Top wine and beer matches for game

We Brits have always had a reputation for liking our wines old and our game high but times have changed. Today the key factor in matching game tends to be not how ‘gamey’ it is but how it’s cooked and what is served with it.

In many restaurants now game is cooked quickly and served rare so can take a younger, more tannic wine than would have once been the case. Accompanying sauces also tend to be robust, and wine-based, bringing more full-bodied reds into play. Nevertheless the reason for serving wild game such as partridge or venison - as opposed to chicken or beef - is that it does have a distinctive flavour for which you generally pay a premium so you want to pick your wine with some care. Here are the sort of wines you might go for.

* Simply roast birds such as partridge, pheasant, or grouse with simple accompaniments (e.g. roast potatoes, bread sauce and a light gravy rather than a heavy wine-based jus)
These remain the ideal opportunity to bring out a serious bottle of burgundy, a mature red Bordeaux or their New World equivalents (see here) If you like your birds underdone a younger wine may be a more flattering accompaniment. A good Chianti is always a reliable match for more everyday occasions.

The best wine pairings for partridge

Belgian sour red ales such as Rodenbach are also delicious with simply roast game.

* more elaborate game roasts with foie gras and/or truffles or a concentrated ‘jus’
Similar wines to the above but from a more recent vintage. The richer accompanying flavours can handle a more tannic wine.

* pheasant casseroled with apples
Apples tend to lead in the direction of a white (a dry Riesling with a couple of years’ bottle age would be perfect) rather than a red, particularly if the sauce has some added cream. You could equally well serve a French cidre bouché (semi-sparkling cider) or a gueuze (a Belgian lambic beer brewed with wild yeasts) especially if you’re serving braised cabbage as an accompaniment.

The best wine pairings for pheasant

* pot-roast pheasant
With any other flavourings or a red wine sauce a robust red should work well, especially reds that contain Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Tempranillo or Malbec. (So good quality Côtes du Rhône Villages, southern French reds and Rioja all make good choices, and a wine like Côte Rôtie a sublime one). I’d avoid very muscular young reds which are likely to overwhelm the flavour of the meat.

* Venison
Generally you can serve similar wines to those you would serve with beef though as the game flavour is more pronounced you might want to choose accompanying wines with a slightly gamey flavour of their own. Good examples would be Hermitage, Bandol and Ribera del Duero (or other examples of mature Syrah or Mourvèdre) though be careful of flavour overload with very concentrated sauces. Sometimes it can be better to serve a slightly lighter (though still well-structured) wine when your sauce is particularly dense and rich.

The best wine pairings for venison

So far as beer is concerned, venison dishes can be an excellent match for porter, a strong Trappist ale like Chimay or a French bière de garde.

* Cold game/game pie
As with simply roast game this is a great opportunity to drink your favourite red burgundy but cold game is also a treat with a full bodied vintage rosé Champagne such as Ruinart (or, of course, Krug). If your game is in a salad (like a warm pigeon salad or a smoked duck or venison one) you could also try a sour cherry beer such as kriek.

Vegetables with game
Vegetables that will flatter fine wines include mashed potatoes and pureed root vegetables such as celeriac (good combined with potato) and parsnips. Carrots and mushrooms also work well. Take care though with braised cabbage particularly red cabbage cooked with sugar and vinegar which can be a wine killer. (Fruity young reds like Shiraz, Barbera or Zinfandel should survive)

4 tips to bear in mind when pairing Easter lamb

The good news if you’re planning an Easter feast around lamb is that practically any medium to full-bodied red wine you enjoy will be delicious with it. But there are a few variables to take into account that might enhance the pairing

When Easter is

This year it’s mid April but it can be at the end of March. Given the unpredictability of the weather these days that might not make a huge difference but in theory you could still be in late winter mode if it’s in March or early April and feeling more springlike 2-3 weeks later. In wine terms an early Easter might make you fancy heartier wines such as a cabernet sauvignon or malbec while a later one might incline you to a pinot noir or Loire cabernet franc like a Saumur-Champigny.

