Prawn pairing! Chorizo challenge!
A reader’s request for wine advice, and my #1 pairing principle
Every person has a role in their friendship group: you might be the one who has that essential list of plumbers, electricians and handymen. You might be the one people go to for dating advice. As for me, my role is restaurant recommendations and wine advice. It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it. Recently, a friend (who also reads this Substack) texted me with a wine pairing dilemma. She was making this dish of garlic prawns with chorizo in an extra virgin olive oil dressing, and she was looking for a bottle at a mid-range (€10-20) price point. Wine-wise, it’s an interesting conundrum because you’ve got some fairly delicate seafood and some fairly gutsy sausage, so finding a wine that works with both was a challenge both juicy and intimidating in equal measure. (As you can tell, I rather enjoy my role in the friendship group.)
When it comes to pairing wine with food, there are three basic principles:
To start with, break down the dish into its constituent flavour components. In this case, there’s going to be ocean-spray saltiness from the prawns, warm spices from the chorizo, and grassy richness from the olive oil.
A wine’s job can be to contrast with a particular flavour – which is what people mean when they say a wine “cuts through” the fat in a dish…
But it can also enhance a particular flavour – serving a spicy red wine with spicy food, for example, will bring out the chilli heat in both.
Bearing all this in mind, there’s more than one way to skin a cat (or pair a wine). Out of the three main ingredients on the plate, the prawns are the most likely to get “lost” – so I’d recommend a wine that brings out the delicacy of the shellfish while tempering the spice and oil. That said, the wine also needs to have enough body to hold its own among some feisty flavours.
A Sardinian Vermentino could fit the bill: the best examples have plenty of citrus fruit (imagine a spritz of lemon on those prawns – yum) with a mineral salinity that would also bring out the ocean flavour, backed up by a slightly oily, full-bodied texture that would stand up to the sauce. A Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc could also do the job, with its contrastingly bright acidity – and its slight grassiness would mesh with the parsley, garlic and olive oil.
I’m also a big fan of darker rosés when it comes to food pairings. Swapping out pure citrus for some red fruits would bring out the warmth of the chorizo and the natural sweetness of the shrimp. A different wine choice will alter the nuance of flavours, so if you have a few friends round you could try two different bottles and compare the result. There’s a good chance you won’t all agree on the best pairing!
Which brings me to my final principle: wine – and pairing wine with food – is a very, very subjective experience. And while there are some general guidelines that work in many cases, there are no hard and fast rules. If you’re eating lemon sole but you hate white wines and love a big Aussie Shiraz, go for it. Don’t let the Pairing Police scare you. At the end of the day, most people drink wine because it’s fun. And that’s my number one wine pairing principle: drink what you enjoy.
Where (else) to buy wines online
I’ve linked to a couple of suggestions in this article, but depending on where in the world you’re reading this you may or may not be able to get your hands on them. To help, here’s a list of reliable online wine store in the US, UK and Benelux (some are affiliate links, which means I make a small commission if you place an order having clicked on them):
Total Wine – US
One Stop Wine Shop – US
Wine on Sale – US
Majestic – UK
Virgin Wines – UK
Naked Wines – UK and US
Colaris – Netherlands
Decántalo – Netherlands
8Wines – Netherlands and Belgium
Do you have a pairing problem? A drinking dilemma? If there’s anything wine-related you’d like me to cover in this newsletter, please leave a comment and let me know!
It always makes such good sense when you write about pairings, I hope to someday be able to think of it myself! Thank you for the great advice and solid reasoning behind it!