Pairings | Peas

Best food pairings with sauvignon blanc

Posted by Fiona Beckett on March 20 2025 at 09:55

Sauvignon blanc is many people’s favourite wine but what type of food pairs with it best?

As with other grape varieties its style varies markedly from one part of the world to the other - from the crisp minerally whites of the Loire to the exuberant gooseberry and passionfruit flavours of sauvignons from New Zealand’s Marlborough region.

Although many are interchangeable so far as food pairings are concerned others suit specific types of dishes and ingredients

Sauvignon blanc food pairing guide

Minerally sauvignon blancs

For instance: Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé and sauvignon blanc from Tasmania

This is the style I’d pair with simple, barely seasoned ingredients such as raw and lightly cooked shellfish like oysters and shell-on prawns, fresh crab and simply grilled fish such as sea bass.

They also go well with dishes that contain raw or barely cooked tomato such as gazpacho, tomato consommé or tomato vinaigrettes and young goats’ cheeses - or salads that contain goats cheese and have an affinity with fresh herbs especially dill

And this style of sauvignon is a good wine match with Japanese dishes such as sushi and sashimi, seafood-based steamed and fried dim sum and smoked salmon, particularly if the smoke is delicate.

Citrussy sauvignon blancs

For instance: unoaked white Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills and Chilean sauvignon blanc.

I like this more citrussy style with grilled fish , especially oily fish such as sardines and mackerel, big garlicky prawns and chargrilled squid. They also pair well with fried fish like goujons, whitebait and fish and chips and with simply grilled chicken or lamb (without a powerful marinade)

In terms of ethnic cuisines they work well with Greek and Mexican food and other fresh-tasting dishes with avocados, tomatoes, green onions, olives and sharp cheeses like feta (though be careful not to neutralise their character with over-lemony dressings)

They also pair well with cheeses flavoured with garlic and herbs such as Le Roulé and Boursin. And this, in my view, is the best type of sauvignon blanc to drink with globe artichokes.

Aromatic/grassy/’herbaceous’ sauvignon blancs and sauvignon blends

For instance New Zealand sauvignon blanc and wines from cooler regions elsewhere such as South Africa’s Elgin region

I tend to reach for these with salads especially if they contain seafood and/or ‘grassy’ ingredients such as asparagus, pea-shoots, green peppers and herbs.

You can drink them with similar dishes to minerally sauvignon blancs but where the flavours are more pronounced e.g. seafood with south-east Asian flavours such as lime, chilli and coriander or Thai fish cakes. Try them with pea soups and dishes accompanied by pea purées too.

Oaked sauvignons and sauvignon/semillon blends

For instance: oaked white Bordeaux and fumé blanc styles

You can drink these where you might reach for a chardonnay or straight semillon - with white meats such as chicken or veal especially if accompanied by a creamy sauce or with spring vegetables such as asparagus and peas. Pasta dishes with spring vegetables and buttery or creamy sauces work well too.

They also suit simply grilled or pan-fried salmon, scallops and lightly smoked fish such as smoked eel and trout.

Top image © HLPhoto at fotolia.com

The best food matches for Semillon and Semillon-Sauvignon blends

Posted by Fiona Beckett on January 27 2025 at 10:16

One of the world’s most underrated grapes yet capable of making some of its most delicious dry whites, Sémillon isn’t on the radar for many. So if you get hold of a bottle what should you pair with it?

Although there’s a marked difference between young unoaked Sémillon and those blended with its habitual stablemate Sauvignon Blanc it helps to look at it as similar to but less pungent than Sauvignon. Without that marked green, grassy edge that can make sauvignon too much of a good thing with foods that have herbaceous note of their own such as asparagus, peas and mangetout.

