What wine to pair with hummus

If you’re wondering what wine to pair with hummus or houmous you need to take account of the fact that it’s rarely served on its own.

It’s a regular part of Greek and middle-eastern appetizers that may include other dips like taramasalata or muhammara, stuffed vine leaves, olives or pickled chillies.

That said, the combination of chickpeas, tahini and garlic is particularly wine-friendly though there are flavour variations that may push you in a particular direction with your pairing

Here are the four types of wine I think go with it best.

Dry rosés

Probably my all-round favourite pairing. A pale dry rosé from Provence or elsewhere in southern France, for preference - you don’t want one that’s too sweet or fruity. For me pinot noir rosés are just too aromatic.

Crisp dry white wines

Such as Greek assyrtiko, Spanish albariño, Portuguese alvarinho or French Picpoul de Pinet. Again, a dry refreshing white rather than an overly fruity or oaky one. (I’d be less inclined to drink a chardonnay or a New Zealand sauvignon blanc for example). White wines are particularly good with hummus that’s flavoured with coriander.

Light, quaffable fruity reds

From anywhere around the Mediterranean (the Lebanon has some good examples) Or a cinsault. I particularly like reds with red pepper hummus. Watch the alcohol though - I personally think 14.5% reds are a bit heavy with mezze

Amber or orange wines

Hummus really is a great pairing for orange or amber wines, especially when combined with lamb or aubergines as you can see from this recent post. In fact if you’re not into orange wines, hummus may be the key to get you started. But classic hummus rather than flavoured hummus I’d suggest.

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The best food pairings for orange wines

More and more people have been drinking orange or amber wine but what’s the best kind of food to pair with it? In this post, I’ll guide you through the best food pairings for orange wines, drawn from my own experiences and tastings.

What is Orange Wine?

Orange wines, as you may know, are made from grapes that normally produce white wine but get their distinctive colour from leaving the juice in contact with the skins in the same way you do with a red. The flavour depends mainly on how aromatic the grape variety is in the first place (pinot gris and malvasia both make a fragrant style of orange wine, for example) and how long the juice remains in contact with the skins: the longer the darker, more tannic and more intense it will be.

There’s often a flavour of quince about an orange wine which to me makes them a natural match for eastern Mediterranean and middle-eastern, especially Georgian, food. (Many of them are, of course, produced in Georgia.)

Here are the ingredients and types of dishes I think pair with orange wine best - many of which often appear in conjunction with each other.

Foods that pair well with orange wines

Lamb

The number one meat with orange wine. Spicy slow-cooked shoulder, kebabs, lamb (and mutton) tagines and biryanis. Goat runs it a close second. Even better if it’s combined with one of the ingredients below.

Aubergine

Think roast aubergine, grilled aubergine, any kind of smoky aubergine like baba ghanoush. Especially in combination
with . . .

Walnuts which really need a category of their own though this aubergine and walnut dish may be the perfect orange wine pairing

Tahini

Another ingredient that is often combined with lamb as in these amazing koftas from Sami Tamimi’s latest book Falastin. And hummus obviously

Grilled octopus

More savoury than fishy and deeply umami and on those grounds perfect with orange wine.

Roast and/or caramelised veg

Especially root vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes and celeriac. Also think of serving orange wine with a whole roast cauliflower or with caramelised endives

Nutty grains like farro, freekeh and bulgar (cracked wheat). It’s good with whole-wheat couscous too.

Hard - and semi-hard - sheeps cheese

So good with manchego and similar hard sheep cheeses but also with grilled halloumi and a salty sheep cheese like feta.

See also this account of an orange wine dinner from sommelier Donald Edwards.

The best wine matches for Manchego, Berkswell and other hard sheep cheeses

Hard sheep cheeses are the winelover’s friend.

Nutty, tangy and savoury, they show off a good red like no other cheese which makes them a great choice if you’ve picked a serious wine with your main course.

You can also pair them with sweet wines, and with sherry and other fortified wines. Here are the pairings I think work best:

Mature Spanish reds especially Rioja and Valdepeñas (the latter comes from the same region as Manchego, La Mancha). Other oak-aged tempranillos too.

Mature Bordeaux

Reds from the south-west of France - an area which specialises in sheep’s cheese - often served with a cherry compote. Madiran, for example. Sweet wines from the same region such as Jurançon and Pacherenc-du-Vic-Bilh also work well

Mature Chianti - especially with aged pecorinos

Sherry, especially dry amontillado, palo cortado and dry oloroso. Aged tawny ports are also good - see this post on Zamorano and 30 y.o. tawny

Aged oaked white rioja - its nuttiness compliments sheep cheese perfectly as you can see here

Orange wines. Maybe not your cup of tea but their quince-like flavours are brilliant with sheep cheese (think membrillo)

Younger, fresher-tasting hard sheep cheeses are good with a crisp dry white such as albarino or vermentino

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4 good wines to pair with red mullet

Red mullet or rouget can be a bit of a challenge to pair with wine as it is often accompanied by a rich sauce made from the liver or with punchy accompaniments such as tapenade, olives or saffron

As this guide remarks it tastes remarkably of shellfish (grilled or roast rather than raw) so take account of that in your wine choice. Above all it’s a Mediterranean fish so think in terms of the wine producing countries around the Med.

Her’s what I’d go for:

Strong dry rosé

The fashionable pale pink Provençal rosés will do but I’d go for something a bit stronger and darker from the Rhône or Languedoc. Bandol rosé would be perfect - or a Tavel.

White Côtes-du-Rhône and other white Rhône blends

White Rhône blends have a savouriness that works really well with mullet. Particularly if they are dominated by Marsanne as you can see from this post

Medium bodied (but not too fruity) southern French, Spanish or Italian reds

Something simple like a Costières de Nîmes. Victoria Moore suggests an Etna red in her Wine Dine Dictionary which I think would work really well

Chilled fino sherry

My go to for many tricky matches and a winner here, especially if it's accompanied by tapenade or olives.

I also have a hunch - as yet unverified - that orange or lighter skin contact wines would work, having similar tannins to a red. Worth a try anyway.

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