Pairing wine and artichokes

Artichokes have long been labelled as a “wine-killer,” but is that reputation truly deserved? While it’s true that artichokes can make even the driest white wines taste unexpectedly sweet, this challenge is often exaggerated.

The key lies in understanding how artichokes are prepared and served. By understanding the basics of pairing wine and artichokes, you can transform this tricky vegetable into perfectly good match for your favourite wines.

Take, for example, the innovative approach of Simi Winery in California. They’ve found that chargrilling artichokes and serving them with garlic mayonnaise makes for a perfect match with their Sauvignon Blanc. This technique, along with serving artichokes raw or paired with rare meats, can help mitigate the sweetening effect that artichokes often have on wine.

Similarly, in Venice and across northern Italy, artichokes are often incorporated into creamy risottos, which pair beautifully with wines like Soave or Bianco di Custoza.

In France, braised artichokes are a common accompaniment to fish and meat dishes, such as cod or veal, often prepared à la barigoule. This robust preparation can even be paired with a medium-bodied dry red wine like Marcillac. The secret? Balancing the artichoke’s flavour with other ingredients on the plate.

How to Pair Wine with Artichokes

A palate coating ingredient such as olive oil, butter or an egg or butter-based sauce such as hollandaise will mitigate its effects. If you’re dressing them with an oil-based dressing adding a little finely grated lemon peel seems to help.

Artichokes always have an influence on a wine choice but that doesn’t necessarily mean they need dictate it, simply modify it. With a spring vegetable risotto that contained artichokes for instance you could still go for a dry white but one with a more rustic flavour than you might have otherwise done such as a Verdicchio, Vermentino or white Grenache-based blend from the south of France. Adding wine-friendly grated parmesan or parmesan shavings will assist the match

Rosés, Reds, and the Unexpected Matches

Strong dry rosés such as Tavel are also a reasonable match for artichokes as are light dry French (Loire) or Italian reds. Reds with marked acidity seem to work much better than those with tannins or an overtly fruity character although I was impressed by the daring pairing of a hearty Zinfandel with a pasta dish in Evan and Joyce Goldstein’s Perfect Pairings. (Note though that the dish also included pancetta, mushrooms and peas).

Oddly near-raw grilled artichokes or slow braised ones seem to be easier than boiled artichokes. There’s something in the boiling process - and maybe the traditional accompanying vinaigrette - that exacerbates the problem. Chilled manzanilla is about the only wine I know that can cope with this style of preparation (although I’ve just tried a limited edition Tio Pepe en Rama fino that was stunningly good FB 31/8/10)

If all else fails - you want to enjoy artichokes and drink good wine and are not too concerned about the match - fall back on those food-friendly favourites unoaked young Chablis, Albariño, Grüner Veltliner and non-dosage or ultra-brut Champagne.

Can red wine pair with artichokes? 

Everyone knows that artichokes are one of the most difficult ingredients to match with wine - especially with red wine. 

But one evening my late husband who was cooking served up that most difficult of dishes - artichokes vinaigrette (boiled artichokes with vinaigrette) and cracked open a bottle of red wine.

I thought he was mad but astonishingly the pairing worked.

The wine was a full-bodied (14%) Bordeaux blend called Quela* from a producer called Klinec in Brda, Slovenia. It was a biodynamic wine, made with indigenous yeasts from organic grapes (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) and aged for two years in cherry casks with the minimum of added sulphur (25mg). It had a really bright fruit character (bitter cherry and wild bramble) and must have been totally dry as neither the artichoke or the vinaigrette had any impact on it at all. It just stayed intense and vivid.

Would it work with other wines, other Bordeaux blends? Maybe not younger ones - this bottle was from the 2007 vintage - but who knows? Maybe we’re more scared of artichokes than we should be.

Maybe natural wines - and Cabernet Franc in particular - are the answer - provided they’re to your taste, of course. Certainly you need a wine with fresh acidity and not too much tannin. Well worth trying anyway!

By the way, for what it’s worth, it was a leaf day . . .

Anyone else had success with red wine and artichokes?

If you found this post helpful and would like to support the website and keep it free for everyone to use it would be great if you could make a donation towards its running costs.

And for more hot tips and recommendations check out my Substack Eat This, Drink That, Live Well.

You may also enjoy …

Montes Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2012Sparkling wine and spicy snacksCheese soufflé and old Sauternes