If I had to sum up the ideal match in a few words think shellfish, fish and spring vegetables. Here are a few more specific suggestions:

Hunter Valley Semillon and other lighter styles

The Hunter Valley in Australia is the place to go for Semillon and has its most distinctive style. Fresh and zippy when it’s young, more complex and oily (in a nice way) as it ages this is the perfect wine for raw and lightly cooked shellfish especially with Asian flavours. (Think the delicious kind of food you get in Sydney.) Remember Hunter Valley wines are light - generally only about 11-12% ABV. Try them with:

Oysters, especially with an Asian dressing - the best match bar none

Fresh crab

Clams

Sashimi

Seafood salads

Spring veg such as asparagus and peas - a pasta primavera would work well with a Hunter Valley Semillon

Dishes with fennel

Dishes with a touch of citrus

Lightly cooked fish dishes such as seabass and razor clams

Fried soft shell crab - I owe this one to my colleague Victoria Moore

Salt and pepper squid

Young goats’ cheese or salads with goats’ cheese

For older vintages try smoked fish such as smoked salmon, smoked trout and - this is surprisingly good - kedgeree

Barossa Valley Semillon and other richer styles

Fuller and riper, often with a lick of oak, Southern Australian Semillons can take richer fish and shellfish dishes and light meats like chicken and pork - again with an Asian accent. Try:

Scallops (probably my number one choice)

Grilled lobster, prawns or Moreton Bay bugs

Salmon and salmon trout

Fish or chicken in a creamy sauce such as this kingklip with prawns and a white wine sauce I had in South Africa

Seafood risotto

Thickly sliced ham off the bone

Roast gammon

Pork or chicken satay

Other spicy but not over-hot pork dishes

Grilled and barbecued fish

Semillon-Sauvignon blends

Found chiefly in the Margaret River region of Western Australia and in the Bordeaux region of France where it’s mainly oaked

For Australian sem-sauv I’d go for much the same sort of dishes as I would for a Hunter Valley Sémillon - perhaps a shade richer or with a little more citrus. This dish of pan-fried scallops with orange braised chicory, celeriac remoulade and lotus crisps was a perfect match or you could go for scallops with a pea purée. It would also stand up to a mild Thai green curry.

With oaked white Bordeaux I’d be looking at more classic French or European-style dishes like this light raviolo of prawns, simply cooked fish in butter like a Dover sole, poached salmon or a posh fish pie.

Photo © vsl at shutterstock.com

Six of the best matches for Bacchus and Bacchus-based wine blends

Posted by Fiona Beckett on April 22 2022 at 06:51

If you've bough a bottle of English wine to celebrate St George's Day or English Wine Week you may be wondering what sort of food suits it best.

Chances are it may be Bacchus, a cross between Müller Thurgau and Silvaner-Riesling that tastes quite similar to a sauvignon blanc. It works well with the sort of food that pairs with sauvignon but is usually a degree or so lighter in alcohol so may not be able to cope with such intense flavours. English whites also have a delicate elderflower character which makes me think of classic summery English food.

Here are six pairings I think work really well.

*fresh goats cheese and goats cheese salads. Just as sauvignon loves goats cheese so do English whites

*spring vegetables such as asparagus, peas and broad beans - such as this dish of asparagus with gnocchi and a wild garlic pesto.

*fresh seafood particularly crab salads or sandwiches and prawns

*other light salads without powerfully flavoured dressings - a seafood or chicken salad for example or even a fresh tomato salad

*poached or grilled salmon without a rich sauce. (Mayonnaise is fine. So is cucumber which is lovely with this style of wine)

*light fish dishes like the celery risotto with Westcombe cheddar and smoked haddock I had at Pump House in Bristol a while back. Simply pan-fried or grilled fish is perfect too.

Photo ©Linda at fotolia.com

Tags: st george's day risotto broad beans food:pasta, rice & noodles peas asparagus food:veg & salads smoked haddock poached salmon salmon crab food:fish & shellfish Bacchus English white wine English wine drink:white wine
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The best food pairings for Vermentino

Posted by Fiona Beckett on March 24 2022 at 07:19

Vermentino is incredibly versatile - a brilliant wine pairing for anything fishy, herby or citrussy and a great wine for spring and summer drinking.

