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

Image © Bozena Fulawka at shutterstock.com

The best food pairings for orange wines

More and more people have been drinking orange or amber wine but what’s the best kind of food to pair with it? In this post, I’ll guide you through the best food pairings for orange wines, drawn from my own experiences and tastings.

What is Orange Wine?

Orange wines, as you may know, are made from grapes that normally produce white wine but get their distinctive colour from leaving the juice in contact with the skins in the same way you do with a red. The flavour depends mainly on how aromatic the grape variety is in the first place (pinot gris and malvasia both make a fragrant style of orange wine, for example) and how long the juice remains in contact with the skins: the longer the darker, more tannic and more intense it will be.

There’s often a flavour of quince about an orange wine which to me makes them a natural match for eastern Mediterranean and middle-eastern, especially Georgian, food. (Many of them are, of course, produced in Georgia.)

Here are the ingredients and types of dishes I think pair with orange wine best - many of which often appear in conjunction with each other.

Foods that pair well with orange wines

Lamb

The number one meat with orange wine. Spicy slow-cooked shoulder, kebabs, lamb (and mutton) tagines and biryanis. Goat runs it a close second. Even better if it’s combined with one of the ingredients below.

Aubergine

Think roast aubergine, grilled aubergine, any kind of smoky aubergine like baba ghanoush. Especially in combination
with . . .

Walnuts which really need a category of their own though this aubergine and walnut dish may be the perfect orange wine pairing

Tahini

Another ingredient that is often combined with lamb as in these amazing koftas from Sami Tamimi’s latest book Falastin. And hummus obviously

Grilled octopus

More savoury than fishy and deeply umami and on those grounds perfect with orange wine.

Roast and/or caramelised veg

Especially root vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes and celeriac. Also think of serving orange wine with a whole roast cauliflower or with caramelised endives

Nutty grains like farro, freekeh and bulgar (cracked wheat). It’s good with whole-wheat couscous too.

Hard - and semi-hard - sheeps cheese

So good with manchego and similar hard sheep cheeses but also with grilled halloumi and a salty sheep cheese like feta.

See also this account of an orange wine dinner from sommelier Donald Edwards.

Wine and Cheese Pairing for Beginners

Wine and cheese are well known bedfellows but if you’re a beginner it might seem daunting to decide exactly which wine to choose for which cheese. This guide will quickly help you to get started pairing wine and cheese like a pro.

Which wine with which cheese?

You might be wondering, should I start with the wine or the cheese?

Most beginners to wine and cheese pairing will be starting with a particular cheese or looking for wines for a cheeseboard. So I’ve broken things down by cheese type. (For cheeses to pair with your favourite wine see below)

Wine with Hard Cheese

Hard cheeses include cheddar, Comté, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Manchego. They’re the easiest type of cheese to pair with wine - a medium bodied red like a cabernet sauvignon or a rioja is probably going to be the most enjoyable pairing for most people but try the combination of cheddar and chardonnay

• Pairing wine and cheese: 6 ways to do it better

Wine with Soft Cheese

Soft cheeses range from spreadable cheeses like Philadelphia to semi-soft white rinded cheeses like brie and camembert. I like them with a fruity red like a pinot noir or a Beaujolais but rosé works well with this style of cheese too.

Wine with Blue Cheese

Blue cheeses include Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Classic wine pairings tend to be sweet, for example Sauternes with Roquefort or port and stilton. For something a bit different, try sloe gin or sweet sherry. And, believe it or not, even stout and blue cheese work well together.

Wine with Goat Cheese

Sauvignon blanc is the classic wine pairing for goat cheese, but you could also try a crisp dry Provençal rosé (particularly for a summer picnic) or a fresh fruity red such as Beaujolais.

Wine with Washed-Rind Cheese

Washed-Rind cheeses - often referred to as ‘stinky cheese’ - include Epoisses, Reblochon, Vacherin Mont d’Or and Taleggio. They tend to be quite pungent especially as they mature so don’t expect anything great in the way of a wine pairing. Oddly a crisp dry white wine - or a strong Belgian-style ale - can work better than a red

Wine with Melted Cheese

It’s not a cheese style in its own right but melted cheese classics such as fondue and raclette deserve a mention. They aren’t the easiest dishes to match, but a good bet is a crisp or aromatic white wine from the region where these dishes are popular. You’ll find some specific suggestions in this post: the best wine pairings with cheese fondue, raclette and tartiflette.

Which cheese to pair with your favourite wine

Most people like to pair red wine with cheese and that’s fine - just bear in mind that there are some cheeses, as I’ve suggested above, that taste better with a white wine or dessert wine so don’t be afraid to experiment.

10 popular wines and the cheeses to pair with them

1. Cabernet sauvignon, merlot and Bordeaux blends - cheddar, gouda and other hard cheeses

2. Pinot noir - brie and camembert

3. Rhône and other southern French reds - a good all-rounder with a French cheeseboard

4. Rioja - particularly good with sheep cheeses like Manchego

5. Chianti - parmigiano reggiano and pecorino

6. Port - blue cheeses like stilton

7. Sauvignon blanc - goat cheese and feta, cheeses with garlic and herbs

8. Chardonnay - cheddar

9. Pinot Grigio - mozzarella and other mild Italian cheeses (good with an antipasti platter)

10. Champagne and other sparkling wine - Vacherin Mont d’or, Chaource

If you enjoyed this post download my cheese book 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Cheese and Wine for loads of (well, over 101!) other pairing ideas

Top photo © George Dolgikh at fotolia.com

The best wine pairings for vitello tonnato

One of the best hot weather dishes, this piquant dish of cold poached or roast veal with a tuna, anchovy and caper mayonnaise invariably pops up on menus at this time of year. But what to pair with it?

* as it originally comes from Piedmont a Piedmontese white like Roero Arneis or a Gavi seems a good place to start. Other neutral dry Italian white wines such as a Vermentino or even a quality Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige would be a good match too.

*It's not traditional but a mineral Chablis or Aligoté would work as would a mature Muscadet-sur-lie or an Albarino.

*Try a dry rosé - especially Provençal rosé (see also this longer list of good Provencal rosé pairings)

* Personally I think it’s more a white wine dish than a red but a young Langhe Nebbiolo or other light Italian red like a Valtellina or even a light red burgundy would work fine. (Not too lush and fruity a pinot in my opinion as the anchovies and capers will accentuate its sweetness. Italians rarely drink wines without a fair amount of acidity in them.)

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