My 20 most searched for food and wine pairings

If you’re hitting this site for the first time you might be interested to know what other visitors have been looking for.

And the answer may surprise you. It did me!

Oddly there’s no steak or lamb, at this moment in time (September 2025) which have always been popular searches in the past, but I’ll be taking a rain check every so often to see how the rankings evolve.

In addition to the name of the dish, cuisine or wine there’s a link to a longer, in-depth post which will give you more options based on my many years of experience of matching food and wine. (The site will be 20 years old next year and, as I always emphasise these days, is run by a human not a bot!) 

To access them you simply need to sign up for a bundle of credits which start at just £6.

The top 10 food searches (in reverse order)

10. The best wine pairings for prawn or shrimp
Are you eating them in a cocktail or a curry or chucking them on the barbie? Makes a difference!

9. What’s the best wine pairing for tuna?
Depends whether it’s raw, seared or comes from a tin. Could be a red ….

8. Wines to match with different pasta sauces
It’s a basic rule of food and wine pairing that you match the sauce not the pasta shape. Does a carbonara need the same wine (generally a white) as a puttanesca (more likely a red)? It does not so search for your sauce!

7. The best wine pairings with Beef Wellington
The perfect foil for a serious red but which one? Explore more!

6. The best wine pairings with cheese fondue, raclette and tartiflette
I’d have expected these to score highly in midwinter but in early autumn! Still, who can resist melted cheese? (Just don’t drink a full-bodied red wine with it!)

5. 12 great wine pairings with salmon
Salmon has always been top of the pops in terms of searches as it’s such a versatile fish. Which wine to pair with it depends on whether it’s cold or hot, smoked or seared. Give some of these options a whirl.

4. 9 great wine pairings for duck
Again, a surprise. I’d have thought chicken would rank higher. Pinot Noir is the obvious answer but I’m offering 8 other options.

3. The best wine pairings for venison
Another shock. Not steak, not lamb, but venison. Similar pairings to beef actually though it’s a leaner meat. Find out more here.

2. The best wine pairings for lasagna
Who doesn’t love lasagne and there are so many different options these days including this smoked salmon and spinach lasagne which is one of my favourites and goes with a white rather than a red

And at no 1 What wine to drink with curry 
Maybe you’re a beer drinker but wine goes with curry too and it seems you all want to know which one. Depends on the curry as you’ll see from this post and this one too which many of you have been clicking on.

The top 10 wine searches (in reverse order)

Again a surprise. No sauvignon. No chardonnay. No malbec. No shiraz. Maybe you all know what to pair with those - or maybe you’re experimenting more!

10. The best food pairings for orange wines
An indication of the growing interest in orange wines - and maybe a lack of knowledge about what to drink with them. Tip: start with middle-eastern food but you’d be surprised just how versatile they are.

9. The best food pairings for dry - or off-dry - riesling
Very happy to see this here as riesling is still such an underrated wine. But if you’re cooking or ordering south-east Asian food it’s a pretty safe bet. There are other pairings too though.

8. The best food pairings for Rioja (by which I mean red rioja)
Who doesn’t love rioja? It’s one of the most versatile reds and of course a go-to with Spanish food. Check out what else it goes with.

7. Pairing food and Chablis 
Another classic. A super-versatile wine we don’t talk about much these days. Great with oysters but with so much else.

6. Which foods pair best with merlot?
Merlot sales took a massive dive after the hit film Sideways but it’s such a smooth crowd-pleaser it’s never going to be totally out of favour. And it goes with so many foods including Beef Wellington (see above)

5. The best food pairings for Chianti and other Tuscan Sangiovese
No self-respecting Italian would dream of drinking Chianti without food and nor should you. Tuscan food is its natural register - you could build a whole meal round different vintages.

4. The best food pairings for Cabernet Franc
Surprisingly it’s cabernet franc rather than cabernet sauvignon that’s made the top 10 wine searches. Maybe you all know what to pair with Cab Sauv? With Cab Franc it depends where it comes from - the Loire producing lighter reds that are even fish-friendly

3. The best food pairings for rosé
You might automatically think salads and other summer food but rosé is a year round choice these days so check out what other types of food it goes with.

2. The best food pairings for Sauternes 
Well, here’s a surprise! Some of you have obviously been having an indulgent summer enjoying it with your summer fruits but there are other interesting pairings too.

And at no. 1. Top food matches for Beaujolais and other gamay
And it isn’t even Beaujolais Nouveau day! However it’s the perfect light red to enjoy with summer grills and charcuterie. Check out other pairings by clicking the link above.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of other pairings! What are you looking for that you haven’t found on this list?