Most comes from Italy - Sardinia being a particularly good source - but it’s also produced in Liguria, Tuscany, Corsica, Provence and the Languedoc where it's also known as Rolle.

With crisp fresh young vermentinos I’d serve:

* Raw and marinated shellfish such as oysters and carpaccios

* Fritto misto or other fried fish - I had a lovely side of fried lemon and sage (below) at Spring recently

* Simply grilled or baked fish such as seabass especially with fresh olive oil or a salsa verde. Grilled squid. Grilled prawns or shrimp - try this recipe for prawn brochettes from Bruce Poole

* Spaghetti alle vongole, linguini with crab and other pasta dishes with seafood

* Spring and early summer vegetables such as asparagus, peas, broad (fava) beans, fennel and even artichokes

* Raw and lightly cooked vegetables such as marinated courgettes and leeks vinaigrette

* Dishes where herbs are predominant such as pasta or gnocchi with pesto

Late harvested or more mature vermentinos pair well with:

* Richer fish dishes such as lobster or lobster rice (a local Sardinian speciality)

* Light meat dishes such as roast veal, baby lamb and suckling pig.

* Vitello tonnato

The best pairings with red burgundy

Posted by Fiona Beckett on January 12 2022 at 06:03

As with white burgundy there’s a world of difference between a simple village burgundy and an elegant premier or grand cru - most of which need 5 years at the very least to show at their best but the dividing line when it comes to pairing wine with red burgundy is age.

Is it a light wine you’re dealing with or a more mature, intensely flavoured one? Duck is almost always a winner but here are some other options.

Basic red burgundy (Bourgogne rouge)

Best thought of as a companion for simple French meals, even picnics. My number one choice would be charcuterie - simple saucisson sec, paté, rillettes and terrines

Mild cheeses such as goats cheese and creamy but not too mature brie (but stinkier cheeses such as Epoisses will overwhelm them)

Seared tuna especially with an Asian accent such as a sesame crust

Chicken or rabbit with a creamy mustard sauce

Good quality youthful red burgundy 2-5 years old e.g. Marsannay, Mercurey and Santenay

You don’t want to overwhelm this with heavy sauces so think simply cooked rare meat rather than heavily charred or sauced. (You can also, of course, pair them with the dishes above)

Rack of lamb with a herb crust

Seared duck breast particularly accented with red fruits like cherries or blackberries

9 great wine matches for duck

Offal - liver, especially calves liver, kidneys and sweetbreads

Mushrooms - as with white burgundy mushroom risotto works particularly well but a mushroom sauce will frequently kick a pairing into touch. Think mushroom stroganoff too

Beetroot (particularly roast beetroot but avoid vinegar) Good with riper fruitier styles from warm vintages (like 2015 at the time of writing)

Peas - weirdly but they almost always enhance a pinot match

Light umami-rich broths such as you find in sukiyaki (see this very successful pairing)

Weightier, more serious red burgundies such as Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin

A great foil for meats of all kinds - even richly sauced dishes like boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin

Feathered game - particularly with elegant wines such as Vosne-Romanée or Chambolle-Musigny: roast grouse, pheasant, partridge as well as high quality farmed meats such as guineafowl and goose

The best wine pairings for partridge

Lean red meat such as venison, fillet steak and lamb

Simply roasted white meats like rare breed roast pork, roast veal or a good roast chicken

Dishes with a sauce based on red burgundy such as coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon

Four favourite matches for coq au vin

Dishes with black truffles and porcini

Cheese - though I say this tentatively. They would definitely serve the best red burgundies with cheese in France and more traditional dining rooms in the UK but I personally think the wines struggle, particular with pungent washed rind cheeses such as L’ami de Chambertin and Epoisses. Even the official Burgundy wine site favours white wines with cheese!