Top wine pairings with asparagus

Whenever anyone talks about foods that are difficult to match with wine, asparagus always comes up but I reckon the problem is overstated.

Just like any other ingredient it depends how you cook and serve it and how many other ingredients there are on the plate. Few people serve asparagus totally unadorned.

The most popular pairing is with Sauvignon Blanc which can have a marked asparagus flavour itself so you need another ingredient on the plate such as salmon, chicken or goats cheese to revive those flavours in the wine.

Wines that can be tricky are wines with a touch of sweetness as asparagus can accentuate that. Oaked whites are generally not too successful (except with rich buttery sauces - see below) nor are wines with pronounced tannins.

Here are my suggestions with different asparagus preparations:

• With a vinaigrette - Needs a wine that can cope with the vinaigrette and won’t compete with the asparagus. I prefer an earthy, dry, unoaked Italian white such as Verdicchio or dry Orvieto to a Sauvignon Blanc here. Or a light, dry rosé without too much upfront berry fruit

• With melted butter or mayo - Where the asparagus is offset by the richness of butter or mayo but there isn’t anything else on the plate: an unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay such as Chablis

• With hollandaise or soft-boiled or poached eggs - Here the sauce or accompaniments begin to take over so go for a mature oaked Chardonnay (one in which the wood is well integrated but which is still fresh-tasting), traditional white Rioja or Champagne

• With goats cheese or prawns and salad - here’s where to drink Sauvignon Blanc, especially minerally Sauvignons from the Loire like Sancerre. The goats’ cheese accentuates rather than knocking out the asparagus flavours in the wine. English whites like Bacchus are also good.

• With grilled salmon - Semillon-Sauvignon blends, especially from Bordeaux or Western Australia generally work well

• With crab - a very dry Riesling, from e.g. Austria won’t overwhelm the crab

• With sautéed or fried chicken - Here asparagus is likely to be the vegetable so go for a wine that will match the chicken such as a light or moderately oaked Chardonnay

• Asparagus risotto - You’re matching the creamy risotto not just the asparagus. A crisp, fresh Italian white such as Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige is the ideal option in my view or other dry Pinot Grigios

• Asparagus quiche - Alsace Pinot Blanc or Italian Pinot Bianco is a generally reliable choice with quiches. Alternatively go for a light, unoaked Chardonnay

• Chargrilled asparagus with mushrooms/roast asparagus with pancetta - Here’s where you can go for a light Loire red such as Bourgeuil or Saumur-Champigny, inexpensive red burgundy or other light, unoaked Pinot Noir

• In a stir fry - the sauce is likely to be the determining factor here. Assuming it’s something reasonably light to preserve the flavour of the asparagus I’d go for an off-dry Riesling from e.g. Germany

• White asparagus - Popular in central and southern Europe. My favourite pairing is young Grüner Veltliner, though others will go for dry Riesling or even dry Muscat (though the latter is not to everyone’s taste). Dry Spanish rosado is also good.

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Top wine pairings with goat cheese (chèvre)

Since goats cheese and Sauvignon Blanc is such a great match it might seem redundant to think of anything else but despite its reputation for being . . . well . . . goaty, goats cheese is easy to pair with other wines.

Unless you’re slathering it on a cracker as a sneaky snack the chances are you’re going to be eating it with something else - in a salad with asparagus, say, with roast red peppers or beetroot or on a cheeseboard with other cheeses - unless you’re in Provence where they don’t seem to serve any other kind.

With all those dishes it helps to have a wine with some fresh acidity of its own so here are my suggestions:

Sauvignon Blanc - you know that already. Doesn’t matter hugely where it’s from though I personally think the white wines of the Loire like Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé and even Sauvignon de Touraine work especially well. (The classic pairing is a Sancerre and a Crottin de Chavignol.)

Wines that taste like Sauvignon Blanc so other citrussy whites such as Bacchus, Côtes de Gascogne, Rueda and other crisp whites such as Albarino, Alvarinho, Chablis, Picpoul de Pinet, Pinot Grigio and other unoaked Italian whites, dry Riesling, Gruner Veltliner . . . (See what I mean about it being versatile?)

Crisp dry rosé especially Provençal rosé. Provence-style rosé and goats cheese is a great pairing (think summer picnics!)

