Pairings | Soave

The best wine pairings for prawns or shrimp
A freezer staple in my house, prawns or shrimp are quick and easy to cook but what wine should you pair 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 proposition 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 blanc 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
The Spanish themselves may disapprove of combining meat and fish in a paella but many contain chorizo, along wtih seasonings like saffron, garlic and pimenton which can make them 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
Prawn raviole and white Bordeaux
Photo by Terje Sollie: https://www.pexels.com/photo/boiled-shrimps-566344/

The best wine - and other - pairings for leeks
Leeks generally feature in dishes in their own right rather than as a side and have a mild sweet flavour you want to respect - unlike fellow alliums onions.
If you’re wondering what wine to pair with leeks you’re more likely to go for a white rather than a red though if there’s meat like lamb in a dish a light red like red burgundy would work well.
Apple flavoured drinks generally pair well with leeks too so obviously cider but apple juice too or kombucha if you’re a non-drinker.
Here are my favourite pairings:
* Smooth dry white wines such as Chenin Blanc and unoaked or subtle oaked Chardonnay or Italian whites such as Gavi or Soave work with dishes that have a creamy texture or a light cheese sauce or leek dishes with eggs like a leek and cheese quiche.
They’re also the type of wine I’d pick for a vichyssoise (leek and potato soup) or if I was serving leeks with salmon.
* Crisper whites such as Chablis, Albarino, Vermentino and citrussy Sauvignon Blancs are good with other fish dishes or where the leeks are served in a salad such as leeks vinaigrette. I wouldn’t pick a more grassy, gooseberryish style of Sauvignon like a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which tends to overpower leeks’ delicate flavour
* An afterthought, following the comment below. Alsace Sylvaner - always good with light vegetable dishes. Or a fruity but not oversweet riesling.
A dry to medium dry cider or perry generally matches most leek dishes as do most apple-flavoured drinks.
I’m not a big fan of red wine with leeks - neither the red fruits or tannin seem to work with their delicate oniony flavour but if you were serving them in a lamb stew I’d probably go for a basic red burgundy or other inexpensive pinot noir.
Incidentally if you’re a leek fan there are some pretty inventive recipes on this British Leeks website I stumbled across on Google or try this totally delicious Caerphilly and Leek Toastie from my friends at Trethowans Brothers.
Image ©Imagin at Adobe Stock

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 wine pairings for ravioli and other filled pasta
Just as pasta pairings are all about the sauce, stuffed pasta such as ravioli are all about the filling so you need to take account of what that’s based on and any accompanying sauce.
Seafood is obviously going to need a different style of wine from a meaty filling like ox cheek.
That said Italian wines are generally pretty flexible - and well priced so they’re always a safe bet to fall back on.
Seafood-based ravioli
Ravioli are often filled with delicate seafood like lobster and crab in fine dining restaurants - and paired with white burgundy or other cool climate chardonnay like this match of langoustine ravioli with a top Chilean chardonnay
Oaked white Bordeaux would be a good choice too as it was with this prawn raviolo
Another good option would be blanc de blancs champagne or champagne-style sparkling wine
Meat-based ravioli
There’s quite a range of fillings here from mild savoury-tasting ham and cheese to robust wintry ox cheek. With the sort of ready-made cheese and ham tortelloni you find at the supermarket I’d drink a glass of Italian white wine like a Soave or a Gavi. If it was a more sophisticated restaurant dish like this veal ravioli you could go for a serious red like a barolo
Again, the kind of beef ravioli with red wine you find in the supermarket isn’t that intense. I’d probably go for a medium-bodied Italian red with that - Chianti would work or even a merlot or malbec. But if it’s a rich ox cheek filling think something more robust - a barbera, a modern Tuscan red, a nero d’avola or a zinfandel.
And if it’s the good old fashioned tinned ravioli with tomato sauce? A cheap and cheerful Sicilian red or a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo!
Veg-based ravioli
Butternut squash and pumpkin are really popular as a filling for ravioli, often served with brown butter and sage. There’s a sweetness and richness in both which calls for a rich white like a chardonnay, old vine chenin blanc or, as I discovered a while back, an oak-aged Douro white. I also really like a good Soave especially with a bit of bottle age.
Spinach and ricotta is another popular filling with which I’d pair a white wine but a lighter, crisper style than for pumpkin. Italian gavi or verdicchio for example or, outside Italy, an albarino would work well.
And with mushroom ravioli - as with everything else mushroomy - pinot noir goes really well. Or a creamy chardonnay
Photo by IriGri at shutterstock.com

The best wine pairings for turbot (updated)
Turbot is a luxurious fish you might well be serving over the holiday period, most probably roast or seared. But what sort of wine should you pair with it?
Personally I prefer a white to a red - a serious white burgundy or other equally lush full-bodied white.
It’s often served with a deeply savoury sauce, sometimes with mushrooms that suits a white with some bottle age.
Here are some whites to choose from
*oaked white Rioja - consistently undervalued, rich savoury fish dishes like this are where white rioja comes into its own.
*top quality Douro whites
*white Hermitage or white Saint Joseph - depending on your budget (in other words a Roussanne or Marsanne or blend of the two). And, by similar logic, a white Chateauneuf-du-Pape which is what we drank for my last big birthday as you can see here.
*white Roussillon wines based on Grenache Gris and/or Grenache Blanc - or white Minervois as in this post
*white burgundy or other serious chardonnay - particularly if you’re serving your turbot with a buttery sauce such as beurre blanc. That includes aged Grand Cru Chablis
*aged dry white Bordeaux
*good quality Soave
*top quality vintage champagne is always a winner with rich fish. Here are 3 pairings from a Leclerc Briant lunch that made my Match of the Week slot.
*sake (I haven’t tried this I must confess but it strikes me it would work really well)
If you do want to drink red I’d suggest a mature red burgundy or other good quality pinot noir though there’s no reason why you shouldn’t drink a more robust red like a Bordeaux if the sauce includes red wine.
Image ©Jacek Chabraszewski at shutterstock.com
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