Cracking the Code on the Toughest Food and Wine Pairings

There’s some truth to the idea that some foods are less amenable to wine than others. But we believe challenges are meant to be embraced; there is no such thing as a food that doesn’t go with a wine you love. Wine eventually washes the food out of your mouth anyway.

That being said, when you find the just-right flavor combination, it takes a meal to an entirely new level. So, while we all have taste preferences when it comes to food—and let’s not forget that wine is essentially food—we decided to look at some of the hardest ingredients to pair and find the wine styles (and specific bottles) that make them sing.

From artichokes and asparagus to chili pepper and, yes, chocolate (which is far harder to pair with wine than most think), we’ve solved the most “impossible” food and wine pairings known to gourmands.

The Best Wine for Artichokes: Grüner Veltliner

Artichokes contain a substance called cynarin, which manages to make wine taste alternately—and sometimes, bizarrely, simultaneously—sweet and metallic. A proposed solution is to give up on wine altogether, but what’s so bad about a little sweetness and a metal edge? Pick a wine that can swing with both, like Grüner Veltliner. It’s often made with a hint of residual sugar to round out its tart citrus and gooseberry notes, and its peppery and gravelly minerality don’t suffer from veering into overly metallic territory.

The Best Wine for Asparagus: California Chardonnay

The intense chlorophyll flavor of asparagus works on the plate but can clash in the glass. Like artichokes, it, too, can make wines taste metallic. Sauvignon Blanc is often mentioned as an option since it comes with its own powerfully “green” notes, but in practice it lays vegetal on vegetal for an unpleasant overall experience. Instead, think about what goes well with asparagus—namely, butter and lemon—and opt for a high-acid wine with a hint of oak, like a balanced California Chardonnay. Skip the oak bombs, but you shouldn’t be drinking unbalanced wines anyway. 

The Best Wine for Blue Cheese: Amarone della Valpolicella or Zinfandel

It’s not that it’s hard to pair wine and blue cheese; two of the wine world’s classic pairings, after all, are Port with Stilton and Sauternes with Roquefort. The salty-sweet combination works perfectly in both cases, and you could extend this to include any off-dry wine or even cider. Dry wines can work too. Look for plump fruit-forward reds that hint at sweetness despite being vinified dry, and preferably with a little spice to complement the cheese’s piquant flavors. For blues that tend toward sweet and fudgy, like Gorgonzola Dolce and Cambozola, an Amarone della Valpolicella, made from partially dried grapes, shows complementary dried fruit, chocolate, cinnamon and pepper. With sharper, spicier blues like Roquefort and Stilton, a jammy Zinfandel is terrific, boasting ripe berries, baking spices and a hint of cigar.

The Best Wine for Cabbages: Viognier

Cabbages and their cruciferous buddies like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and kale exude sulfurous compounds that can make even the freshest wines seem skunky. Oak can exacerbate the issue, and even high-acid wines—usually the solution to difficult pairings—can lack the softness they crave. Think about it: these vegetables want to be sautéed or roasted with butter or oil, and go beautifully with cheese. A fuller-bodied and lower-acid unoaked wine like Viognier can be magic here, with unexpected tropical and floral notes. 

The Best Wine for Chili Pepper: Warm-Climate Rosé

Riesling is, of course, one of the world’s great wines, but let’s free ourselves of the idea that the only solution to pairing wine with spicy food is an off-dry Riesling. Sugar and spice works best if there’s some sweetness in the dish as well, and hey, some people want a dry wine with their Thai food. The tannins in red wine can turn bitter in the presence of spicy chili. Instead, reach for warm-climate rosé, which has body and ripe fruit that feels mischievous rather than combative, like dipping fresh mango in Tajín.

The Best Wine for Chocolate: Ruby or Tawny Port

We’ve all seen the gushing wine-and-chocolate pairings that pop up on social media (and in grocery and wine shops) around Valentine’s Day (and Mother’s Day, and Easter and Christmas…). And yes, it would be great if your favorite wine was the perfect match for chocolate. Unfortunately, it’s likely not. Just as extra-añejo tequila isn’t the perfect chocolate match they’d like you to believe, things like alcohol, tannins, bitterness, acid and all the things we love in wine don’t always dovetail with sweet, rich chocolate confections. This is what Port was made for. No matter the style, it has its own chocolatey notes along with other chocolate-friendly flavors. The tannins of vintage port can be a little harsh with chocolate, but opt for ruby port if you love fruit and chocolate together, or tawny port if you’re partial to nuts, toffee and caramel. Pure pleasure. 

The Best Wine for Eggs: Pinot Noir 

Here the sulfur issue raises its stinky head again, complicated by the tension between the unctuous yolk and the lean white. Despite eggs loving buttery, lemony Hollandaise sauce, don’t reach for a buttery wine. The dish you want to reference is oeufs en meurette, which is kind of like boeuf Bourguignon with eggs instead of meat. The tannins in red wine cleanse the eggs’ richness so no sulfur comes through. While reds work best when the egg dish involves meat, a lighter-bodied red, like a young Pinot Noir, can bond with everything from a simple scramble to a bacony quiche. Oh, and Champagne—eggs always go with toast (and therefore Champagne’s signature toasty notes).

The Best Wine for Barbecue and Smoked Dishes: Txakoli or Vinho Verde

Just as vegetal-on-vegetal doesn’t work with asparagus, resist the recommendations to pair smoked foods with smoky wine, like the white wines Pouilly-Fumé or Alsatian Pinot Blanc, or reds like South African Pinotage or Syrah from the Northern Rhône. You wouldn’t put a smoky dressing on smoked salmon, after all. Think of how sharper condiments like mustard, pepper and vinegary coleslaw go so well with smoked dishes and you’ll get a sense of why gently effervescent, lower-alcohol wines like Txakoli and Vinho Verde work so well. Bright and refreshing, but without being harshly carbonated or boozy, they lift up any smoked dish, from fish and cheese to long-cooked barbecue. Txakoli tends toward the herbal, while Vinho Verde hits like a savory limeade.

The Best Wine for Vinaigrettes: Sauvignon Blanc

The first thing to do before opening the bottle is to make your vinaigrette more wine-friendly to begin with. Don’t make it too vinegar-heavy, and add a dollop of mayo, some minced herbs, a pinch of sugar or honey. You can’t get around needing a high-acid wine but you also need more personality than the sort of innocuously light and crisp porch-crusher whites that are easy fall-backs with vegetables. This is where Sauvignon Blanc shines. No matter where in the world it’s grown and vinified, it shows brisk acidity with a light to medium body and various herbs, but with fresh ripe fruit notes that can range from citrus and apple in cooler climates to deep tropical and melon notes in warmer regions. It always stands proudly with vinaigrettes.

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