Pairings | Parsley
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.
What wine (or other drinks) should you pair with herbs?
Do herbs ever have a strong enough influence on a dish to determine your wine pairing? Relatively rarely in my view. Only very herby sauces like pesto or salsa verde dominate a dish to such an extent that you need to choose a wine to accommodate them.
That said some herbs do tend to steer you in a certain direction and some wines, particularly sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc have a distinctly herbal character.
Some general pointers about pairing herbs and wine
*Soft herbs like basil, dill and tarragon tend to go better with white wine than ‘hard’ herbs like rosemary and thyme which are generally better with reds (the only exception to that is sage)
*Fresh herbs are more likely to go with white and rosé than dried herbs such as oregano or a classic Herbes de Provence. The exception is dried mint which is used quite widely in Greek cooking and tends to go just as well with a sharp lemony white as a red.
*Freshly picked herbs or herbs that are sold in bunches on market stalls and at greengrocers tend to have more flavour and therefore influence on a pairing than herbs that are sold in packets
*Quite often herbs are used together - like parsley, coriander and mint or mint and coriander. In this case it’s best to be guided by the style of the dish - is it middle eastern, for example or Vietnamese?
The good news is that there are herbs that you don’t need to worry about too much, for instance parsley (in general though see below), chives - just subtly oniony - and dried oregano which is normally dominated by other ingredients - e.g. tomato sauce on a pizza or tomato, onion, and olives in a Greek salad
The 10 herbs that may influence your wine pairing
Basil
In general best with a dry Italian white such as gavi di gavi, vermentino or verdicchio especially when made into a pesto. When used in conjunction with tomatoes - as it frequently is - then the tomatoes are more likely to dictate the pairing.
The best wine matches for tomatoes
Dill
Has a natural affinity with sauvignon blanc but is also good with peppery Austrian grüner veltliner and Hungary’s dry furmint. Arguably better still with a pils, or a frozen glass of aquavit or vodka.
Coriander/cilantro
This love-it-or-hate-it herb is used in such a wide range of contrasting cuisines - Mexican, middle-eastern and south-east Asian, for example - that it’s hard to generalise but I’d say when it’s used in fresh tasting dishes I’d go for sauvignon blanc or dry riesling and with meaty curries a carmenère or cabernet franc
Chervil
Relatively rarely encountered on its own though the classic constituent of omelette fines herbs which I’d accompany with a crisp dry white like a Chablis or perhaps, better still, a furmint
Parsley
Rarely dominant except in tabbouleh (which suits a crisp white wine or rosé) or salsa verde (along with mint, basil (sometimes) and punchy capers) which I personally think suits an Italian red like Chianti Classico best.
Mint
Has a real affinity with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet blends, especially when used in lamb dishes. Salads containing mint are also good with sharp whites such as sauvignon blanc and Greek assyrtiko. With peas and mint I like pinot but then that’s more about the peas
Tarragon
Particularly good with chardonnay, especially white burgundy, maybe because it’s often combined with two chardonnay-loving ingredients, chicken and cream. Also good with oaked white Bordeaux
Sage
A herb that’s used in a variety of recipes, from Italian dishes such as calves liver (Chianti or Langhe Nebbiolo) to pumpkin ravioli (a smooth dry Italian white such as Soave or a light chardonnay - also good with roast butternut squash). It’s also a regular companion for pork where I think it goes really well with an earthy Rhône white or, better still, with cider.
Thyme
Lovely with onions and therefore with cider, again. Can show up in classic British dishes like a beef stew where I think it goes well with red Bordeaux and in a whole raft of Mediterranean dishes from Greece (try a Greek red like Agiorgitiko) to Provence. Elsewhere in southern France where grows wild in the garrigue I like it with the local red blends made from grenache, syrah and mourvedre.
Rosemary
One of the most wine-friendly of herbs - again great with southern French reds from the Rhône to the Roussillon, with cabernet sauvignon but above all with Italian reds such as Chianti and other sangioveses.
(In his Tastebuds and Molecules Francois Chartier identifies a chemical similarity between rosemary and muscat, gewürztraminer and riesling and suggests they would be complementary too. I’m not wholly convinced but then I haven’t tried it. It could well be the case.)
Top image © marcin jucha at fotolia.com
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