Wine with Turkey: Six Crowd-Pleasing Pairings

You may already have your own favourite wine pairing for turkey but if you’re looking for inspiration here are some wines that I think go with turkey best.

Red or white wine with turkey? It depends.

The challenge with pairing wine with turkey is what else you serve with it - a full-flavoured, fruity, sometimes spicy stuffing, tart cranberry sauce and an array of vegetables (sprouts and carrots at a minimum) that means you probably have about a dozen different flavours on your plate. That doesn’t mean you can’t pick a white or rosé but it does suggest something full and fruity that can cope with the onslaught.

The other consideration should be who you have round the table as both Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to be multi-generational gatherings involving older members of the family who may well be set in their ways! So it’s worth sticking to tried and tested crowd-pleasers:

Six wines that pair really well with turkey

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Not an inexpensive option, admittedly but the impressively embossed label has a real feel-good factor and the generous alcohol of the wine will hold its own with the stuffing and sides. Don’t try to do it on the cheap though. A decent Chateauneuf costs at least £15 (on special offer) and generally well over £20.

Other southern Rhône reds

More affordable options would be appellations such as Lirac (just next door to Chateauneuf), Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône ‘village’ wines such as Vacqueyras, Séguret and Cairanne. The 2015 and ‘16 vintages were particularly good ones. A magnum would make that choice even more impressive

Other GSM (grenache/syrah/mourvèdre) blends

‘Cos that’s the base of the Chateauneuf/southern Rhône reds. You’ll also find that style of wine in the Languedoc but also in Australia and South Africa. Often with the letters GSM on the bottle.

Merlot

Time we rehabilitated Merlot which is a really delicious, crowd-pleasing wine. Look for a smooth velvety style rather than a heavily oaked one. Chile has some well-priced examples.

Sparkling Shiraz

This is what the Aussies tend to have with Christmas lunch which is of course celebrated in high summer. If you don’t have the nerve to serve it with the meal itself crack open a bottle on Boxing Day. (Straight unfizzy Shiraz is also pretty good with a hot or cold bird)

Oaked chardonnay

If you really want white wine with turkey, I suggest an oaked chardonnay. A surprise, maybe, but at a Christmas tasting I did a couple of years ago for Decanter magazine a white burgundy - a Chassagne-Montrachet - came out tops. (Limoux chardonnay is a good low cost alternative.) You need to keep the gravy relatively light, obviously, but it’s surprising how well it works. Well worth having a bottle on the table for those who prefer white wine to red.

You could obviously serve other classic wines such as red Bordeaux, Burgundy or Rioja but I personally feel they’re better with other festive meats:

Bordeaux or other cabernet blends - better with roast beef

Burgundy or other good pinot noir - better with roast duck or goose

Rioja - better with roast lamb

What I wouldn’t do is pull out some aged and venerable bottle that you’ve been keeping for a special occasion. There’s always a danger that it will disappoint and that the cranberry sauce will just slaughter it.

When it comes to cold turkey think in terms of a slightly lighter red like a pinot noir or (my own favourite) a chilled cru Beaujolais or good Beaujolais Villages. See also my post on what to drink with the turkey leftovers.

Of course, you don’t need to have wine at all. Check out these five great beer pairings for roast turkey.

So what do you drink with your turkey? I’d love to hear about your favourite wine matches in the comments or on Twitter.

What wine goes best with chicken - red or white?

When it comes to pairing wine with chicken, the good news is that you’re spoiled for choice.

Whether you lean toward red or white, the best pairing depends on how the chicken is prepared and your personal taste. That said, the versatility of chicken as a light meat means white wines often have the edge, with options like lightly oaked Chardonnay proving reliable across a wide range of dishes.

But don’t dismiss red wine out of hand. Certain recipes, such as coq au vin or are cooked with tomatoes and olives can happily take a red. 

I’ll also share surprising pairings for dishes like Moroccan tagine, chicken liver pâté, and fried chicken (spoiler: sparkling wine might be your new best friend). Read on for tips to elevate your next chicken dinner.

White wine pairings with chicken

Go for a lightly oaked Chardonnay or other smooth dry white like oaked Chenin Blanc or Viognier with:

• Chicken in a creamy sauce, such as chicken alfredo or creamy chicken pies
• Creamy or cheesy chicken pasta dishes like chicken tetrazzini
• Chicken caesar salad or other chicken salads with a creamy dressing
• Mild chicken curries like kormas

Aromatic white wines such as Riesling and Pinot Gris pair well with spicy chicken dishes such as

• Thai green chicken curry
• Stir-fries with chicken
• Sweet and sour chicken
• Chicken tikka masala
• Asian-style chicken noodle dishes

