The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

Manzanilla, as you probably know, is a fino sherry made in the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda rather than in the cities of Jerez or Puerto de Santa Maria which gives it its characteristic salty tang.

Like fino it needs to be served chilled and drunk fresh so always buy from a shop or online retailer that has a good turnover of bottles

From a food point of view the two are very similar though I would tend to go more for manzanila with seafood and fino with meat and cheese. What both have in common is that they can handle strong flavours like garlic and chilli and tricky to pair ingredients such as asparagus and artichokes.

Both are obviously very good with Spanish cuisine (especially tapas) but lend themselves well to other dishes such as smoked salmon, fish and chips and sushi. Treat the suggestions below as just that - suggestions - and don’t be afraid to swop them around:

Food matches for manzanilla

All kinds of seafood including:

grilled and fried squid

octopus and octopus salad

mussels, especially with chorizo

anchovies

oysters

raw fish such as sashimi or tartares

fried fish (and chips)

fried soft-shell crab

fish soups

feta cheese (such as this dish of beetroot borani from Morito)

pickled fish such as mackerel en escabeche

grilled fish, especially oily fish like sardines

garlicky prawns or shrimp

smoked salmon

smoked mussels

smoked dried beef

Food pairings for fino

nuts, especially almonds

olives and olive pastes like tapenade

jamon/ham

grilled or preserved artichokes

hard sheeps’ cheeses such as Manchego

chorizo

tortilla

grilled asparagus or leeks with romesco sauce

white asparagus

pimientos de padron

clams cooked with sherry

cider-battered onions (from my good friends Dan and Elly of The Basement supper club

croquetas

tandoori salmon and teriyaki salmon

smoked eel

white gazpacho

sushi, sashimi, tempura and any kind of Japanese food where you would drink sake

Food matches for 'en rama' styles

These are unpasteurised versions of either fino or manzanilla which have a limited shelf-life but a more intense flavour and texture

richer, hot or sauced fish dishes

grilled tuna

black rice with cuttlefish arroz negro

deep-fried sweetbreads

hake with allioli (garlic mayonnaise)

Japanese food generally

 

More food and sherry matches:

• The best food pairings for dry oloroso sherry
• The best food pairings for amontillado and palo cortado sherry
• The best food pairings for sweet oloroso and PX sherry

 

 

Top photograph © delarue - Fotolia.com

The best food pairings for assyrtiko

There are few grapes that bring Greece to mind like Assyrtiko, the saline wonder of the Cyclades. But what do you pair with it? As often, the answer depends on the winemaking style and terroir, because there is not one Assyrtiko (I should know, I recently tried 80 of them.)

What to pair with Santorini and Santorini-like dry Assyrtiko

This is the canonical take on the variety, all salt and lemon and Aegean breeze, from producers like Hatzidakis, Tselepos, or Gaia in Santorini, and Volacus in Tinos. You’d struggle to find a white better suited to Greek cuisine.

Fiona has wisely recommended courgette fritters for this in the past, and she is spot on. Assyrtiko is a natural match for almost any take on fried vegetables, from tempura to pané. Its platonic match, however, is fried seafood. Greece has something like six varieties of small fish, deep fried and eaten whole, all of which seem to show up as "smelt" or "anchovy" in online dictionaries. Naturally, bigger types of fried fish also work (e.g. mackerel in the summer, red mullet in the winter). It is similarly great with other seafood, think shrimp, prawn, or squid. (This year I must have cooked this calamari recipe by Greek super-chef Akis Petretzikis around 10 times.) Fritto misto is also a natural, if not geographic, match.

More off-piste, many people have it with roast lamb and lemony potatoes, or even kleftiko. I am not the biggest fan (I'll always reach for a Xinomavro first for lamb), but it does work. I much prefer it with roast chicken with lemony potatoes, though the chicken must be really good – proper Assyrtiko doesn’t do bland. I also have it regularly with papoutsakia, a moussaka-like dish with fried aubergine stuffed with beef mincemeat and topped with mornay. It might sound counter-intuitive going for a white, but the mincemeat should be cooked with minimum tomato and the spices are more Middle Eastern (cinnamon, clove, maybe a hint of allspice) than Italian, while the mornay is made with sharp and salty cheese (usually kefalotyri, similar to pecorino, or the milder kefalograviera – its etymological parent gruyère makes a good alternative).

