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 pairings for albarino (and alvarinho)

If I had to sum up the best food pairing for albarino in one word it would be seafood. Which makes sense considering where it comes from on the coast of Galicia in the Rias Baixas region of northern Spain.

It has that distinctive salty tang you get from another of the country’s iconic wines, manzanilla sherry which makes it a great match for all kinds of raw and lightly cooked shellfish but as I discovered from a recent tasting with Mar de Frades there are more complex oaked versions which can handle richer fuller flavours.

The same suggestions apply to its Portuguese counterpart alvarinho which is made just over the border in the Vinho Verde region

Best pairings for young fresh albarinos

Oysters

Fresh white crab

Fresh prawns or shrimp

Mixed shellfish platters

Steamed mussets or clams

Simply grilled fish such as seabass, squid or sardines

Light creamy cheeses like this dish of burrata and beetroot as well as goats cheese

Seafood pastas and risotti like this smoked haddock and leek risotto

Ceviche (marinated raw fish)

Sushi and sashimi

Best pairings for more mature complex albarinos

Caribenero prawns with garlic

Seafood stews

Seared scallops

Arroz negro (black rice with seafood)

The best wine matches for tomatoes

Although not the problem they're generally made out to be tomatoes do have an influence on a wine pairing.

Being quite acidic, especially when dressed with a vinaigrette, you want a wine that has a good level of acid too - and not too much, if any, oak.

I find it easiest to think in terms of uncooked and cooked tomatoes when deciding on a wine match:

Tomato salads, fresh tomato sauces and salsas and soups like gazpacho work well with crisp dry whites and dry rosés. With a classic French tomato salad I’d go for a Picpoul de Pinet or a dry southern French rosé, especially Provençal rosé. A light style of Sauvignon Blanc or a Côtes de Gascogne or Côtes de Duras works well too. With panzanella (Italian-style tomato and bread salad) you might want to go for a crisp Italian white like a Verdicchio

With pasta with a fresh tomato sauce like this one with prawns I’d go for an Italian white such as Pinot Grigio. Albarino is a good match with gazpacho.

With more intensely flavoured cooked dishes made with tinned, roast or dried tomatoes - especially if combined with grilled vegetables like aubergines or meat as in a lasagne - I think reds tend to work better, especially Italian reds such as Barbera d’Asti, Chianti, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and simple Sicilian reds. Other Sangiovese-based reds are good too.

Stuffed tomatoes are good with lighter southern French reds such as Côtes du Rhône Villages or Côtes du Roussillon.

You may of course be looking to match lighter cooked tomato dishes such as courgette and tomato gratins or tomato tarts. These can take almost any kind of dry Mediterranean whites, light reds or rosés - like uncooked tomato dishes. Tomato fritters (a speciality from Santorini) are fantastic with the local Assyrtiko.

What I wouldn’t pair with tomatoes are big tannic reds, classic reds like Bordeaux or oaky Chardonnays except, in the case of Chardonnay, with a tomato tatin that has acquired an edge of sweetness.

The best food pairings for Grüner Veltliner

Winemakers like to tell you that their wines go with everything but in the case of Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s best known white wine, it’s true.

Short of Sunday roasts and large juicy steaks you can pair it with practically anything.

There are of course different styles but the one you’re most likely to come across is the crisp, fresh young style that typifies most inexpensive Grüners. What makes them distinctive is a herbal note and a distinctive white peppery twist.

In Austria they would be widely drunk with cold meats, salads, light vegetable dishes and fish - think the sort of dishes you would serve with a sauvignon blanc or a riesling. Further afield they’re a great choice in Asian or Asian-fusion restaurants especially with Thai and Vietnamese food

Asparagus

Austrians love asparagus - there are whole asparagus menus in the spring and early summer. It’s mainly white asparagus served either in a salad or warm with hollandaise but you can equally well drink it with the green variety. See also this match with asparagus soup.

Artichokes

Not many wines pair well with artichokes. Young fresh dry Grüner is one of them

Smoked ham, especially cut wafer thin as the Austrians do it

Smoked fish like smoked salmon or trout. Even smoked eel though I think riesling is better

Raw fish such as sushi, sashimi, carpaccio and tartares - especially with Asian seasoning like ginger or wasabi as you can see from this post.

Salads

Especially seafood salads with an Asian twist and salads with apple, kohlrabi or cucumber

Dishes with herbs

Grüner has a herbal edge itself and pairs beautifully with dishes that contain herbs especially dill, tarragon, mint and parsley. So salads as above, or chicken with a herb crust for example.

Light vegetable dishes such as braised fennel a courgette/zucchini gratin or a vegetable-based quiche. (Like an asparagus one, obviously)

Leafy greens especially cabbage, sprouts and kale. Think 'green wine, green vegetables'

Spicy but not over-hot south-east Asian dishes with ginger or galangal and lemongrass. Like dim sum, light stir-fries and mild Thai curries. Grüner is especially good with Vietnamese food particularly summer rolls and noodle salads.

Fried foods, schnitzel being the obvious example but you could happily drink Grüner with fish and chips or even fried chicken.

Fresh cheeses like goats cheese, young pecorino or mozzarella.

You can also pair Gruner Veltliner with many seafood and vegetable-based pasta dishes or risottos though for preference I'd go for an Italian white and I don’t think Grüner works with cooked tomato sauces.

Richer styles match well with roast pork or veal especially with a creamy sauce but not with an intense meaty ‘jus’.

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