Pairings | Beaujolais

9 great wine pairings for duck

9 great wine pairings for duck

There’s one wine that’s invariably recommended as a pairing for duck and that is pinot noir but of course duck, like any other meat, can be cooked in different ways. How does that affect the wine match?

8 great wine (and other) matches for roast chicken

8 great wine (and other) matches for roast chicken

Both red and white wine go with roast chicken so the key thing to focus on when picking a wine pairing is what flavourings you put with it and the sides you serve. These elements can vary widely depending on where you are in the world, but there’s no doubt that roast chicken has global appeal: 

Four favourite wine matches for coq au vin

Four favourite wine matches for coq au vin

Coq au vin (chicken in wine) is of course cooked in wine - usually red wine - so does that mean you should pair it with the wine you've used to cook it in?

What to pair with Beaujolais Nouveau (updated)

What to pair with Beaujolais Nouveau (updated)

With southern hemisphere wines from the 2024 vintage already hitting the shelves the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau has become less significant than it once used to be but it’s still a fun occasion to mark. 

The best wine pairings for steak tartare

The best wine pairings for steak tartare

Should you drink the same sort of full-bodied red wine with steak tartare - raw chopped beef - as you would with a grilled steak?

Six of the best wine pairings for roast or baked ham

Six of the best wine pairings for roast or baked ham

If you’re serving a ham or gammon as a roast this Thanksgiving or Christmas you need a more full-bodied wine with it than when you serve ham as a cold cut. Which one depends on the glaze.

Six of the best pairings for roast pork

Six of the best pairings for roast pork

If you’re wondering which wine to pair with roast pork the good news is it’s a flexible meat that can take a white or a red - or even - given the crackling, a sparkling wine.

10 good wine pairings with paté

10 good wine pairings with paté

By paté I’m thinking of what wines to drink with rough country patés and terrines like a paté de campagne rather than fish patés or vegetarian patés which I’ll tackle separately. The sort that you might take on a picnic or eat in a wine bar.

What type of wine pairs best with Vietnamese food?

What type of wine pairs best with Vietnamese food?

Sunday marked not only the start of the Chinese New Year but the Vietnamese New Year celebrations too - known as Tet. As in China there are certain foods which are traditional to the occasion such as pickled vegetables and candied fruits, none of which are particularly wine-friendly but in general I find Vietnamese food, with its milder heat and fragrant herbal flavours easier to match than Thai (although I haven’t had such extensive experience of doing so).

What to pair with Coronation chicken?

What to pair with Coronation chicken?

Coronation chicken is an obvious choice for any Royal occasion but what wine - or beer - should you pair with it?

Top wine pairings with goat cheese (chèvre)

Top wine pairings with goat cheese (chèvre)

Since goats cheese and Sauvignon Blanc are such a great match it might seem redundant to think of anything else but despite its reputation for being . . . well . . . goaty, goats cheese is easy to pair with other wines.

The best wine pairings with chicken Kyiv

The best wine pairings with chicken Kyiv

Chicken Kyiv - or Kiev - as it used to be known - is a much loved version of fried chicken that you can also easily buy off the supermarket shelf but what sort of wine should you pair with it?

The best wine and beer pairings for savoury pies

The best wine and beer pairings for savoury pies

We Brits don’t need much encouragement to eat pies—they’re a staple of comfort food culture. But when it comes to enjoying a drink with your pie, the question arises: which is the better match—wine or beer? The answer, as always, depends on the type of pie you’re talking about and the flavours it brings to the table.

Good wine pairings for Saint-Nectaire

Good wine pairings for Saint-Nectaire

Having spent a few days in the Auvergne recently and eaten more than my fair share of Saint Nectaire cheese with a variety of wines, mostly natural, here’s what I think works best.

6 versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast

6 versatile wine pairings for a Chinese New Year feast

Asking which wine is the best match for Chinese food is a bit like looking for the best match for European food - it in no way reflects the diversity of Chinese cuisine.

6 of the best drink pairings for Brie

6 of the best drink pairings for Brie

One of the world's most popular cheeses, Brie can be mild and slightly chalky or decadently gooey and quite strong in flavour. The best wine pairing for brie will depend on the maturity of the cheese. And wine isn't the only drink Brie works with. Here are my six favourites - feel free to share yours in the comments: 

5 wine and drink pairings for roast pork belly (updated)

5 wine and drink pairings for roast pork belly (updated)

Pork belly has become a cheap and popular main course so what should you drink with it? It depends how you cook it. but it doesn’t have to be wine . . .

 The best wines to pair with courgettes or zucchini

The best wines to pair with courgettes or zucchini

There’a a fair chance that if you grow courgettes - or zucchini - you’re eating more than your fair share of them at this time of year but what wine should you drink with them?

Charcuterie and Beaujolais

Charcuterie and Beaujolais

With the unseasonally warm weather showing no signs of a let-up it’s time to revisit the classic combination of French charcuterie and Beaujolais - perfect for picnics and other outdoor eating.

A great base to explore Beaujolais

A great base to explore Beaujolais

I’m embarrassed to admit that until last week I’d never been to Beaujolais - it was the one French wine region that had passed me by. I’d heard it was attractive and even on a bleak early March day it was - the famous villages are clustered improbably closely together in the middle of pretty, rolling countryside, spiked by soaring church towers.

Cod pot au feu and Beaujolais

Cod pot au feu and Beaujolais

Beaujolais cuisine is typical old-school bistro food - so it was no surprise to find on my recent trip that it sailed through the charcuterie, andouillette and oeufs en meurette. But I had rarely had it with fish so I found this pairing with a cod pot-au-feu at Georges Blanc’s brasserie Le Rouge et Le Blanc at the Hôtel lea Maritonnes particularly interesting.

