Pairings | Aligoté

The best wine pairings with chicken Kyiv
Chicken Kyiv - or Kiev - as it used to be known - is a much loved version of fried chicken that you can also easily buy off the supermarket shelf but what sort of wine should you pair with it?
If you’re not familiar with the dish it’s a deep fried chicken breast stuffed with garlic butter so it’s more about the garlic than the chicken.
That pushes me towards a white wine or sparkling wine rather than a red. Here’s what I’d choose
A crisp dry white wine like a Chablis, aligoté, albarino or Picpoul de Pinet, even a pinot grigio (preferably one from the Trentino region of north-east Italy)
Sauvignon blanc, especially from the Loire e.g. Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé
A dry champagne or champagne-style sparkling wine, especially a blanc de blancs (100% chardonnay or other white grapes). Sparkling wine is always great with deep fried food.
If you fancy a red wine with chicken kyiv I’d be inclined to go for a Beaujolais or other gamay or an inexpensive red burgundy
A light lager or pils
Top image by Alexander Prokopenko at shutterstock.com

The best wine pairings for vitello tonnato
One of the best hot weather dishes, this piquant dish of cold poached or roast veal with a tuna, anchovy and caper mayonnaise invariably pops up on menus at this time of year. But what to pair with it?
* as it originally comes from Piedmont a Piedmontese white like Roero Arneis or a Gavi seems a good place to start. Other neutral dry Italian white wines such as a Vermentino or even a quality Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige would be a good match too.
*It's not traditional but a mineral Chablis or Aligoté would work as would a mature Muscadet-sur-lie or an Albarino.
*Try a dry rosé - especially Provençal rosé (see also this longer list of good Provencal rosé pairings)
* Personally I think it’s more a white wine dish than a red but a young Langhe Nebbiolo or other light Italian red like a Valtellina or even a light red burgundy would work fine. (Not too lush and fruity a pinot in my opinion as the anchovies and capers will accentuate its sweetness. Italians rarely drink wines without a fair amount of acidity in them.)
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