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Which wine to pair with moussaka
If you’re wondering what type of wine to serve with moussaka the obvious answer is a Greek red. The dry, dark-fruited character of the country’s indigenous grapes suits the dish perfectly. But it’s not the only answer. Here are my top wine pairings for moussaka:
- If you’re unfamiliar with Greek wines, agiorgitiko and xinomavro are both reasonably widely available home grown varieties.
- Other good options would be a southern Italian or Sicilian red such as an aglianico, negroamaro or nero d’avola - the sort of wines that would also go with a lasagna.
- Zinfandel and carignan are other possibilities too - or even a Moroccan or Lebanese red if that’s what you have to hand.
Can white wine pair with moussaka?
If you’re not a red wine drinker there aren’t many white wines that are great with moussaka but a more full-bodied white like a white grenache would be able to handle the richness of the dish.
Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could go for an orange or amber wine which generally pair well with aubergines.
Image ©Ivan Mateev at stock-adobe.com

What to match with the world's best Bordeaux-style reds
The Bordeaux wine region produces a multitude of top class red wines that these days tend to be blends of four main grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Typically top quality Châteaux in the Médoc are 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Merlot whilst in St-Emilion and Pomerol, Merlot and/or Cabernet Franc tend to predominate in the blend. As it happens my favorite Médoc and Pomerol are atypical: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande often has over 35% Merlot whilst Vieux Château Certan can have as much as 30 % Cabernet Franc/10% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Winemakers in the New World and Tuscany have replicated this formula and created successful blends in their respective areas – in the US often labelled Meritage. Wines like Ridge Monte Bello, Pahlmeyer Napa Valley Proprietary Red in California and Super Tuscans like Sassicaia and Ornellaia are examples of world class “Bordeaux Blends” not made in Bordeaux. I therefore treat the aforementioned wines in the same way as the Bordeaux equivalents.
I tend to side with the view that the top classed growths in Bordeaux and the New World equivalents will on average require 10 years minimum age whilst the best Cru Bourgeois and second wines 5–7 years. Having recently drunk some 1961, 1982 and 1985 First and Super Second growths, what is clear is that you need patience to experience the best of the best.
Because of the variety in blends and effects of bottle ageing matching food to red Bordeaux offers considerable scope, ranging from classic robust beef, game and lamb roasts or stews right through to cheeses like Camembert, Brie and Roquefort. I have also had a very good dish of monkfish both cooked with and accompanied with red Bordeaux.
Some specific great recent matches include Ridge Monte Bello 1999 with a superb Côte de Boeuf cooked by Racine, Chef Patron, Henry Harris and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1982 with roast Pauillac Lamb (Blanche du Massif Central) at a private dinner party in Bordeaux.
When entertaining at home, I often follow a main course with cheese as this gives you the possibility of selecting a wine with the main course that will carry you through to the cheese. Stronger cheeses tend to work well with the tannins in these type of wines. A cheese like Roquefort also works well with Sauternes so both cheese and wine can lead you on to dessert. When matching food and wine transitions should in my opinion be factored in, and to this end red Bordeaux can be an excellent solution for the central part of your meal covering at least two courses.
Personally I find that Roquefort works better with a well aged red Bordeaux than say a sweet dessert wine, simply because the dryness and the tannins enhance the taste of this cheese which would probably be the last savoury experience before moving on to dessert. I prefer the linear, savory to sweet eating trajectory especially with European cuisines like French, Italian and Spanish. Therefore I more likely to drink a white Alsatian with foie gras and red Bordeaux with Roquefort than Sauternes.
With this quality of wine and winemaking the key is the assemblage which is more important than the individual grape varieties. The wines are complex and subtle and therefore matching needs to be geared to food that enhances the wine drinking experience and visa versa.
You can read more about Dino's gastronomic adventures on his blog The Epicurean.
Image credit: Matthew Hintz

When food and wine matching doesn't matter
Although I make my living writing about how food can enhance wine - and vice versa - I would never want to be dogmatic about it and freely admit that there are occasions when it matters less than others.
Exactly such an occasion occurred earlier this week at a wine dinner at my son’s restaurant Hawksmoor which featured Charles Smith, of K Vintners (right) who I met a couple of months ago in Walla Walla in Washington State. Beyond saying he’s a rock’n’roll winemaker, a description I suspect he’s heard rather too many times, he’s hard to categorise but his ‘wild man’ appearance and demeanour bely the fact that he’s a serious winemaker* and winelover who produces some really top class wines.
So the times to be relaxed about trying to achieve a perfect match are:
When the wines are great.
