What wine (and other drinks) to pair with poke (updated)

If you haven’t heard of poke - the Hawaiian dish of cubed raw fish usually with rice and/or vegetables - you soon will. It’s everywhere (and pronounced, by the way, pokay not poke).

It’s not generally spicy so you don’t have to contend with that but usually has a dressing based on soy sauce which gives it an umami (savoury) character. 

It’s the sort of light dish you might have at lunchtime so alcohol might not even be appropriate though there are definitely wines - more often that not white or rosé - that will work well with it. 

There are also many alcohol-free options that go well, particularly citrussy ones, given that it more often than not features seafood.

Here are eight suggestions

Riesling
A crisp fresh young riesling - from the Okanagan Valley or Washington State, for example - would be delicious

Sauvignon Blanc
Generally good where seafood is involved and poke is no exception. I’d choose a citrussy style from Chile for example rather than the more powerful, punchy sauvignons from New Zealand

Grüner Veltliner
If in doubt turn to Austria’s Asian food-friendly Grüner Veltliner. Especially with Asian flavours

A fruity rosé
I tried a low alcohol (10%) off-dry English rosé based on pinot noir and meunier called A Little Bit from Westwell in Kent with a salmon poke and it was spot on.

Sake
Poke is actually not that different in flavour from sushi and although the Japanese wouldn’t traditionally drink a rice-based drink with rice there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

A good crisp pils
C’mon! You can do better than a Bud! Buy a proper German pils or a crisp craft lager. They’ll both pair well with poke.

Pina colada
Bring back those retro cocktails! We should stop being sniffy about pina colada and drink it with the kind of food for which it was intended.

And thinking pineapple and coconut, pineapple juice would also be a good (and appropriately Hawaiian) pairing as would ultra-fashionable sweet, creamy coconut water. 

If you want to know more about poke read this excellent introduction from Bon Appetit.

Photo ©laplateresca at fotolia.com

Six of the best wine (and other) pairings with chicken pie

Chicken pie - or chicken pot pie - is classic comfort food. But what sort of drink goes with it best? Wine, beer or cider?

Variations on chicken pie exist, which are bound to affect your drink pairing. British-style chicken pies are often creamier than American-style chicken pot pies, for example.

Assuming you’re going for the classic creamy filling, here are my favourite pairings

Top drink pairings for chicken pie

* A smooth, creamy (but not too oaky) chardonnay is always good with chicken in a creamy sauce. A Chablis or Macon-Villages would be a classic match

* An old vine chenin blanc with a lick of oak works really well too

* Try other smooth dry white wines such as viognier or other medium to full-bodied Languedoc or Rhône whites

* A medium dry cider is lovely with chicken, especially if the sauce is made with cider too or the pie contains leeks. As is perry (aka pear cider)

* A blonde or golden ale is a great match if you prefer a beer

* If the sauce is made with red wine and/or tomato I’d go for a medium-bodied red such as a merlot or an Alentejo red.

For American-style chicken pot pie, which often includes a heartier mix of vegetables or gravy-like sauces:

* Fuller-bodied whites like California chardonnay or viognier will go well with with the savoury and slightly sweet vegetable elements.

* Richer reds, such as Pinot Noir or a Grenache, work surprisingly well if the filling leans into roasted or caramelized flavours.

* You might want to go for a fuller style of beer like an IPA or amber ale

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

Photo ©TDC Photography at shutterstock.com

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.

Image ©Imagin at Adobe Stock

The best food pairings for dry Furmint

All countries like to boast that their signature grape variety goes with practically everything but in the case of Hungary’s furmint it’s true.

With “the aromatics of sauvignon blanc, the rich mouthfeel of chardonnay and the vibrant acidity of riesling” as my colleague Tim Atkin neatly puts it it really is a take-me-anywhere wine.

Hungary of course has a great gastronomic tradition of its own so you could obviously drink it with everything from foie gras which is hugely popular in the country to chicken paprikash.

But its rare combination of lushness and searing acidity makes it an incredibly good partner for the dishes that involve sweet and savoury elements that you often find in Asian cuisines and in Moroccan tagines. I reckon it would work with many Chinese, Korean, Burmese and Thai recipes that mingle hot, sour and sweet.

And at a recent online tasting, sommelier Isa Bal and Jonny Lake of Trivet played around with Japanese tastes and flavours using miso, sesame and kombu (seaweed) in their presentation.

I confess I’m still in the process of learning about this rather miraculous variety which you also find in Austria and Slovakia but some avenues you might want to explore are:

With fresh unoaked young furmints

Like other crisp white wines it would go with simply cooked fish and shellfish especially crab and prawns.

Smoked and cured fish like this beetroot cured salmon with horseradish I wrote about a while ago

Chicken with a creamy or herby sauce such as this Pot roast chicken with herby crème fraîche from Olia Hercules.

Sushi and tempura (Isa Bal suggested tempura of red mullet and sea vegetables (kombu) with a sweet and sour dip)

Salads and vegetable dishes that include citrus, especially orange

Lightly pickled vegetables

White asparagus

Goats’ or young sheep cheeses

You could also take a look at these pairings with Chablis which should work with lighter styles of furmint too.

With richer styles with oak or a few years maturity

Chicken or duck liver parfait (Ronan Sayburn and Marcus Verberne of 67 Pall Mall pair it with a chicken liver parfait with an orchard fruit compote of quince, pear, peach and apple in their book Wine and Food.

Seared scallops

Grilled or roast lobster

Roast goose

Duck à l’orange

Roast celeriac

Pork belly

Moroccan tagines

Aged Comté or Gruyère

Umami-rich Japanese or Japanese-influenced dishes (see above)

Off-dry styles which would still classify as dry rather than sweet should work with milder curries and, according to Hungarian wine expert Caroline Gilby, with chicken katsu! (In his book Tastebuds and Molecules Francois Chartier identifies a compound called sotolon which is present in curry powder and fenugreek and also in sweet wines such as Tokaji Aszú, Hungary’s famous sweet wine.

For more on late harvest furmints see The best food pairings for Tokai Aszu.

The wines shown above were provided as press samples by Wines of Hungary