Speaking of moussaka, the more creative Greek chefs seem to have reinvented it in recent years to make it more like a ratatouille, topped with beef mincemeat and bechamel sauce – another excellent match. Stuffed peppers and tomatoes, a Greek classic, also work well, especially in their "gialantzi" (i.e. meat-free) version.

Greek salad, all acidity from the tomato, sharpness from the onion, saltiness from the olives, and tanginess from the feta, obviously goes without saying. Have some sourdough handy to mop up the olive oil and tomato juices.

Santorini Assyrtiko with some age and/or oak fermented

“Aged wine” tends to conjure images of dusty cellars and hyphenated surnames, but most Assyrtiko peaks at 5 to 7 years, so "some age" isn't as daunting here as elsewhere. When talking about top producers like Argyros, Karamolegos, Sigalas, or Vassaltis, you're looking at noble wine, which needs similarly noble food.

The first match Greeks would recommend is roast or BBQ-ed fish, anything from bigger wild sea bass & sea bream (above the 1kg mark) to the kings of the Aegean, white grouper and dentex. As the last two are rarely available in the UK, you can think of other rich white fish, such as halibut or turbot. Dover sole cooked meunière is as close as I would get to something fried.

Stuffed roast squid also works wonderfully well (I do a version with bulgur and herbs, maybe a bit of onion or bell pepper if the fancy strikes me), as does roast octopus (popular in Greece served with a yellow split pea mash). Seafood risottos (e.g. with cuttlefish ink paste, with prawns, with langoustines) are all excellent matches, as is black spaghetti with scallops, a particularly good combination if you plan an Italian-style dinner for two with primo and secondo.

Finally, a pro tip: fine Assyrtiko that has just started to go (i.e. past peak, but still alive) is a brilliant match for sushi, especially sashimi.

Nykteri

This is a Santorini specialty, a rich and concentrated take on Assyrtiko, with much less (or no) salinity, which, to my palate, is more off-dry than dry. Most producers make one, but Santo’s is better value for money than most.

This is the rare take on Assyrtiko that is not so much at home in Greek cuisine as further afield. The mix of sweetness and acidity makes it a great match for many Asian dishes - think of what you would serve with premium off-dry Riesling, but better.

Assyrtiko from the Greek mainland and other Islands

Assyrtiko plantings have exploded the past decade all over the country, so speaking of a “mainland” style is a bit tricky, covering so many terroirs and so many styles. You can find anything from sparkling Assyrtiko (not entirely unlike an English sparkling wine), to orange/natural/resinated Assyrtiko, to heavy, intentionally oxidised Assyrtiko.

In broad-brush terms, mainland Assyrtiko is more fruity and less acidic, less unique but (much) gentler on the wallet. Anything you would serve with a fruitier Albariño, you could serve with most of those. They are also excellent with some classic salads, such as Niçoise or Chicken Caesar.

Assyrtiko from islands outside the Cyclades, like Crete or Chios, seems to hover somewhere between the Santorini and mainland styles, so it’s a good alternative if you find Santorini too intense or too expensive.

Assyrtiko/Malagousia blends

Very popular in Greece, though under-the-radar abroad, this is a blend where Malagousia is meant to provide the sweetness, while Assyrtiko contributes intensity and structure. The result is offer sweet and sour, which I confess rarely works for me, but everyone else seems to like it. Gerovassiliou's Estate white is the originator of the blend, and still the leading example of the style.

To my mind, this style is an ideal aperitif, while I have also enjoyed it with some fruit with a bit of acidity (think under-ripe peaches or nectarines). People seem to be happy with it with watermelon and feta salads and I can see that working, but as I don't eat watermelon with feta, I’m unable to provide first-hand experience.

Interestingly, the most success I've had with this style foodwise, was a Japanese-inspired salmon-and-kale rice bowl, and I suspect anything down that direction would work too.

Vinsanto

Assyrtiko is responsible for one of the great sweet wines of the world, Vinsanto (not to be confused with Italy’s Vin Santo and Vino Santo). The best examples are a very serious affair (when I’m rich, I’ll organise a comparative tasting of Argyros 20yo Vinsanto against Chateau d’Yquem), so some walnuts or a small piece of high quality dark chocolate is more than enough. Young and simpler takes are a great match for caramel- or toffee-based desserts (sticky toffee pudding would be a treat), or some cakes (the Italian Torta della Nonna comes to mind). The mid-range (aged 6 to 8 years) is marvellous with the myriad baklava-style sweets, which I so adore, being sweet enough to match the syrup, but with an acidic kick that cleanses the palate – and into the next sweet I dive!