When the wine is REALLY good you’ll enjoy it anyway pretty much whatever you drink it with. Use common sense here, obviously. I wouldn’t have fancied one of Charles’s high octane Syrahs” with a piece of seabass or a delicate risotto primavera but there would be no point in agonising whether they’d go better with beef, pork or lamb. What makes this easier is that the wines are superbly well-balanced. As Charles aptly put it “I don’t like wines that are pulled like a freight train across your palate”
* the 2008 Northridge Syrah Wahluke Slope and the 2008 Morrison Lane Syrah from the Walla Walla valley
When the food is simple
The more complicated food gets in the way of sauces and accompaniments the more potential there is for a flavour mismatch. Hawksmoor’s USP is impeccably sourced British ingredients served simply so we were served grilled Dorset Blue Lobster with butter (fantastic with the K Vintners 2009 Viognier) and great platters full of steaks, marrow bones and sides (spot on with both the Syrahs and Charles’s immodestly named Creator - a 60/40 Cabernet/Syrah blend. Infanticide really to drink them at this age but there you go. They were still great).
You could have served the lobster with a good Chardonnay with equal pleasure and the steaks with almost any good full-bodied red (that’s the joy of steak) but if I can chip in with one of my geekier observations the voluptuousness of Charles’s wines certainly helped drive through condiments like ketchup which can knock the stuffing out of less substantial wines. You wouldn't want to do that to a Hermitage.
When the food is shared, family style
This of course has always been the case with many ethnic cuisines and is becoming more and more common in modern British and New American restaurants. The bigger the range of dishes and flavours the harder it is to find a precise match.
There’s something about a big table that’s also quite loud and boisterous and doesn’t make for thoughtful contemplation of the finer nuances of food and wine pairing. What one’s looking for are generous, easy-going bottles that will take you through a meal or a section of a meal.
There are moods to be taken account of with food and wine matching just as there are with food or wine on its own. Sometimes you want to strive for a knock-out effect and sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy the experience . . .
* Charles Smith was Food & Wine’s Winemaker of the Year in 2009. To see for yourself what I mean by rock'n'roll watch this episode of Wine Library TV.
I attended the dinner as a guest of K Vintners and Bibendum Wines.
Which wine pairs best with tomatoes?
Tomatoes are generally held to be a problem for wine but as Jane McQuitty robustly puts it in The Times today - nonsense!
You do however need a slightly different strategy for dealing with raw tomatoes (where I’d go along with McQuitty’s suggestion of Sauvignon Blanc) and cooked ones which are frequently combined with other ingredients such as meat and cheese and with which I generally prefer a robust not over-fruity red. However there are exceptions - cooked dishes that could equally well be accompanied by white or rosé and two of Ramsay’s recipes fall into this category.
Beef tomatoes stuffed with pinenuts, sultanas and herb couscous
Here the tomatoes are merely served warm rather than cooked down or roasted to a caramelised sweetness and the other flavourings are milder than you might think from the recipe description. A robust dry southern French rosé would hit the spot pretty well.
Roasted tomato soup with goats’ cheese crostini
If you were to serve the soup cold, as Ramsay suggests, I’d definitely go for a white and given the goats cheese crostini, a Sauvignon Blanc would be the obvious choice (even though the crostini are served warm) If you were serving the soup hot or without the crostini I’d go for a vivid young Italian red with good acidity like a Rosso di Montalcino.
Seasonal glut tomato chutney
It’s not tomatoes that are the problem here but the vinegar. All chutneys are tricky with wine. Ramsay suggests using it as an accompaniment to cheese which will offset its sharpness. Three suggestions: a rustic French red like the delicious young Vacquéyras we’ve been drinking for the past couple of days from the co-operative at Beaumes de Venise, a Southern Italian red like a Copertino or Squinzano or an amber ale or French bière ambrée.
What to drink with Turkish food
Turkish food is not traditionally accompanied by wine. And although the Turks do have a wine industry not much of it makes its way over here. But here are some thoughts on possible pairings for Mark Hix's Turkish inspired recipes in the Independent this weekend"
Mackerel in oil with vinegar and shallots
This sort of escabeche dish is tricky to match with wine. Raki - the Turkish equivalent of ouzo - would make a good accompaniment, particularly if there were a whole selection of mezze on the table, but not everyone likes its aniseedy taste. A sharp lemony white like - dare I say - the Greek Assyrtiko from Santorini or a Spanish Rueda would do the job.
Yoghurt with honey, pistachios and pomegranate
Hix suggests this could be a dessert as well as a breakfast dish in which case you could serve a simple fresh sweet wine with it like a New World late harvest Sauvignon or Semillon but what immediately comes to mind is a freshly squeezed orange juice
Pancakes with spinach, spring onions and soft cheese
These are a little like spanakopitta and as such would go with almost any crisp dry white, an inexpensive sparkling wine or a light lager. Personally I'd go for a good Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige like the one I had yesterday at a Great Western Wine tasting, the biodynamically grown Loacker Isargus 2007, expensive for Pinot Grigio at £12.50 but well worth it.
Duck kebab with spiced bulgar
This would work with almost any fruity red of character: try a Turkish or Georgian wine if you can get hold of one or an inexpensive young Syrah-based southern French red. And of course there's always Pinot Noir - a no-brainer with duck.
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