Which wine to pair with a Moroccan tagine? (updated)

Exotic and aromatic, Moroccan tagines somehow manage to suit all types of weather and not being particularly spicy are relatively simple to pair with wine. 

There are of course different types of tagine which call for different styles of wine. Lamb tagines with quince or prunes generally suit a full-bodied red wine while chicken tagines with olives are better suited to crisp dry white wines or ‘gris de gris’ a pale style of rosé which is popular in Morocco. 

But as with all wine pairings sometimes you can be surprised. The rise of orange wines has been a bit of a game changer - a style I increasingly turn to with lamb-based tagines. 

Lamb tagines

Lamb tagines usually incorporate some kind of fruit, most commonly dried fruits like figs or prunes, which add a touch of sweetness that balances the spice.

I generally like lamb tagine with mellow aged reds like Rioja reservas or similar oak-aged Spanish reds, inexpensive southern Italian reds such as Nero d’Avola, Negroamaro and Aglianico, Lebanese reds or of course reds from Morocco itself which tend to include southern French grape varieties such as grenache, syrah and cinsault. 

You could also try a Côtes du Rhône or, perhaps more surprisingly, a brighter, fruitier red with good acidity like the Marcel Lapierre Morgon I reported on here, especially if lighter fruits such as apricots are involved. 

Now that orange wines are more widely available they’re a useful option too - especially darker coloured ones with more extended skin contact.

Check out these pairings

Lamb tagine with prunes and Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Lamb tagine with dates, prunes, and apricots and Morgon

Chicken or vegetable tagines with preserved lemon
You’d think white wine would be the natural go to for a dish like this but I’d be cautious. The lemon flavour in the tagine may well strip out any citrussy flavours in the wine so I’d go for a simple crisp white rather than a Sauvignon Blanc which is a bit too similar in taste.

Better still would be a strong dry southern French rosé such as the Costières de Nimes I mention here or, you might be surprised to learn, an aged Rioja or similar Spanish red as recommended above. You might think red is a weird choice with this type of dish but it works really well provided the wine is not too alcoholic or ripe. So not a 14.5% Chilean or Californian blockbuster! 

See also..

Chicken and vegetable tagine with southern French rosé

Chicken, lemon and olive tagline with Rioja Reserva

Duck tagine and Moscatel 

Vegetable tagines

Vegetable tagines typically include Mediterranean vegetables such as aubergine (eggplant), courgettes (zucchini) and peppers - the seasoning being quite gentle and subtle. Again a dry rosé is a good option but I also like earthy white wine blends from the southern Rhône and the Languedoc based on grapes like white grenache, marsanne, rousanne and viognier.  

Image ©Food Shop at shutterstock.com

The best wines to pair with courgettes or zucchini

There’a a fair chance that if you grow courgettes - or zucchini - you’re eating more than your fair share of them at this time of year but what wine should you drink with them?

As you’ll be well aware they don’t have much flavour of their own so it’s more a question of thinking about the flavours you put with them when you’re working out a wine pairing. Zucchini go particularly well with soft cheeses and yogurt, with herbs, especially dill and mint, with tomatoes, and with olive oil - if you fry them crisply this will bring out more of an intense flavour.

You can also turn them into a hot or cold soup but these again tend to be seasoned with the same herbs

For me this generally points to crisp unoaked white wines rather than red and even than rosé, though as they’re often served as part of a meal rather than the main event, a pale dry rosé could well hit the spot

Good wines to pair with zucchini

A citrussy sauvignon blanc

Rarely fails.

Crisp dry Italian whites

So many Italian whites are sympathetic to vegetable dishes - pinot grigio, pecorino, Falanghina, Greco di Tufo, verdicchio, vermentino .… I wouldn’t bother with the showier chardonnays though

Fresh Greek whites such as assyrtiko and moschofilero

Greeks have some of the best ways of cooking zucchini so why not try a Greek white with them?

Courgette and feta fritters with yoghurt

Dry riesling especially if there’s a touch of spice in the recipe as in this delicious savoury courgette seed and curry leaf cake

Stuffed courgette flowers are even more delicate and really need an accompanying white wine that won’t overwhelm them. An Arneis from Piedmont, for instance or a sparkling wine such as Franciacorta.

