If you are faced with a difficult choice: which wine to pair with meat, then this article is for you.
First, the simplest rule: red wine only!
Firstly, you definitely can’t go wrong this way. Secondly, don’t listen to all this talk about Chardonnay, which allegedly also goes well with meat (yes, such a statement can be found). The machinations of PR people, nothing more.
But red is different from red, so let’s try to take a closer look at which red wine to choose with which type of meat.
Here the varieties of grapes from which the wine is made play a major role.
Steak
There are many types of steaks, and each of them has its own wine, but in most cases it is Bordeaux. True, not everything is so simple.
If you have a marbled beef steak in front of you, then Brodeur should be younger than 15 years, and if it’s Fillet and Chateaubriand, then it’s the same wine, but older than the same 15 years.
This is not the only option for steaks. Super Tuscan wines, California Cabernet, Chilean or Argentine wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere or Malbec are also suitable for marbled beef.
And for Fillet and Chateaubriand, choose Burgundy or New Zealand Pinot Noir, or Australian Shiraz.
Practical advice
- If you're serving cold cuts or grilled sausages for dinner, choose a rosé semi-dry, such as Beaujolais.
On a note! It is worth knowing that young rose wine is made and tasted only in October.
- Complement chicken pates with red or white dry, and beef pate will be combined with red fortified.
- It is better to drink a rare steak with tart dry red wine. Tender ham served with light reds.
- Pink or white dry ones with fruity notes are suitable for grilled meats. These wines will highlight and complement the delicate and juicy taste of the appetizer at the same time.
- It is better to combine lamb with a mature, but not too rich drink. It should be quite simple in taste, since the lamb itself is quite specific, but it also absorbs all the flavors of the sauce and seasonings.
- Wine for game should be chosen carefully, as it can often be a bit dry. In restaurants, game is often served with berry sauces. Given this, it is better to order a light wine, for example, Licuria Riesling, which is perfect with wild duck or wild boar. With partridge, try a fruity wine with a rich taste and low strength.
- Red fruit wines go well with sweet sauces. Try green sauces with light alcohol, such as Monastrell. Tomato-based sauces will harmonize perfectly with Merlot or Bardolino. Serve shiraz or cabernet sauvignon with white sauces.
When buying this or that wine for meat, consider the basic rules of combination. But also try your own variations. Perhaps, despite the subtleties and nuances, you will discover a bold combination that is right for you.
Pork
Pork is quite a versatile meat. It can be served dried or cooked quite fatty. Therefore, it is difficult to give any specific advice regarding wine, and it is virtually impossible to describe all the dishes. But there are still general recommendations for choosing wine.
What is absolutely certain: wines served with pork should have good acidity. Tuscan wines from Sangiovese or Super Tuscan fully meet this requirement. For example, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the well-known Chianti.
Poultry meat
We are talking specifically about poultry meat, so to speak, in its pure form. That is, not in stews or other mixed dishes.
Wines that are virtually tannin-free go best with poultry. For example, Zinfalder, a simple Pinot Noir from the new world.
And here we will contradict ourselves a little, since at the very beginning we categorically stated that with meat there is red and only red wine. But poultry is a slightly different meat, so sometimes it’s quite possible to pair it with white wine aged in a barrel. For example, French Sauvignon.
By the way, duck should be placed in a separate category, since its meat is fattier. You should pair the duck with a young red wine.
White wine for barbecue
The most obvious pairing for barbecue is red. But it's boring, especially if you don't like red or are just tired! White then?
We interviewed everyone we could interview (from sommeliers to winemakers, from bloggers to wine critics). Everyone was asked the same question: what white do you recommend for barbecue? We received many answers: from simple and understandable combinations to thoughtful gastronomic pairings, right down to marinade recipes.
Read, memorize, suggest your options!
Maxim Shchevtsov, enogastronomic expert of the Sikora Estate
Spring is a time of subtle tastes, innovations and exceptionally harmonious combinations. Want to treat yourself for the May holidays? Then we suggest you try our version of the perfect picnic! A glass of chilled Riesling, both as an aperitif and as the main wine accompaniment, will provide inspiration for preparing a juicy and tender turkey kebab marinated in fresh herbs! For even more flavor, pair the dish with grilled apple salsa, aromatic cilantro, citrus zest and a dash of chili.
