Top pairings

The best wine pairings with beans
Pulses such as beans are a good friend to the vegetarian winelover - their rich, mealy texture provides a similar foil as meat to a hearty full-bodied red.
They are of course also served with meat in dishes such as cassoulet and fabada and also pop up in soups and salads.
In general I think reds work better than whites - bean dishes tend to be quite hearty and often spicy: as with pasta it depends more on the seasoning of the dish than the kind or shape of the bean.
Here are my suggested wine pairings for 10 of the most popular bean recipes taking account of the other dishes that usually accompany them (I’m excluding green beans here which rarely dictate a match on their own account.)
I wouldn’t say the wines you drink with them have to be grand (although if they're on the plate as a side as in lamb with flageolets - they could be*) so don’t fret too much.
A Pauillac, for example.
The 10 best wine pairings for beans
Chile con (or sin) carne
Any hearty fruity red works well with a chilli. Try a zinfandel or a malbec
6 of the best pairings for chilli con carne
Cassoulet
Cassoulet comes from south-west France so it makes sense to drink a wine from the region - my favourite is Marcillac but you could try a Madiran or almost any Languedoc red
6 of the best wine pairings with cassoulet
Fabada (image © Food Via Lenses)
A robust spicy pork and bean stew from northern Spain which includes chorizo and morcilla. I’d go for an inexpensive Rioja or Ribera del Duero with it but mencia would work well too.
Tuscan sausages with beans
A similar but less spicy dish from Tuscany that is just perfect with Chianti
The best food pairings for Chianti and other Tuscan sangiovese
Bean burgers
Less about the beans, more about the spicing, sauce and sides. I’d probably go for a slightly lighter red than I would with a meaty burger - say a medium bodied southern French red but a juicy red from almost anywhere would work. A good gamay? Absolutely
Six of the best pairings for a burger
Black bean soup
Quite like chilli con carne when it comes to wine although there are all the fancy toppings by way of sour cream, avo, coriander and lime to contend with which might make you inclined to drink a lighter, maybe Portuguese, red like a Dao. Honestly it’s more of a beer dish though. A really nice lager or a Negro Modelo would do it for me. (Here's the recipe if you fancy making it!)
Refried beans
Rarely served on their own so it’s much more about what you’d be inclined to drink with a Mexican or Tex Mex. Again I’m thinking beer but zinfandel would be a good bet or, if there’s chicken involved and bright flavours like lime and coriander on the plate, a fruity white like a sauvignon blanc. Refried beans are generally a side show.
Wine, beer and other pairings with Mexican food
Tonno e fagioli (tuna and bean salad)
I’d definitely go for a dry Italian white with this classic tuna and bean salad - something like a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
What’s the best match for tuna?
Mixed bean salad
Most likely to be part of a spread of other summery dishes so you’d be unlikely to go wrong with a rosé. On the other hand if you have a warm salad with a very assertive dressing like this purple sprouting broccoli with flageolet beans with preserved lemon mayo you might want a crisp white like an albarino.
Baked beans
A strong cup of black tea is by far and away the best option so far as I’m concerned but a fruity red like merlot would be fine. Bear in mind beans are quite sweet so could make a lighter, drier red taste a bit stripped out.

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

The best wine pairings for a Chinese-style stir-fry
A stir-fry is a great option for a quick midweek supper but what kind of wine should you drink with it?
Although seafood in a stir-fry may steer you to a white and beef to a red the key is more the type of sauce the stir fry is finished with - quite often sweet and sour - rather than the base ingredient. Even with sauce stir-fries tend to be quite fresh and crunchy so think in terms of light to medium-bodied wines with a touch of sweetness.
Here are my favourites:
Riesling and riesling blends
Off-dry riesling is generally the best all-rounder but riesling blends containing other aromatic grapes such as pinot gris and gewurztraminer work too
Torrontes from Argentina - an interesting alternative to riesling
Fruity Australian whites especially ones containing semillon and colombard
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - particularly with stir-fries that contain veggies like asparagus, peppers and mangetout
Fruity rosés from Portugal or Chile, for example - work well with sweet and sour and sweet chilli stir-fry sauces.
Fruity pinot noirs - work well with stir fries with duck or beef, especially if five spice or hoisin sauce is involved
See also Six versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast.
Image © jenifoto @fotolia.com

The best wine pairings with monkfish
Monkfish (or lotte, as the French call it) is a meaty fish that is often roasted so pairs equally well with red wine as with white. In fact a lightly chilled red wine would generally be my preferred match, particularly if it’s wrapped in pancetta or bacon
Wines to drink with roast monkfish
Pinot noir
I’d choose a pinot with some fresh acidity rather than too much sweet fruit so a pinot from Burgundy, Germany (where it’s known as spätburgunder), Sonoma, Oregon or the Marlborough region of New Zealand rather than Central Otago or Chile
Mencia
A fashionable red from the north of Spain that tastes a bit like a cross between pinot noir and Loire cabernet franc (which you could also drink)
A full-bodied oaked white wine such as a Douro white (there’s a good story about this one!) or an oaked white rioja.
Albarino
Again from Spain this fresh-tasting white is always a safe bet with seafood, and would be a good choice if the monkfish is served with a lemony sauce
Monkfish with Provençal flavours like tomatoes and saffron
Try a strong southern French rosé such as Bandol or a good Languedoc rosé
Monkfish in red wine sauce
I’d choose a more full-bodied red like a merlot
Image © Comugnero Silvana at fotolia.com

The best pairings with red burgundy
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
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!
See also
The best food pairings for pinot noir
9 fine pairings with white burgundy
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