Pairing wine and artichokes (updated)

Artichokes are frequently described as a “wine-killer,” but is that reputation deserved? While it’s true that artichokes can make dry white wines taste unexpectedly sweet, the problem is somewhat exaggerated.

As with other ingredients the key to finding a good pairing is looking at how artichokes are prepared and served.

The hardest way is the classic serving of boiled artichokes with a vinaigrette which defeats most wines other than very dry white wines and rosés. (Fino and manzanilla sherry are much better)

But these days artichokes are prepared in many other ways - served raw or grilled, as a pizza topping or with other ingredients such as lamb or Mediterranean vegetables. Which means you can go for wines you might not expect.

Take, for example, the innovative approach of Simi Winery in California. They found that chargrilling artichokes and serving them with garlic mayonnaise made for a perfect match with their Sauvignon Blanc. This technique, along with serving artichokes raw or paired with rare meats, can help mitigate the sweetening effect that artichokes often have on wine. it would also go with this artichoke and preserved lemon dip.

In Venice and across northern Italy, artichokes are often incorporated into creamy risottos, which pair beautifully with wines like Soave or Bianco di Custoza and, further south, with Trebbiano as I discovered from this pairing at a spectacular artichoke dinner at Bocca di Lupo in London. 

Similarly a palate coating ingredient such as olive oil, butter or an egg or butter-based sauce such as hollandaise will make an artichoke-based pairing easier. You basically play to the sauce rather than the artichoke.

If you’re dressing them with an oil-based dressing adding a little finely grated lemon peel seems to help as does wine-friendly grated parmesan or parmesan shavings or even sheep cheese as in this salad of raw artichoke and Berkswell cheese which went with a crisp citrussy white.  I’d serve a similar wine with an artichoke-topped pizza.

Strong dry rosés such as Tavel are also a good match for braised artichokes as are some orange wines as you can see from this pairing with braised cuttlefish and artichokes.

Can you ever pair red wine with artichokes? 

If artichokes and white wine are a tricky pairing, red wine is surely even more so?

Not always! About 12 or so years ago my late husband who was cooking served up that most difficult of dishes - artichokes vinaigrette (boiled artichokes with vinaigrette) and cracked open a bottle of red wine.

I thought he was mad but astonishingly the pairing worked.

The wine was a full-bodied (14%) Bordeaux blend called Quela* from a producer called Klinec in Brda, Slovenia. It was a biodynamic wine, made with indigenous yeasts from organic grapes (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) and aged for two years in cherry casks with the minimum of added sulphur (25mg). It had a really bright fruit character (bitter cherry and wild bramble) and must have been totally dry as neither the artichoke or the vinaigrette had any impact on it at all. It just stayed intense and vivid.

Would it work with other wines, other Bordeaux blends? Maybe not younger ones - this bottle was from the 2007 vintage - but if you were serving artichokes with lamb which is common, absolutely!

Maybe natural wines - and Cabernet Franc in particular - are the answer - provided they’re to your taste, of course. 

By the way, for what it’s worth, it was a leaf day!

Anyone else had success with red wine and artichokes?

4 good wines to pair with red mullet

Red mullet or rouget can be a bit of a challenge to pair with wine as it is often accompanied by a rich sauce made from the liver or with punchy accompaniments such as tapenade, olives or saffron

As this guide remarks it tastes remarkably of shellfish (grilled or roast rather than raw) so take account of that in your wine choice. Above all it’s a Mediterranean fish so think in terms of the wine producing countries around the Med.

Her’s what I’d go for:

Strong dry rosé

The fashionable pale pink Provençal rosés will do but I’d go for something a bit stronger and darker from the Rhône or Languedoc. Bandol rosé would be perfect - or a Tavel.

White Côtes-du-Rhône and other white Rhône blends

White Rhône blends have a savouriness that works really well with mullet. Particularly if they are dominated by Marsanne as you can see from this post

Medium bodied (but not too fruity) southern French, Spanish or Italian reds

Something simple like a Costières de Nîmes. Victoria Moore suggests an Etna red in her Wine Dine Dictionary which I think would work really well

Chilled fino sherry

My go to for many tricky matches and a winner here, especially if it's accompanied by tapenade or olives.

I also have a hunch - as yet unverified - that orange or lighter skin contact wines would work, having similar tannins to a red. Worth a try anyway.

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