Where you are

The above assumes you’re in the northern hemisphere where Easter takes place in the spring. In the southern hemisphere of course it’ll be autumn and your likely accompaniments might be root veg and squash (cue more robust reds such as shiraz/syrah or grenache) rather than peas and asparagus (gamay and pinot)

How old the lamb is

Although lamb is always associated with Easter it may not actually be the new season’s lamb unless it’s milk-fed which again calls for more delicate wines (a good burgundy, say) than an older, perhaps more gamey, animal (a Gigondas or other robust southern Rhône or Languedoc red)

The way you’re cooking it

Rare lamb calls for younger, fresher, brighter wines than slow cooked lamb which will show off older vintages to greater advantage

And think where the recipe you're using comes from. If you’re cooking it Italian-style with beans and salsa verde it makes more sense to serve an Italian red like a Chianti rather than the claret you might pull out for a classic French or traditional British-style roast. And if you’re cooking it over coals think a red with ripe, sweet fruit. Yup, it could be that malbec again ….

Image © Vicuschka at fotolia.com

The best wine pairings for pheasant

Even if not well-hung, as it rarely is these days, pheasant has a stronger flavour than other feathered game such as partridge or duck. And older, tougher birds are often braised or pot-roasted which calls for a more robust wine match still.

Here are my suggestions:

For simply roast pheasant served with its pan juices or a light gravy

A good way to show off mature classic reds such as Burgundy, Bordeaux, northern Rhone reds such as Saint Joseph and Côte Rôtie, Barolo, Barbaresco, gran reserva Rioja, Chianti riservas and Chateau Musar (which I was glad to see also recommended in a splendid book called Wine for Game & Fish “The Sporting Wife’s Wine Companion”. Other good quality mature pinot noirs,

For pot roast or braised pheasant

Such as this recipe from Simon Hopkinson. More robust rustic reds from southern France such Saint Chinian or a Côtes du Rhône Villages like a Vacqueyras, Bandol. Rioja reservas and similar Spanish reds (especially with a dish like this pot-roast pheasant with chorizo and butter beans from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Any GSM (grenache, syrah, mourvèdre) blend or straight syrah or shiraz with a bit of bottle age.

For pheasant cooked with apples

Dry German or Alsace riesling, dry Pinot Gris or, if you’re cooking it the Normandy way with cream, why not sparkling cider?

Photo © leekris - Fotolia.com

The best wine pairings with Roquefort cheese

Roquefort cheese is unusual in having such a frequently recommended wine match (Sauternes) that you may wonder if it’s worth drinking anything else but depending how you serve it there are a number of other options.

It’s actually used as often as part of a recipe as it is on its own, particularly in salads which may well mean you don’t want to start your meal with a sweet wine.

It’s also unusually salty which can have the effect of making red wines taste thin and mean.

On its own

Sauternes is king but you could also try similar sweet wines from Bordeaux or the surrounding regions such as Barsac, Saussignac, Loupiac or Monbazillac. Late harvest sauvignon blancs from elsewhere would also work. It’s also fantastic with peaty Islay whiskies like Lagavulin as you can see in this match of the week

As part of a cheeseboard

Here there are other cheeses to counterbalance its sharpness but I’d still go for something sweet rather than a dry red. A Banyuls*, Maury or Rivesaltes if you’re want to stick to French wine; an oloroso sherry or a late bottled vintage or vintage port if you want to stray further afield.

If you do want to drink red, Bordeaux is traditional though full-bodied reds from the Languedoc would be the local choice (Roquefort is made up in the plateau de Larzac). Blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot such as Meritage blends and mature Cabernet would also work.

In a salad

The most usual combination is with bitter leaves, pears and walnuts** and maybe a dressing made out of nut oil. I’d be inclined to keep your wine quite dry and even a touch oxidised if the dressing is nutty too: Savignin from the Jura would be great, or try an aged Muscadet or even a crisp fino sherry. If the dressing is lighter try an Alsace riesling.

With a steak or a burger

Cabernet is great with beef and blue cheese.

*I also discovered a Languedoc red called Palais Royal from Domaine de L’Arjolle which worked really well as you can see from this post

** You might also want to try this recipe for hot pears with Roquefort and Walnuts from TV chef Michel Roux Jr which he pairs with a Bonnezeaux, old oloroso sherry or a tawny port.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch