Six of the best pairings for roast pork

If you’re wondering which wine to pair with roast pork the good news is it’s a flexible meat that can take a white or a red - or even - given the crackling, a sparkling wine.

Cider too is a great option.

It depends how you cook it, of course - in the traditional British way with crackling and gravy (better with white wines and cider) or Italian style with garlic, fennel and herbs (better with red)

The Portuguese also have a fondness for roast suckling pig with juicy reds like baga and barraida

Here’s what I’d choose

Chenin blanc

Especially old vine chenin blanc and Cape White blends from South Africa which have the richness and weight to cope with roast meat. Sparkling chenin blanc is delicious too.

Cider (aka hard cider)

Just as pork goes with apples, it’s perfect with cider - a medium dry cider for preference. (Apple juice too if you’re not drinking)

Sangiovese

A medium bodied Italian red like a Rosso di Montalcino is perfect with Italian-style roast pork with garlic fennel and herbs

Beaujolais

Classic with charcuterie but also great with roast pork, especially ‘cru’ Beaujolais like a Morgon. It can even handle Chinese-style roast pork. Try Spanish Mencia too.

Côtes-du-Rhône villages

Warm, generous, grenache-based reds are good with wintery pork roasts

Hoppy IPAs

Or even double IPAs are just brilliant with pork, especially pulled pork. Saison beers are good with roast pork too.

For pairings with other pork dishes check out

Which wines pair best with pork

8 great wine (and other) matches for roast chicken

Both red and white wine go with roast chicken so the key thing to focus on when picking a wine pairing is what flavourings you put with it and the sides you serve. These elements can vary widely depending on where you are in the world, but there’s no doubt that roast chicken has global appeal: 

Here in the UK chicken is arguably everyone’s favourite “Sunday roast”, typically served with gravy and loads of vegetables (much like in the U.S.). In France, poulet rôti is a classic weekend meal, often bought off a rotisseries and typically served with a green salad and potatoes which have soaked up the chicken fat.

This guide offers my top eight wine and other drink pairings for different ways of serving roast chicken. For tips on other chicken dishes you might find this post useful.

How to choose the best wine for roast chicken

In general, if you’re cooking it simply with its own roasting juices I’d incline towards a white or light red. Roast it British-style with gravy and loads of vegetables and I’d go for a more substantial red such as a Côtes-du Rhône - though not a full-bodied one like a Grenache or a Shiraz unless you’re dealing with some sweetness and spice in the seasoning - as with this honey-roast chicken recipe. Here are more drink pairings that work: 

White burgundy or other good quality oaked chardonnay

A blissful match with a simply roast chicken without much done to it - or accompanied by mushrooms or truffles as Lucy Bridgers reports here. Also a good choice if you’re seasoning it with tarragon or serving it with a creamy sauce.

Viognier

This rich white is a good choice when you have a slightly spicy stuffing or one with fruit like apricots in it.

Red burgundy or other good quality pinot noir

Again, a good choice for a simply roast chicken served with its own juices or rubbed with Chinese five spice.

Beaujolais-Villages

If you’re serving the chicken at room temperature with a salad or seasoning it with lemon a good Beaujolais Villages or cru Beaujolais like a Brouilly is a good choice for spring or summer drinking. As of course is a rosé.

Côtes-du-Rhône Villages

The generous sweetness of a grenache-based Côtes-du-Rhône Villages is perfect If you’re making a more traditional, meaty gravy or are serving more strongly flavoured vegetables. Look out for specific villages such as Cairanne and Vacqueyras

Cider

Chicken and cider is a marriage made in heaven and that particularly applies to roast chicken. Use cider in the gravy too.

Golden or blonde ales

The beer world’s equivalent of Chardonnay: smooth, slightly sweet and just delicious with chicken. Roast chicken is also one of the staples of the Oktoberfest where they serve it with a light Helles lager but you could also enjoy it with a more full-bodied one like Budweiser Budvar or Brooklyn.

Champagne

It might seem extravagant but if you’re in the mood to splash out, a full bodied champagne like Bollinger or Louis Roederer is terrific with a roast chook - it’s the umami taste of the chicken skin that does it!

See also What wine goes best with chicken - red or white?

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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.

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5 wine and drink pairings for roast pork belly (updated)

Pork belly has become a cheap and popular main course so what should you drink with it? It depends how you cook it. but it doesn’t have to be wine . . .

If it’s roasted you can basically go with the same kind of pairings as you would with any roast pork. For example 

*Medium-dry cider. It may not be the flashiest choice but it’s top of my list. Pork and cider go together like - well, pork and cider. Pear cider (perry) works well too, especially sparkling perry

*India Pale Ale, particularly heavily hopped American IPAs with a touch of sweetness. A brilliant match

*German riesling. Pork belly is quite fatty so the delicious sharpness of a Riesling really cuts through especially when the pork is served with apple or spiced as it is in this recipe. Alsace and Austrian Rieslings work well too

*Beaujolais and other Gamay-based reds. Bright and fruity. Just the job.

*Southern French Grenache-based reds such as Côtes du Rhône work well if you fancy a more full-bodied red.

If pork belly is stir-fried and given more of a sweet and sour treatment like this dish with ginger and plums I’d also go for a riesling  though maybe one from New Zealand or Washington State in the US. Or even a gewürztraminer (ginger works well with gewürz.)

With char siu (Chinese BBQ pork) I’d be more inclined to go for a pinot gris or a fruity red like a light grenache or garnacha.

Image credit: Pixabay