Top pairings | My favourite food pairings with Viognier

Pairings | Korma

My favourite food pairings with Viognier

Viognier (pronounced vee-on-yee-ay) is a rich, exotically fruity white wine, sometimes achieving quite high levels of alcohol so what are the ideal foods to pair with it?

It generally goes well with the sort of ingredients and dishes that match well with chardonnay and oaked chenin blancs but with a spicier twist.

Viognier wine pairings

* Top of my list would be mild creamy curries like kormas or spicy south-east Asian curries. Even curries made with curry powder work well as do spicy dishes with a hint of peach or apricot, echoing the flavours in the wine

* mild spicy noodle dishes like Pad Thai

* chicken salads with apricot, peach or mango like coronation chicken

* fruity chicken - and even lamb - tagines with apricot

* dishes with ginger, saffron and coconut

* chicken, pork or rabbit with creamy sauces, especially if the dish includes a dash of viognier itself like this springlike dish. More intensely flavoured viogniers can stand up to roast pork, chicken and turkey

* Rich shellfish dishes such as seared scallops, grilled lobster and baked crab, especially with a hint of spice

* creamy and buttery cheeses

* sweet root vegetables especially carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes and spicy butternut squash

Note: Viognier’s original home is in the Rhône though oddly I don’t think it’s a great pairing for Mediterranean food. You also find great viogniers in California and Australia whose most noted specialist is Yalumba.

Viognier is also incorporated into rich white blends that would match similar dishes to the above (see this match of the week for example) - and also blended with Syrah/Shiraz though those would call for quite a different pairing

Image copyright BBA Photography at shutterstock.com

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Comments: 2 (Add)

Fiona Beckett on August 17 2021 at 21:55

I did a big round-up for Decanter not so long ago which you might find useful https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/my-top-20-viognier-wines-beyond-the-rho%CC%82ne-451830/

Nick Brett on August 17 2021 at 17:16

Was also hoping you would point us towards some of the best Viognier about at the moment?

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