Pairings | Mint

What wine (or other drinks) should you pair with herbs?

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on May 8 2024 at 07:09

Do herbs ever have a strong enough influence on a dish to determine your wine pairing? Relatively rarely in my view. Only very herby sauces like pesto or salsa verde dominate a dish to such an extent that you need to choose a wine to accommodate them.

That said some herbs do tend to steer you in a certain direction and some wines, particularly sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc have a distinctly herbal character.

Some general pointers about pairing herbs and wine

*Soft herbs like basil, dill and tarragon tend to go better with white wine than ‘hard’ herbs like rosemary and thyme which are generally better with reds (the only exception to that is sage)

*Fresh herbs are more likely to go with white and rosé than dried herbs such as oregano or a classic Herbes de Provence. The exception is dried mint which is used quite widely in Greek cooking and tends to go just as well with a sharp lemony white as a red.

*Freshly picked herbs or herbs that are sold in bunches on market stalls and at greengrocers tend to have more flavour and therefore influence on a pairing than herbs that are sold in packets

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