Evgeniy Ergardt , Fanagorian brand ambassador
White wine and pork is a surprising option only to the inexperienced eye. We take a classic pork kebab, add a sweet and sour sauce (no ketchup!) and calmly choose the semi-dry “Author’s wine Platovsky - Riesling” or the dry aromatic “Author’s wine Chardonnay - Aligote”
Anton Obrezchikov , wine journalist
There is no need to reinvent the wheel - the best wine for barbecue was invented by the same people who invented barbecue - the Georgians. Accordingly, the best option is the Kakheti method, orange and others like them. However, you can also try white barrel Burgundy, if necessary.
Alexey Fabristov , wine blogger, author of the Pass The Wine channel about wine on You Tube
White wine for pork kebab, in my opinion, is a semi-dry, semi-sweet or sweet Riesling. A German winemaker once told me this, and at last year’s May festivals we even conducted such an experimental tasting of white wines with barbecue - Riesling is definitely a great choice! But to be honest, I can’t recommend white wine for beef or lamb shish kebab - although orange Georgian wine can be a very interesting option!
Sergey Nevsky , development director of the Yubileinaya winery
On the May holidays, traditionally, there will be a smoke of picnics and the variety of grilled dishes will break all records. We are used to: red meat, white fish. But rules are made to be broken! If you don't like red, drink white! I give this advice all year round and barbecue is a great opportunity to experiment! To pair with grilled fish, take white wines from the “Select” and “Autochthon” lines, Crystal and Perborn Magarach for lovers of smoother wines, Citron Tsyurupinsky and Viorica, for those who love bright organoleptics! In any case, they will support a couple of grilled fish with a fresh salad perfectly, the main thing is to cool them better! With meat, choose a thicker white, Blend #12 or Chardonnay Reserve. Dense, barrel whites can go well with lean meat, chicken or turkey on charcoal, the main thing here is to choose a white, neutral sauce and not to overcool these wines!
Dmitry Zhurkin , import director of LADOGA
It should be remembered that shish kebab is made not only from lamb, beef and pork, to which, of course, red wines are the best pairing. These also include dishes from poultry, fish, vegetables and even vegan kebab. For example, German semi-sweet Riesling is perfect for chicken or turkey marinated in sour cream and kiwi. Of all the abundance of wine pairings with fish over an open fire, my favorites are Spanish wines from the Verdejo or Godelho grape varieties. I would recommend serving grilled vegetables with rosé from the Rhone Valley or Provence. And for vegans, I would advise you to find natural dry Pet-Nat for barbecue made from tofu or soy meat.
Pavel Shvets , winemaker at Uppa Winery
There are white and red wines, but there are also orange wines. And if we’re not talking about red wine for barbecue, then it’s better to take orange. Ha ha ha!
Vsevolod Toponarov , sommelier, Jigger Drink
Regarding white wines: my favorite option is a confident Chardonnay from South Australia, New South Wales. Sardinian Vermentino and Friulano from northeast Italy will be good.
Igor Ershov , President of the All-Russian Wine Society "League of Sommelier"
First of all, these are orange wines that are so popular now! This is when wine is made from white grapes using red technology. It is dense and tannic - just right for the meat!
Vasily Raskov , Backhademia
The weather is perfect for barbecue (c). White with beef is, of course, a perversion, but point your finger at the person who doesn’t bring more convenient pork, a bunch of some sausages and sausages to the May picnic (just in case). And then everyone starts putting any food that comes to hand into the fire - bread, cheese, tomato, bell pepper. And here, fatty New World Chardonnay, not necessarily aged in oak, is absolutely irreplaceable. In general, the aroma in nature is secondary; anyway, those two glasses in the box that you, as a true wine geek, always carry with you, will not be enough for everyone; they will drink from plastic cups. More important is texture and richness. And yet - acidity, because sausages and pork are fat. Chardonnay is ok, Kokur is ok, Grillo-Inzolia is ok. And in any case, there will be a person who will say that no, this is not Marlboro. New Zealand Sauvignon is, excuse me, a must. He will beat off any picnic game retronasally. Well, for aesthetes - of course, sherry - Fino sherry, Manzanilla sherry, Amontillado sherry.
