The best winter warmer food and wine pairings
Our top food and wine matches to help you beat the cold this winter! Photo: Wine Selectors
With the great diversity on display in Australian wine and in this country’s rich food culture, there’s no shortage of fantastic food and wine matches to make your mouth water this winter.
With that in mind, we’ve gone through our recipe book to bring you our top winter warmer food and wine matches – so fire up the oven, get your glass ready, and prepare to savour these fine winter flavours.
If you love … light to medium-bodied whites like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino and pinot gris
Goats’ cheese pasta is a great match for lighter white wine styles. Photo: Wine Selectors
Bring a sparkle to any winter night with these fresh and zingy styles.
Their crunchy acidity and bright fruit flavours pair naturally with dishes containing white meat, vegetables and cheese, and balance the richness of pastry well.
Try a goats’ cheese pasta for a true winter flavour sensation.
If you love … medium to fuller-bodied whites like Fiano, Verdelho, Roussanne and Chardonnay
Medium to fuller-bodied whites are also ideal with tasting plates. Photo: Wine Selectors
Rich and textural, fuller-bodied white wines make for perfect winter wines.
Such varieties also have the generosity to pair well with dishes containing richer sauces, as well as creamy risotto, or any other winter dish with a full flavour profile – especially a roast chook.
If you love … light to medium-bodied reds like Pinot Noir, Nero d’Avola, Grenache and Merlot
Light to medium reds offer a wealth of food-matching possibilities. Photo: Wine Selectors
Who doesn’t love the earthy and spicy styles of lighter-bodied reds?
After all, they’re some of the most food-friendly wines around.
Perfect with mushroom or oily fish dishes, pasta, and hearty tomato-based soups, they make for a silken pairing that is more than the sum of its parts.
Our tip? You can’t beat a classic minestrone soup for a true winter flavour sensation.
If you love … medium to fuller-bodied reds like Shiraz, Tempranillo, Cabernet and Malbec
Bigger reds go best with roast, chargrilled or slow-cooked meat dishes. Photo: Wine Selectors
A classic winter feast is often about enjoying the biggest, richest flavours your larder can offer.
For meals like that, you can’t beat one of the bigger reds.
Reserve the richest wine styles for more robust and hearty dishes, especially if they’re roasted, chargrilled or slow-cooked – it will really enhance the ‘comfort food’ factor.
A sumptuous veal osso bucco, for instance, is a sure-fire winner.
If you love … sweet and fortified wines like Botrytis, late harvest Tawny and Muscat
Delicious, delectable, and indulgent, fortified and sweet wines aren’t just for afters – they also make the ideal aperitif and can make wonderful accompaniments to cheeses as well as a lot of pastry-based dishes.
There you have it – a list of winter warmers that ticks all those classic comfort food boxes.
Now … who’s hungry?
