Pairings | Lemon tart
15 Easter wine pairings to learn by heart
If you're wondering what wines you should buy for Easter weekend here's quick guide to what I think are the best Easter wine pairings.
As with my previous ‘learn by heart’ posts it's a simple way to remember great food and wine matches at a busy time of year. There are of course other possibilities to which the links will guide you.
Colomba Pasquale and extra dry prosecco
Colomba Pasquale is the traditional Italian Easter cake and ‘extra dry’ prosecco perversely a slightly sweeter style that is perfect with sweeter things.
You can drink so many red wines with lamb (Chianti and Cabernet being two other favourites) but rioja is such a crowd-pleaser. I’d go for a reserva myself.
Roast chicken (or turkey) and pinot noir
Hey, it’s spring (or supposed to be) so lighten up with a brighter, fruitier red. Pinot is perfect
Baked or roast ham or gammon could also take a pinot but I’m rooting for a good Beaujolais like a Morgon
And yes, here’s pinot noir again! But you can’t find a better pairing with duck. Especially with peas.
Roast kid and Chianti
Kid would be a traditional Mediterranean choice for the Easter feast so I’d be inclined to go for an Italian, Greek or Portuguese red. Chianti is the easy-to-memorise option.
Depends how you cook it but salmon pretty well always works with chardonnay. Especially en croute or in a creamy sauce. (If it’s smoked salmon try sauvignon blanc.)
Maybe you’re planning a fish pie for Good Friday? Again chardonnay is a reliable match - I’d go for a Chablis.
Asparagus and Sancerre
There are major arguments over which wine suits asparagus best but Sancerre (or Pouilly Fumé) does it for me. Especially if goats cheese is involved. Other optionshere
Scrambled eggs and champagne (or cheaper fizz)
What else are you going to drink for Easter brunch? Seriously - eggs and bubbles is the way to go. (It works with eggs benedict too)
Torta pasquale (Italian spinach and ricotta pie) and Soave
Or any other smooth dry Italian white come to that. Like Gavi. Here's a lovely recipe from Gennaro Contaldo or, following the recommendation below, from Rachel Roddy. A great option for vegetarians.
Simnel cake and orange pekoe tea
Perfect combination!
Hot cross buns and marsala
I owe this one to the Italian wine buyer at M & S Jeneve Williams. (They have a really well-priced half bottle of marsala you should try which is no doubt why they came up with the suggestion!). Nice recipe here too.
Easter eggs and Brachetto d’Aqui
If you’re scoffing the remains of the kids’ Easter eggs this sweet, gently sparkling Italian red is hard to beat. But also hard to find, unfortunately. If you’re stumped try a rosato frizzante (pink prosecco by another name though they’re not allowed to call it that)
Lemon tart and late harvest riesling
Lemon tart can be tricky with wine - the more intensely lemony the tougher it is. The trick if you want to serve a dessert wine with it? Add cream either to the tart or a good splodge over the top. Late harvest riesling has the acidity to cope
You may also find these posts useful:
What sort of food to pair with prosecco
20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart
The best wine matches with salt cod (traditional Good Friday fare in Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Portugal.)
Photo by Elena Veselova at shutterstock.com
What’s the best wine to pair with lemon tart (aka tarte au citron)?
The classic tarte au citron is tricky with wine, particularly if it’s home made. And the sharper and more lemony (and delicious) it is, the harder it is to find a good match.
Basically what they tend to do is wipe the citrus flavours - and the sweetness - out of any accompanying dessert wine leaving them tasting thin and sharp. The only really successful match I’ve found is a sweet wine that has a lot of acidity like a German beerenauslese Riesling or other very sweet late harvest Riesling served really cold. (Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein or icewine could also work for you but I find they bump up the sweetness too much.
I also had success with a beerenauslese Chardonnay from Austria which was a bit of a surprise. Sweet chardonnay wouldn’t have occurred to me if I hadn’t tried it.
There is a trick you could pull. Serve the tart with a good dollop of cream (what a hardship!) and you’ll find it will kick other wines into touch. Late Harvest Sauvignons or Sauvignon/Semillon blends from the Australian Riverlands or Chile would be my preferred option.
They also go well with shop-bought lemon tarts and the slightly less intensely lemony lemon meringue pie.
Picture by Pixel-Shot at shutterstock.com
Which beers to drink at Easter
You may find family and friends resistant to the idea of putting beer on the Easter table (though some will be secretly pleased) but stick to your guns.
The more your guests see how great beer is with different types of food the more confident they’ll feel about serving it themselves and the less likely it is that the only beer you’ll find when you go to their house is a Bud. So, here goes:
Turkey
Roast turkey is a very beer-friendly dish. I particularly like it with Duvel and with the Scottish golden lager Schiehallion but you could pair it with any kind of golden ale or lager such as Budweiser Budvar from the Czech republic or with a Belgian or Northern French blonde ale, the beer world’s equivalent of chardonnay. Amber ales and lagers work well too.
Lamb
Two ways to go here - you could go for a strong Trappist beer like Orval, Chimay Rouge or a French bière de garde (the equivalent of a full bodied red) or a slightly sour red ale such as Duchesse de Bourgogne (think pinot noir)
Duck
Surprisingly, given how different a type of meat it is, the beers I’ve recommended above with lamb would work with duck too. If you were feeling particularly daring you could offer a cherry or raspberry beer. Duck and cherries? Classic.
Chocolate
Better with beer than with wine, many think but I’m not sure that most beer fans favourite choice, porter, isn’t too heavy for this time of year. Again a raspberry or cherry-flavoured fruit beer could well work particularly if you serve fresh berries with the dessert
Lemon tart
I’ve already focussed on the problems intensely lemony desserts pose for wine and beer certainly isn’t any easier. Hey, why not just eat it on its own?
Eggs
A witbier, bière blanche or other light, cloudy wheat beer is generally regarded as the best match for brunch dishes. Since it’s also good with smoked and cold salmon, spring vegetables such as asparagus and salads it’s well worth having a few bottles around.
You may also find this post useful:
Which wines to drink at Easter
Image by Oscar Trompenaars from Pixabay
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