Courgette and tomato gratin

If you bake courgettes with tomatoes and cheese you could drink a Beaujolais or a light Italian red such as a Valpolicella. (Or that rosé you’ve been dying to crack open ... )

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

What wine to pair with gazpacho

If there’s one dish more difficult to pair with wine than already tricky tomatoes it’s gazpacho, the chilled Spanish summer soup that includes raw onion and peppers as well. So what wine should you pair with it?

White rather than red I suggest and make it young, crisp and fresh without any oak influence.

Bear in mind that if you’re in the mood for gazpacho you’re in the mood for a refreshing drink

6 of the best wine pairings for gazpacho

Rueda or sauvignon blanc

Good Rueda (and I wouldn’t buy the cheapest one you can lay your hands on) is a great match with the same bright citrussy flavours as a sauvignon blanc which of course would work too. I suggest one of the more restrained styles such as Reuilly from the Loire rather than a full-on New Zealand sauvignon blanc

Albarino

Galicia’s elegant versatile white is always a good option

Picpoul de Pinet

As is Picpoul from the south of France (good value too)

Dry Italian whites

Always spring into life with food - anything from a good pinot grigio from the Alto Adige to a Falanghina, Pecorino or Greco di Tufo from the south

Manzanilla sherry

You might be surprised to find sherry so far down the list given it’s a go to match with soup but that’s because it’s unpredictable, depending on the sherry and the recipe. When it works it’s brilliant but it just might misfire. My favourite style would be well chilled manzanilla from a freshly opened bottle though with white gazpacho (ajo blanco) I would go for a fino - or even a dry moscatel.

Provence rosé - which is more like a dry white wine - is also a pretty good option if it’s not too fruity which generally would be the case.

And read about this surprise pairing with smoked vodka!

See also

The best wine matches for tomatoes

Matching wine and soup

Photo © Ramon Grosso @fotolia.com

The best wines to pair with beetroot

Beetroot is one of the few vegetables that pairs better with red wine than with white - not only for the colour though that tends to put the brain on auto-suggest - but its rich, earthy, sometimes sweet flavour.

True it’s often partnered with other ingredients that can affect the wine match - it goes well with rare game like pigeon, duck and venison, for example, but that’s still red wine territory (pinot noir in particular for me).

In a salad or dip however you may want to take it in a different direction especially when tangy goat cheese or feta and spring vegetables are involved. 

Here are some suggestions for different types of beetroot dishes.

Good pairings for beets

Beetroot risotto

Beetroot makes a deliciously rich, flamboyantly pink risotto, better made, as you can see from the recipe below with red wine than with white. Pinot noir or dolcetto would be a perfect match for this.

Beetroot and pinot noir risotto

 

Beetroot tarte tatin

Beetroot can also be cooked until it caramelises when it acquires a more intense sweetness that can handle a richer, more full-bodied red from, say, the southern Rhone or the Languedoc (the classic grenache/syrah/mourvedre blend, for instance). But malbec would work too.

Borscht (beetroot soup)

More of a beer dish than a wine one, to be honest. A good pils would be perfect. Or even a shot (or two) of frozen vodka

Beetroot salads

Beetroot salads often include some kind of sharp-flavoured cheese such as goat’s or feta cheese or yoghurt and herbs such as chives or dill.

 

Although a fruity red like pinot would still be fine if that’s what you fancy the cheesy element would steer me in the direction of a crisp white wine such as a sauvignon blanc or an albarino, as I discovered a while back in this match of the week. Especially as you might have other white wine-friendly ingredients such as asparagus broad beans, peas or salad leaves in the dish.

And beets, of course, are not always red. With stripey chiogga or yellow beets you might want a richer white like a white Côtes du Rhône.

Beetroot dips, spreads and purées

Often part of a selection of different Middle-eastern-style mezze. Dry rosé is a good all-rounder with this kind of spread.

Beetroot cured salmon

Sometimes beetroot is used to cure salmon in which case it becomes more about the salmon than the beet. A couple of years back I found a very good match in furmint, a versatile dry Hungarian wine that can take a number of dishes in its stride. You can read about the pairing here.

 

On another occasion it was Godello from the north of Spain that scooped the prize. Dry riesling would work well too.