumber

Dishes with herbs

Grüner has a herbal edge itself and pairs beautifully with dishes that contain herbs especially dill, tarragon, mint and parsley. So salads as above, or chicken with a herb crust for example.

Light vegetable dishes such as braised fennel a courgette/zucchini gratin or a vegetable-based quiche. (Like an asparagus one, obviously)

Leafy greens especially cabbage, sprouts and kale. Think 'green wine, green vegetables'

Spicy but not over-hot south-east Asian dishes with ginger or galangal and lemongrass. Like dim sum, light stir-fries and mild Thai curries. Grüner is especially good with Vietnamese food particularly summer rolls and noodle salads.

Fried foods, schnitzel being the obvious example but you could happily drink Grüner with fish and chips or even fried chicken.

Fresh cheeses like goats cheese, young pecorino or mozzarella.

You can also pair Gruner Veltliner with many seafood and vegetable-based pasta dishes or risottos though for preference I'd go for an Italian white and I don’t think Grüner works with cooked tomato sauces.

Richer styles match well with roast pork or veal especially with a creamy sauce but not with an intense meaty ‘jus’.

Image © Pixelot - Fotolia.com

What wine (or other drinks) should you pair with herbs?

Do herbs ever have a strong enough influence on a dish to determine your wine pairing? Relatively rarely in my view. Only very herby sauces like pesto or salsa verde dominate a dish to such an extent that you need to choose a wine to accommodate them.

That said some herbs do tend to steer you in a certain direction and some wines, particularly sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc have a distinctly herbal character.

Some general pointers about pairing herbs and wine

*Soft herbs like basil, dill and tarragon tend to go better with white wine than ‘hard’ herbs like rosemary and thyme which are generally better with reds (the only exception to that is sage)

*Fresh herbs are more likely to go with white and rosé than dried herbs such as oregano or a classic Herbes de Provence. The exception is dried mint which is used quite widely in Greek cooking and tends to go just as well with a sharp lemony white as a red.

*Freshly picked herbs or herbs that are sold in bunches on market stalls and at greengrocers tend to have more flavour and therefore influence on a pairing than herbs that are sold in packets

*Quite often herbs are used together - like parsley, coriander and mint or mint and coriander. In this case it’s best to be guided by the style of the dish - is it middle eastern, for example or Vietnamese?

The good news is that there are herbs that you don’t need to worry about too much, for instance parsley (in general though see below), chives - just subtly oniony - and dried oregano which is normally dominated by other ingredients - e.g. tomato sauce on a pizza or tomato, onion, and olives in a Greek salad

The 10 herbs that may influence your wine pairing

Basil

In general best with a dry Italian white such as gavi di gavi, vermentino or verdicchio especially when made into a pesto. When used in conjunction with tomatoes - as it frequently is - then the tomatoes are more likely to dictate the pairing.

The best wine matches for tomatoes

Dill

Has a natural affinity with sauvignon blanc but is also good with peppery Austrian grüner veltliner and Hungary’s dry furmint. Arguably better still with a pils, or a frozen glass of aquavit or vodka.

Coriander/cilantro

This love-it-or-hate-it herb is used in such a wide range of contrasting cuisines - Mexican, middle-eastern and south-east Asian, for example - that it’s hard to generalise but I’d say when it’s used in fresh tasting dishes I’d go for sauvignon blanc or dry riesling and with meaty curries a carmenère or cabernet franc

Chervil

Relatively rarely encountered on its own though the classic constituent of omelette fines herbs which I’d accompany with a crisp dry white like a Chablis or perhaps, better still, a furmint

Parsley

Rarely dominant except in tabbouleh (which suits a crisp white wine or rosé) or salsa verde (along with mint, basil (sometimes) and punchy capers) which I personally think suits an Italian red like Chianti Classico best.

Mint

Has a real affinity with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet blends, especially when used in lamb dishes. Salads containing mint are also good with sharp whites such as sauvignon blanc and Greek assyrtiko. With peas and mint I like pinot but then that’s more about the peas

Tarragon

Particularly good with chardonnay, especially white burgundy, maybe because it’s often combined with two chardonnay-loving ingredients, chicken and cream. Also good with oaked white Bordeaux

Sage

A herb that’s used in a variety of recipes, from Italian dishes such as calves liver (Chianti or Langhe Nebbiolo) to pumpkin ravioli (a smooth dry Italian white such as Soave or a light chardonnay - also good with roast butternut squash). It’s also a regular companion for pork where I think it goes really well with an earthy Rhône white or, better still, with cider.

Thyme

Lovely with onions and therefore with cider, again. Can show up in classic British dishes like a beef stew where I think it goes well with red Bordeaux and in a whole raft of Mediterranean dishes from Greece (try a Greek red like Agiorgitiko) to Provence. Elsewhere in southern France where grows wild in the garrigue I like it with the local red blends made from grenache, syrah and mourvedre.

Rosemary

One of the most wine-friendly of herbs - again great with southern French reds from the Rhône to the Roussillon, with cabernet sauvignon but above all with Italian reds such as Chianti and other sangioveses.

(In his Tastebuds and Molecules Francois Chartier identifies a chemical similarity between rosemary and muscat, gewürztraminer and riesling and suggests they would be complementary too. I’m not wholly convinced but then I haven’t tried it. It could well be the case.)

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