The best wine matches with salt cod

Salt cod, a popular Good Friday dish in parts of the Mediterranean, is cooked many different ways which suggest different wine pairings.

Bear in mind that like other salty foods it will have the effect of making wines taste sweeter than they are so drier wines with good acidity work best. In general I’d go for a crisp white like a picpoul or an albarino but there are occasions when a red or rosé will work just as well.

Brandade de morue

This southern French salt cod purée works well with crisp dry whites such as Picpoul de Pinet, slightly earthier whites like a white Côtes du Rhône or a dry southern French rosé

Salt cod croquetas or fish cakes

As you’d expect, very good with chilled fino sherry and albarino but more surprisingly also with savagnin from the Jura

Fried salt cod with garlic-pepper sauce

An ice-cold vinho verde, according to Portuguese-American food writer David Leite who has a particularly good collection of salt cod recipes on his website Leite's Culinaria. It might also work with a grüner veltliner as did this salt cod tartare

Portuguese style baked salt cod with cream (bacalhau com natas)

Also often paired with vinho verde but I’d go for a young Douro white with a lick of oak or - less conventionally - with a white rioja.

A robust dish such as a salt cod stew with tomatoes and peppers (ciambotta) can actually take a full-bodied red, especially if it includes chorizo. See this pairing with a super Tuscan and this match with a Languedoc cabernet/merlot blend.

For more wine pairing ideas with salt cod check out Catavino

Image © uckyo - Fotolia.com

The best food pairings for Vermentino

Vermentino is incredibly versatile - a brilliant wine pairing for anything fishy, herby or citrussy and a great wine for spring and summer drinking.

Most comes from Italy - Sardinia being a particularly good source - but it’s also produced in Liguria, Tuscany, Corsica, Provence and the Languedoc where it's also known as Rolle.

With crisp fresh young vermentinos I’d serve:

* Raw and marinated shellfish such as oysters and carpaccios

* Fritto misto or other fried fish - I had a lovely side of fried lemon and sage (below) at Spring recently

* Simply grilled or baked fish such as seabass especially with fresh olive oil or a salsa verde. Grilled squid. Grilled prawns or shrimp - try this recipe for prawn brochettes from Bruce Poole

* Spaghetti alle vongole, linguini with crab and other pasta dishes with seafood

* Spring and early summer vegetables such as asparagus, peas, broad (fava) beans, fennel and even artichokes

* Raw and lightly cooked vegetables such as marinated courgettes and leeks vinaigrette

* Dishes where herbs are predominant such as pasta or gnocchi with pesto

Late harvested or more mature vermentinos pair well with:

* Richer fish dishes such as lobster or lobster rice (a local Sardinian speciality)

* Light meat dishes such as roast veal, baby lamb and suckling pig.

* Vitello tonnato

The best wine pairings for Navarra wines

Advertising feature: Navarra is one of the most forward-looking of Spanish wine regions offering boldly flavoured wines that are a match for a wide range of dishes.

Although its reputation was built on strong dry rosés (rosados) it now offers a range of generous, full-bodied reds that combine local grape varieties such as garnacha and tempranillo with international grape varieties such as merlot and cabernet sauvignon creating wines you can enjoy with many different cuisines.

What food to pair with Navarra’s best-loved wines

GARNACHA

Barbecued brisket by Andrei Iakhniuk at shutterstock.com

Garnacha (grenache) is a red grape variety native to Navarra which has been revived by producers around the region with some stunning results. It makes rich generous wines that are high in alcohol and therefore perfectly suited to red meat from barbecued brisket to lingeringly slow-cooked ox cheek or oxtail.

It’s perfect with the pork and bean dishes that characterise winter eating in the region but would be equally good with hearty dishes from further afield such Korea’s dwaeji bulgogi or beef in black bean sauce. (It isn’t afraid of either sweetness or spice). It’s also great - and you must try this - with a goulash.

If you don’t eat meat think vegetarian dishes based on pulses such as beans and lentils or the substantial savoury flavour of ingredients such as portabella mushrooms and aubergines. (Try it with the Chinese dish fish-fragrant aubergines which, incidentally, doesn’t include fish!)

In terms of cheese I’d be looking to blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola and Stilton and maybe even Spain’s punchy Cabrales.

Oh, and don’t forget roast turkey! Garnacha is the perfect wine for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

One to try: El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa 2019 Old Vines Garnacha

A bright, fresh garnacha with vivid intense fruit.

TEMPRANILLO-BASED RED WINE BLENDS

Gourmet burger by Marian Weyo at shutterstock.com

Navarra has gone its own way with its reds in recent years, blending international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with its own Tempranillo, creating a unique modern style that’s both elegant and accessible.

If you want to keep it straightforward, particularly with older vintages stick to simply grilled or roasted meat, especially lamb which is wonderful in that part of Spain. This is also a great style to enjoy with a rare breed steak or with venison, especially if cooked in a red wine sauce. (You can sneak a bit to use in the recipe!)

These tempranillo blends are also great with a gourmet burger, especially with cheese or with roasted or grilled portabella mushrooms. In fact it’s hard to think of a better pairing than a good cheeseboard with maybe some of Spain’s fantastic jamon iberico (iberico ham) and other cold meats on the side. Seek out Spanish cheeses such as the local Roncal and Zamorano as well as the more widely available Manchego.

One to try: Principe de Viana Edicion Limitada 2017 (Great Grog has the 2018)

An elegant smooth, ripe, cabernet-based blend.

