Which wines and beers pair best with mushrooms?

If you think of the ingredients that show off a great wine mushrooms would have to be near the top of the list.

Possessed of the sexy ingredient umami - the intensely savoury taste identified by the Japanese, they flatter and act as the perfect foil for wines as disparate as vintage Champagne, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Beers too can work well, particularly dark lagers and brown ales, less fashionable styles but ones which have a real affinity with earthy mushroom flavours.

Like any other ingredient it depends how you prepare and cook mushrooms, of course and what other ingredients there are in the dish. Delicate wild mushrooms in a creamy sauce are a different proposition from big flat Portabello mushrooms baked with garlic and parsley.

Here are some suggestions:

• Mushrooms in a creamy sauce - possibly the ultimate preparation so far as wine is concerned whether it’s the base of a tart, a pasta sauce or simply on toast. You can mirror the creamy texture with a like-meets-like pairing of a fine white burgundy or other oak-aged Chardonnay, lift the dish while echoing its umami flavours with vintage Champagne or pick up on the mushrooms’ earthiness with a red burgundy or other Pinot Noir. For a not-so-special occasion a simple unoaked Chardonnay will do the trick.

• Mushroom risotto - Smooth dry Italian whites such as Soave and Gavi work well. If the mushroom content is predominantly porcini try an aged Italian red such as Barolo or vintage rosé Champagne.

• Duxelles - an unfashionable but wonderful way of cooking mushrooms (chopping them very finely then sauteing them in butter with onion until the mixture is completely dry). A perfect match for a great Pinot Noir.

• Mushrooms in tomato sauce - a combination most likely to be found in Italian dishes especially pasta sauces. Sangiovese and Sangiovese blends (e.g. Chianti Classico) tend to be the best match but a Belgian dubbel beer or Viennese-style lager can work well.

• Baked or stuffed Portabello mushrooms - have the meaty quality of a steak so can be paired with almost any robust red such as Zinfandel, Syrah/Shiraz or, if the dish contains cheese, Cabernet Sauvignon.

• Steak and mushroom (or simply mushroom) pie - Depends on the base of the sauce. If it’s wine-based, a full-bodied red, as above (a good Côtes du Rhône Villages or Languedoc red like a Faugères would also work). If the sauce is more like a gravy or has a dark mushroom flavour try a full-flavoured ale such as a dark Belgian Trappist beer, a northern French bière de garde, a brown ale or a strong English ale.

• Mushroom soup - Depends how creamy it is. If it’s quite light I’d go for a Chardonnay (see mushrooms in creamy sauce above) If it’s more intensely mushroomy or includes mustard (there’s a good recipe in my book An Appetite for Ale!) I’d choose a dark beer like Westmalle Dubbel or even a stout or porter.

• Mushroom quiche - Again how mushroomy is the dish? If the predominant flavour is cream, eggs and cheese I’d probably pick a white burgundy or Pinot Blanc. If the mushroom flavour is more powerful I’d revert to Pinot Noir.

• Mushrooms à la grècque or preserved in oil - a classic Italian-style antipasto that will work with almost any crisp, dry Italian or Italian-style white or a dry rosé. You could drink a pilsner or Kolsch with it successfully too.

• Oyster/shitake mushrooms with soy - Unlikely to be served on its own unless it’s part of a vegetable stir-fry so you’re probably going to be looking for a wine that will perform well with a selection of Chinese or Chinese-style dishes. Ripe fruity reds such as new world Pinot Noir, Merlot or even young Rioja can work surprisingly well. For a lighter dish or selection of dishes try a dry (and I mean dry) Riesling from Alsace or Austria.

The best pairings for prawns or shrimp

A freezer staple in my house, prawns or shrimp are quick and easy to cook but what should you drink 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 customer 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 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

Often contain chorizo, certainly seasonings like saffron, garlic and pimenton so they can be 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

Prawns and Greco di Tufo

Prawn raviole and white Bordeaux

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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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Wine with lobster: 6 of the best pairings

There’s such an obvious wine match for lobster (great chardonnay) that you might wonder if it was worth considering anything else but there are other interesting alternatives.

Most of them are admittedly similarly weighty whites - white Rhône, oaked white Rioja, white Bordeaux and Viognier but you could if you were feeling adventurous consider a red, especially with a powerful sauce like a thermidor. A full-bodied red burgundy like Volnay should be able to cope.

Despite the fact that lobster has become a lot cheaper in recent years it’s still a luxury ingredient which makes a good excuse to splash out. Here are my top 5 choices:

Premier or grand cru Chablis

The best match with cold lobster with mayo on the evidence of this pairing I enjoyed in Ireland a few years ago with a just-caught fresh lobster from Ballycotton. No reason why you shouldn’t drink such shellfish favourites as Albarino, Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé of course

Meursault, other serious white burgundy or world class chardonnay

The ideal match for grilled lobster. Also works brilliantly with a lobster burger as you can see I discovered here.

Vintage - or good non-vintage - champagne

Great for a splash-out occasion. Particularly good with lobster and chips

Condrieu

A recent discovery as you can see from this Match of the Week. (A rare, glorious and expensive appellation for viognier, if you haven't come across it before.)

Gewurztraminer

One of the best lobster pairings ever was at a restaurant called Everest in Chicago run by an Alsace-born chef called Jean Joho. It was a dish of lobster cooked with ginger and gewurztraminer (the two have a great affinity) and served with the same wine. Ever since I’ve thought gewurz the perfect match for spicy lobster dishes.

Bandol rosé or other top-of-the-range Provençal rosé

An unusual pairing but one I think works with lobster dishes with an intense shellfish sauce like lobster thermidor or even a lobster bisque (though those will go with chardonnay too). Tavel would be another good pairing.

In the unlikely event you have any leftover lobster you may enjoy this recipe for Lobster thermidor baked potatoes from Mark Hix and there’s a ‘cheat’s’ way of jazzing up a cooked lobster here.

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