A crisp dry white like a Pinot Grigio, Picpoul or Sauvignon Blanc is good with

• Fried chicken dishes or Mexican-style dishes with guac, lime and coriander

Red wine pairings with chicken

• With tomato- and pepper-based sauces - try a medium-bodied southern French or Spanish red like a Côtes du Roussillon - or a Merlot
• Chicken with a barbeque sauce can take a more full-bodied red with a touch of sweetness like a Shiraz, Grenache or Zinfandel. (Not too big or oaky though. Chicken isn’t steak!)
• With chicken in a red wine sauce like coq au vin drink a similar wine to the one you use for the recipe. Burgundy is traditional but I’d probably go for a red from the Rhône or Languedoc
• dishes made from chicken livers like a chicken liver paté - light fruity reds work well with these
• And rich chicken dishes like chicken marsala can take a full-bodied red wine like an aglianico

Four favourite wine matches for coq au vin

When either red or white wine pairings would do

• Simply roast chicken. Either an oaked Chardonnay or a Pinot Noir will be great but if you’ve got a dark savoury gravy with it I’d go for a medium-bodied red like a Côtes du Rhône.
• Grilled chicken with herbs or lemon chicken. You could go for a crisp dry white as above or a light red such as a Beaujolais or other gamay
• With a Moroccan-style tagine with preserved lemon. You’d think white wine but an aged red like a rioja can work surprisingly well as you can see here

There are, of course, many other possibilities - fruity rosés also work well with spicy chicken dishes and Spanish-style chicken dishes with rice, sparkling wines with fried chicken and chicken kiev and cider is generally a great all-rounder but if you want to keep it simple, this is a start!

You may also find these posts useful:

• 8 great wine (and other) matches for roast chicken
  
  
• What to drink with chicken wings
  
  
• 6 of the best wine pairings with chicken pie
  
  
• What to drink with Coronation chicken

Photo credits: grilled chicken (top) ©gkrphoto, chicken curry ©voltan, coq au vin ©HLphoto, all at Fotolia.com

The best wine pairings for mangoes and mango desserts

Mango is often incorporated into drinks but what should you pair with it if you are eating it as a fruit or an ingredient in a savoury dish like a salad?

Mango has a natural affinity with citrus, especially lime which makes riesling a natural go-to for any mango-based salad or dessert. With a dessert like this luscious chilled rice pudding with alphonso and lime syrup from Yotam Ottolenghi I’d serve a late harvest or young auslese Riesling or a citrussy late harvest Sauvignon blanc

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with its passionfruit flavours would be a good match for salads which feature mango - as would a Colombard or Colombard-Chardonnay blend with its own tropical fruit flavours.

Richer slghtly sweeter styles of Chardonnay match with savoury mango dishes like this opulent dish of chicken supremes with mango and cream, again from Ottolenghi.

With spicier mango dishes I’d try an off-dry Pinot Gris or, particularly if there was a ginger note*, Gewurztraminer. Come to think of it, a late harvest gewurz would be pretty sensational with a mango dessert too.

* As author and sommelier Francois Chartier points out in his book Tastebuds and Molecules ginger has an affinity with mango and consequently with gewurztraminer.

Image by candoyi from Pixabay

Which wines pair best with eggs?

Eggs are supposed to be one of the trickiest ingredients to pair with wine but I’ve never entirely got it myself. More to the point do you want to drink wine with eggs at breakfast or even brunch, the time you’re most likely to eat them?

If you do, read on ...

Here I’m talking mainly about dishes where eggs are centre stage rather than the myriad dishes in which they play an essential but supporting role like quiche, meringues and soufflés. For example poached eggs (often with an egg-based sauce like hollandaise), scrambled eggs and omelettes.

Bear in mind that the addition of other ingredients makes a difference - how much depends on whether they overwhelm the essential egginess of the dish. Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs not so much, the peppery sauce of shakshuka a lot.

These are the wines I think pair with eggs best:

Champagne and other sparkling wines

My number one choice both in terms of compatibility and occasion though I’d go for a lighter style rather than a rich toasty one (unless truffles and/or chips are involved as in this sublime dish last year). Chardonnay-based sparkling wines, also known as blanc de blancs are perfect. Personally I think prosecco is a little sweet but up to you. I’d prefer a crémant or cava.

Smooth dry white wines

Think basic white burgundy and other unoaked chardonnays, Alsace pinot blanc, dry chenin blanc and Soave. Those wines would also go with omelettes and frittatas and with that retro (but rather delicious) classic, eggs mornay (eggs with cheese sauce).

What to drink with an omelette or frittata.

With a richer dish such as eggs benedict you could up the oak a bit and go for a more full-bodied chardonnay

The best wine pairings for eggs benedict

Inexpensive claret

Once you introduce meaty elements such as bacon and sausages you might feel more inclined to drink a red. Nothing too fruity, I suggest (think about the combination of raspberries or cherries with eggs. Not so appealing, huh?) but a simple young red Bordeaux works surprisingly well.

Robust southern French or Spanish reds

Good with eggs and chorizo, shakshuka and other dishes where tomatoes, peppers or pimenton are involved.

Red burgundy

Red burgundy works with a very specific dish from the region called oeufs en meurette where the eggs are cooked in a red wine sauce. Not my top choice otherwise.