Roast turkey and 2009 Beaujolais

Roast turkey and 2009 Beaujolais

We decided some time ago we were going to drink Beaujolais with our turkey in memory of the late Marcel Lapierre who very sadly died back in September. I thought his vibrant fruity 2009 Morgon would be ideal with the classic Christmas feast and so it proved to be, mirroring the tartness and fruitiness of the cranberry sauce.

Lamb tagine with dates, prunes and apricots and a very good Beaujolais

Lamb tagine with dates, prunes and apricots and a very good Beaujolais

Now here’s an unexpected match. I would be wary of pairing a Beaujolais - even a Morgon - with something as sweet as a lamb tagine with dried fruits thinking it would make the wine taste slightly sharp but the combination worked perfectly.

Steak tartare and Beaujolais

Steak tartare and Beaujolais

This was a wine pairing I hadn’t thought of putting together before but once experienced last week at Racine it seemed supremely logical.

Guineafowl with cherries and Beaujolais

Guineafowl with cherries and Beaujolais

I’ve been so busy catching up after my Alsace trip that I haven’t had much time for new food and wine discoveries but here’s one we had at Les Temps Changent in Chalons-en-Champagne, a hotel we frequently stop at to break the journey through France.

Sausage, Cep and Chestnut Galette

Sausage, Cep and Chestnut Galette

This recipe was created by my friend cookery writer Claire Thomson of 5 o’clock apron to celebrate the release of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau about which we’ve just made a reel which you can find on my instagram feed @food_writer.

Stichelton and onion quiche and Fleurie

Stichelton and onion quiche and Fleurie

A simple lunch of quiche from leftovers thrown together from the fridge turned into a feast with a glass of Claire and Fabien Chasselay's Fleurie La Chapelle des Bois, an organic Beaujolais from the excellent 2009 vintage.

Domaine Roc de Chateauxvieux Touraine Gamay

Domaine Roc de Chateauxvieux Touraine Gamay

If you like Beaujolais you’re going to love this 2019 Touraine gamay, from Domaine Roc de Chateauxvieux which has the same bright juicy happy-making fruit.

Domaine Chevalier-Métrat Côte de Brouilly Les Grillés 2020

Domaine Chevalier-Métrat Côte de Brouilly Les Grillés 2020

If you’re a Beaujolais fan - which I unequivocally am - you’re going to love this wine.

3 rose and 2 red wine bargains from Waitrose

3 rose and 2 red wine bargains from Waitrose

Waitrose isn’t perhaps the first place you’d think of looking for wine bargains but at their summer tasting this week I found three rosés which you might want to snap up before the current offer ends on Tuesday June 1st.

Matching wine and charcuterie - an experiment

Matching wine and charcuterie - an experiment

About the most daunting audience that anyone could face is a group of wine writers, especially if a number of those happen to specialise in food and wine matching so it was with some trepidation that I agreed to lead a tasting on wine and charcuterie in London on Monday night on the eve of the London International Wine Fair.

Pork and pistachio terrine and old vine Brouilly

Pork and pistachio terrine and old vine Brouilly

This isn’t the first time I’ve remarked how well Beaujolais pairs with a terrine but sometimes it’s worth being reminded what really, really works. And both were particularly good in this case - as indeed you’d expect at one of London’s best wine bars, Noble Rot.

British pepper salami and Morgon

British pepper salami and Morgon

Usually this feature focusses on less familiar wine pairings but sometimes you can’t beat a tried and trusted combination.

5 wines to buy from Lidl’s latest wine tour (August 2021)

5 wines to buy from Lidl’s latest wine tour (August 2021)

Lidl has just released its latest limited release ‘wine tour’ selection. As I’ve mentioned before these aren’t quite the bargains they once were - only one is under £7 - but they all represent decent value for money, especially if you’re a fan of French wine.

Thanksgiving turkey with a special Italian stuffing

Thanksgiving turkey with a special Italian stuffing

If you haven't yet decided how to cook your Thanksgiving turkey try this fabulous Italian stuffing from ex-pat American food and wine writer Brian St Pierre.

Pork rillettes with fennel

Pork rillettes with fennel

Like many of the best recipes this came about by accident. I bought a box of free-range organic pork and didn’t have enough room for it all in the freezer so left out 4 thick slices of pork belly ...

Navarin of lamb

Navarin of lamb

I made this simple, classic French one-pot meal down in the Languedoc in April last year - proof that a stew hits the spot at what can still be a chilly time of year.

Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber

A simple but spectacular Japanese-style dish from Diana Henry's marvellous new book A Change of Appetite which I've also reviewed on the site here.

Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie

Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie

If you fancy a cooking project this weekend Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie from his new book Outside would be perfect.

Duckstrami

Duckstrami

Last weekend our cooking group cooked up an American barbecue of which this brilliant recipe from the Hang Fire Cookbook was the standout dish so I really wanted to share it with you.

What to drink with the turkey leftovers

What to drink with the turkey leftovers

The answer to the question of what to drink with the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey leftovers might well be ‘whatever wine’s left over’ - if there is any, of course - but if you’re looking for a wine or other drink to match specific dishes here are a few ideas.

Epoisses and marc de Bourgogne

Epoisses and marc de Bourgogne

Epoisses has to be one of the most difficult cheeses to match, not least when it gets to the almost liquid stage shown in this photo (a stage too far IMHO)

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