CHARDONNAY

Scallops in garlic butter by DronG at shutterstock.com

Chardonnay in Navarra is opulent and generous, among the best that Spain produces with a lovely lifted freshness that makes them particularly good with seafood.

You probably don’t need me to tell you what works with chardonnay but think of a Dover sole, swimming in butter, a fat grilled lobster (and chips) and a beautiful crisp roast chicken. Anything - chicken, pasta, mushrooms - with a creamy sauce - or a pie topping come to that. A chicken and tarragon pie with chardonnay is wickedly good as is s fine fish pie. Or a plate of roasted scallops and garlic butter (all to yourself!)

Corn is wonderful with chardonnay as is butternut squash so how about a butternut squash lasagna or risotto? Or indulge yourself with a glass for Sunday lunch - it’s perfect with eggs benedict.

Cheese might provide the one surprise though. I love a good red with cheddar but Navarra chardonnay is just as good. Give it a go!

One to try: Castillo Monjardín Chardonnay 2020

A rich, powerful chardonnay but, surprisingly, unoaked. The fact it’s grown at 650m of altitude contributes to its freshness.

ROSADO

Image by Kiattipong at shutterstock.com

The first thing that strikes you about Navarra rosé or rosado as it’s called in the region is the colour which is a deep intense, almost magenta like pink. That doesn’t mean it’s sweet, merely fruity with the structure to stand up to some punchy flavours. I immediately think of barbecue - it could cope with all those spicy marinades and sauces but it would be great with spicy south-east Asian food too. I love a rosado with a Thai green curry.

Nearer to home in Spain this style of rosé is great with paella, especially pork and rabbit-based ones and the perfect wine to take you through an evening of tapas. It would be great with the Navarra speciality menestra, a glorious soupy stew of spring vegetables. It can even handle tricky-to-match artichokes!

It’s obviously going to rub along just fine with seafood, especially lobster (again) or those wonderful Carabineros red prawns.

In terms of cheeses I’d pair a rosado with sheep cheeses and, particularly, goat cheeses. A Monte Enebro, one of my favourite goat cheeses, would be perfect.

One to try: Ozalder Rosado 2020

Deep, deep pink with bright cherry aromas and flavours.The classic Navarra style.

This is an advertising feature in association with D.O. Navarra

Top image © Brent Hofacker at shutterstock.com

The best wine pairings with beans

Pulses such as beans are a good friend to the vegetarian winelover - their rich, mealy texture provides a similar foil as meat to a hearty full-bodied red.

They are of course also served with meat in dishes such as cassoulet and fabada and also pop up in soups and salads.

In general I think reds work better than whites - bean dishes tend to be quite hearty and often spicy: as with pasta it depends more on the seasoning of the dish than the kind or shape of the bean.

Here are my suggested wine pairings for 10 of the most popular bean recipes taking account of the other dishes that usually accompany them (I’m excluding green beans here which rarely dictate a match on their own account.)

I wouldn’t say the wines you drink with them have to be grand (although if they're on the plate as a side as in lamb with flageolets - they could be*) so don’t fret too much.

A Pauillac, for example.

The 10 best wine pairings for beans

Chile con (or sin) carne

Any hearty fruity red works well with a chilli. Try a zinfandel or a malbec

6 of the best pairings for chilli con carne

Cassoulet

Cassoulet comes from south-west France so it makes sense to drink a wine from the region - my favourite is Marcillac but you could try a Madiran or almost any Languedoc red

6 of the best wine pairings with cassoulet

Fabada (image © Food Via Lenses)

A robust spicy pork and bean stew from northern Spain which includes chorizo and morcilla. I’d go for an inexpensive Rioja or Ribera del Duero with it but mencia would work well too.

Tuscan sausages with beans

A similar but less spicy dish from Tuscany that is just perfect with Chianti

The best food pairings for Chianti and other Tuscan sangiovese

Bean burgers

Less about the beans, more about the spicing, sauce and sides. I’d probably go for a slightly lighter red than I would with a meaty burger - say a medium bodied southern French red but a juicy red from almost anywhere would work. A good gamay? Absolutely

Six of the best pairings for a burger

Black bean soup

Quite like chilli con carne when it comes to wine although there are all the fancy toppings by way of sour cream, avo, coriander and lime to contend with which might make you inclined to drink a lighter, maybe Portuguese, red like a Dao. Honestly it’s more of a beer dish though. A really nice lager or a Negro Modelo would do it for me. (Here's the recipe if you fancy making it!)

Refried beans

Rarely served on their own so it’s much more about what you’d be inclined to drink with a Mexican or Tex Mex. Again I’m thinking beer but zinfandel would be a good bet or, if there’s chicken involved and bright flavours like lime and coriander on the plate, a fruity white like a sauvignon blanc. Refried beans are generally a side show.

Wine, beer and other pairings with Mexican food

Tonno e fagioli (tuna and bean salad)

I’d definitely go for a dry Italian white with this classic tuna and bean salad - something like a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi

What’s the best match for tuna?

Mixed bean salad

Most likely to be part of a spread of other summery dishes so you’d be unlikely to go wrong with a rosé. On the other hand if you have a warm salad with a very assertive dressing like this purple sprouting broccoli with flageolet beans with preserved lemon mayo you might want a crisp white like an albarino.

Baked beans

A strong cup of black tea is by far and away the best option so far as I’m concerned but a fruity red like merlot would be fine. Bear in mind beans are quite sweet so could make a lighter, drier red taste a bit stripped out.