Take what you want.
Anton Syrnikov , Yayla brand ambassador
I'm interested in old wine. It is mostly red, but there are also white specimens. High-acid, full-bodied wine behaves well within 5 years. In terms of varieties, these are Riesling, Chardonnay, Fiano, you can take Chablis, Gavi 2013 showed itself very well. You can find Italian Fiano of the same age. Maybe even Jerez, but that's a slightly different story. The staleness and density of the wine is compensated by fresh air and it will not be drunk as quickly as the New World Sauvignon.
Yes, and take an Ikea glass.
Game
If you happen to try the meat of wild animals: wild boar, deer, buffalo, etc., remember that this is lean meat and often turns out tough and lean. Game is often served with wild berries, which gives it a lively taste. Burgundy wines made from Pinot Noir would be ideal for such meat.
All this applies to hot dishes, but for cold appetizers it is better to choose lighter wines, often young ones.
Of course, finding the perfect combination of meat and wine is not so easy, but it’s worth trying. In addition, the online store “WineStreet” has a large selection of a wide variety of red wines.
Wine “for meat” - selection rules
The biggest problem for a normal person is choosing a wine to go with food. Asking the advice of a wine expert you know is, in general, useless: they, the experts, have their own “problems.” He will start asking about the origin of the ingredients, seasonings, degree of frying, flambéing (did they do it or not?) and about a dozen other subtleties and nuances - which he simply needs for a qualified recommendation.
No, of course he is in his right: he asked a specialist - get a professional answer. But you just need wine to go with your meat! And not crocodile meat baked with cheese, but with a normal steak, stewed lamb or pork chop. And so that the wine also goes well with raw smoked sausage and other snack delights languidly spread out on the plates.
And it is equally important that the cost of this wine does not cause an attack of amphibian asphyxia (the toad did not strangle), but is acceptable to the mind and not too devastating for the wallet. There is a way out of this problem, as they say, but “in the other direction.” You should not empirically search for “that same wine” by buying dozens of bottles from different countries: it is expensive and ineffective. In a restaurant, it is better to contact a sommelier - a person who receives money for this, and considerable money at that. And when choosing wine yourself, you should use a few simple rules.
Rule one: drink wine with food – and not the other way around. Therefore, do not try to buy wine aged for many years: it is of interest in itself, thanks to its subtle aroma, exquisite taste and long aftertaste. And the seasonings in the dish will “muffle” these subtle nuances. In addition, the cost of such wines is very considerable due to their aging, which gives them their subtlety. Rule two: wine should not interrupt the taste of the dish. So you shouldn’t take rich, dense, tannic wines. Wine should highlight the taste of what you are eating, and not “compete” with the dish. In addition, it is worth remembering that a long aftertaste is not always good. For lunch or dinner, it is better to take wines with a medium or short aftertaste.
Rule three: “Red goes with meat, white goes with fish” was not born out of nowhere. Wine should taste like food. For example, there is a grape variety called Gewürztraminer, the wine from which smells of roses. And if you take it with lamb, then consider that you just threw away your money... Red wines for the most part have shades of black currants, prunes - that is, “black” berries, which are often used in cooking to add a hint of sweetness to meat. Example: beef stew with prunes.
White wines, on the other hand, tend to have a noticeable acidity, freshness and minerality that highlight the flavors of the fish.
Rule four: choose blended wines. There are wines from one grape variety, and there are wines from several varieties: they are called blended. In them, winemakers compensate for the shortcomings of different grape varieties - for example, one variety is aromatic but tart, while another tastes great but smells not so good. It is the right combination of varieties that creates the bouquet and taste of wine. Rule five: do not chase foreign wines. Today in Russia (oddly enough), a lot of excellent wines are produced, competing on equal terms with the famous French and Italian ones.
There are also a number of good wines to accompany lunch or dinner. As an example, I’ll give Krasnodar wine “Licuria Reserve Red” from. It seems to have been created specifically “for meat”. Blended (it contains five different grape varieties), rich red-ruby color. The aroma has hints of red berries with dominant black currants. The taste is quite dense, rich with continued tones of red berries. The aftertaste is soft, emphasizing the taste of the dish.