Fresh, fruity reds such as Beaujolais and other gamays, inexpensive red burgundy and Loire cabernet francs like Chinon, Saumur and Saumur-Champigny

So basically any wine - white, red or rosé - that’s young, fresh, unoaked and lightly chilled will go with goats cheese. Which makes it the perfect summer cheese.

PS If you’re a cheese aficionado you may be a fan of more mature goats’ cheeses in which case I would go for an aged white like a Chablis or a mature Alsace riesling too as you can see from this post.

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6 of the best wine pairings for spaghetti carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara - spaghetti with a creamy bacon and egg sauce - is one of my all-time favourite pasta dishes but what’s the best wine pairing for it?

Remember, as usual with pasta, it’s the sauce you’re matching not the pasta shape so these suggestions would go equally well with fettucine or tagliatelle treated the same way.

Personally I’d go for a white wine rather than a red or rosé - a crisp dry Italian white at that though I’ve suggested a couple of French wines that I think work well too. Choose from one of these.

* Pinot grigio - there’s so much ropey Pinot Grigio around it’s easy to forget its virtues as a crisp, clean, immensely food-friendly white. Look out for ones from the Alto Adige region. Pinot Bianco (aka Pinot Blanc) would be good too

* Gavi di Gavi - another very popular Italian white for those who like a fuller, slightly smoother white

* Soave - same reasoning. Smooth, dry, brilliantly food-friendly.

* Picpoul de Pinet - a crisp white from the Languedoc coast that would work really well too

* Chablis - also works well with creamy sauces, and with ham

* Teroldego - a light Italian red that would rub along well if you fancied a red.

The best pairings for prawns or shrimp

A freezer staple in my house, prawns or shrimp are quick and easy to cook but what should you drink with them?

Like other ingredients it depends how you cook them.

The simple plate or tankard of cooked prawns in the shell is a different customer from a spicy Thai prawn curry but in general prawns or shrimp have a delicate flavour that you want to respect. Your wine should act like a squeeze of lemon which generally points to a white or a crisp rosé.

Great wine pairings for prawns

Prawns or shrimp on the shell

A seasonal treat so the simpler the wine the better. I love those French seaside whites like Muscadet or Picpoul de Pinet with freshly cooked prawns. Italian whites like Pinot Grigio and Greco di Tufo also work well as do Vinho Verde, Albarino or a crisp Sancerre. Unoaked fresh whites in other words. Nothing wrong with a glass of prosecco though, obviously.

Prawn or shrimp salad

Similar wines to the above should also work unless the salad has a richer ingredient like mango or a spicy or zesty dressing in which case I’d be looking for a white with more personality like a sauvignon or semillon or a blend of the two.

Prawn or shrimp cocktail

Again it’s more about the sauce than the prawns, especially if it’s the classic marie-rose sauce. I haven’t found a better pairing than an off-dry riesling though a fruity rosé works well too (and has the virtue of being pink if you’re colour-theming your pairings ;-)

Garlicky prawns or shrimp

Garlic LOVES sauvignon blanc so that’s a good starting point. Other citrussy whites like Rueda, unoaked white Rioja, Godello, southern Italian whites like Fiano and Falanghina and English Bacchus will all work. Goodness, almost anything barring a big oaky chardonnay will do. Try manzanilla or fino sherry too.

Prawn or shrimp curry

How hot is the curry? If it’s a korma or dry tandoori try a fruity rosé, if it’s a Thai green curry, a pinot gris or a medium dry riesling may be the better pairing.

Spanish prawn or shrimp rice dishes like paella

Often contain chorizo, certainly seasonings like saffron, garlic and pimenton so they can be quite spicy. Dry Spanish rosados such as those from Rioja and Navarra work well but you could even try a young (joven) red Rioja.

Prawn or shrimp linguine - or other pasta

If your sauce is tomato-based like this one I’d lean towards a dry Italian white or light rosé like a Provence rosé or Bardolino. If it’s creamy like this tagliolini with prawns and treviso try a white with a litlle bit more weight and roundness like a Soave, Gavi, Chenin Blanc or Chablis

See also

Prawns and Greco di Tufo

Prawn raviole and white Bordeaux

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