See also Peter's piece on Why Greek Wines go with more than just Greek Food

Assyrtiko and cold herb soup

Image credits:

Fried anchovies by Orlio at Shutterstock.com

View from Santorini by Santorines at shutterstock.com

The best food matches with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

The flavours of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - and this is why it is so popular - are powerful and aromatic: citrus, gooseberry and passionfruit in spades. So you if you're looking for a food match need big flavours on your plate to stand up to it.

Here are my top suggestions:

Asian-style seafood dishes - oysters, scallops, crab, clams, lobster, prawns - any shellfish with zingy flavours or a citrus or garlic marinade or dressing. (Big fat garlicky prawns - mmmm).

Thai food generally. A Thai green chicken curry or a Thai-style chicken salad is ace.

Grilled fish especially squid* or swordfish.

Dishes with herbs and greens - salmon with dill, for instance, but great with recipes that contain basil, coriander, rocket and especially mint.

Salads with goats cheese and feta, asparagus, avocado or grilled red peppers, fresh tomato salads or salads with fennel, mango or papaya. (A great suggestion from Canadian wine pairing expert Francois Chartier: add a tabbouleh to a salad selection to show off a sauvignon blanc.)

Other good matches (though I personally prefer a less assertive style of sauvignon with them) include smoked salmon, fish and chips and oily fish such as mackerel and sardines.

Dishes that don't work so well are ones with creamy sauces or cooked tomato or, more obviously, meaty dishes with gravy or dark savoury sauces

* Basically if you see big flavoured fusion dishes like these (from Peter Gordon’s Kopapa, which has sadly now closed) reach for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc:

Deep-fried sesame Urfa chilli salted squid, sumac aïoli, caramelised peanuts & cucumber

Fregola, chorizo & lemon stuffed squid, avocado puree, white radicchio, caper & mustard slaw, chervil vinaigrette

Some great food pairings for tequila

Despite the recent increase in interest in Mexican street food like tacos consumers in the UK still have to take to tequila (maybe because they’re too busy drinking gin) but in fact it’s an attractive and versatile spirit to pair with food

The style you’re most likely to come across is silver tequila, the type that’s most often used in a margarita, but you may also come across reposado tequilas which are aged in wood and anejo, older tequilas which are ideal for after-dinner drinking. (Think of them like rum: Silver is like white rum with a herbal twist, reposado like a golden rum and anejo like an aged sipping rum).

Obviously the natural starting point is Mexican food but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t drink tequila with other cuisines such as Latin American, Caribbean and newly fashionable African.

Here are the type of dishes that I think work best

Tacos
The street food of 2017, especially fish tacos which with a white or silver tequila. Try a reposado if you’re eating meatier tacos like pork

Raw fish
Particularly ceviche and punchily seasoned fish tartares but there's no reason why you shouldn’t try a silver tequila with sushi or sashimi

Grilled seafood like squid or prawns
Especially with garlic or a touch of chilli. Silver, again

A wide range of vegetables especially asparagus, green peppers and tomatillos (silver) and corn (reposado) Also avocado which of course is technically a fruit but counts as a veg in my book - guacamole being the obvious option

Recipes with fresh herbs especially coriander
Again this appears regularly in Mexican food but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t sip a silver tequila with Indian street food like samosas or puris and green chutney. It should go with middle eastern grills and salads too.

Recipes with citrus especially lime and orange
Citrus works particularly well with the flavour of agave (the plant from which tequila is made)

Pork
Pulled, grilled, served with corn (like posole) - all good with a reposado. Think also empanadas with a pork filling

Steak
You can partner a good steak or burger with a reposado or an anejo. Even fajitas though I probably wouldnt drink anything tooo fancy with them.

Chocolate
Like most aged spirits anejo tequila goes well with dark chocolate - or even milk chocolate if it’s Mexican which has a particularly delicious fudgy texture.

There's a useful longer article on pairing food with tequila here.

Six of the best drinks to pair with tacos

Image © anaumenko @fotolia.com