How to Pair Wine with Chicken Wings

The link between chicken wings and football dates back to the very first Super Bowl in January 1967. The addictive finger food—which was first invented at Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, three years earlier—had been gaining traction in the bar scene, but it turned into a full-on sporting tradition after that first big game.

More than half a century later, for Super Bowl LVII, Americans are expected to consume a whopping 1.45 billion chicken wings. No doubt, most of those will be washed down with beer. We’re certainly not bashing that classic matchup, but we’d like to present an alternative for those who’d like to elevate their game day drinking experience. Why not reach for an expert-approved wine pairing this year?

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Whether you like your wings hot, barbecued, coated with garlic and Parmesan or any other way, there’s a bottle that can lift those drums and flats to an entirely new level. Read on for the best chicken wing and wine pairings, according to sommeliers.

Buffalo Wings

Equilibrium is key to pairing wine with Buffalo wings, which are often offered in various heat levels from mild to medium to hot.

“The goal is to have a balancing act between the butter in the sauce and the body in the wine [and between] sweet and spicy,” says Jordan Lynn Traylor, a certified sommelier, chef and wine consultant. It’s all [topped off with some nice acidity to keep the palate refreshed.”

Off-dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer are the ideal guests “when butter and hot sauce are having a party,” says Traylor. The hint of sweetness in these wines help to cool off the heat and spiciness. Plus, “they also have enough body and va-va-voom to stand up to this butter-based sauce,” she adds.

Sommelier Vanessa Price, the author of Big Macs & Burgundy: Wine Pairings for the Real World and founder of wine lifestyle platform The Vinum Collective, recommends off-dry Chenin Blanc. Like Traylor’s picks, the sugar in these wines helps to “soften the heat,” says Price. “The bright citrus will go tang for tang, and the backbone of Chenin—acidity!—will wipe that buttery sauce clean, leaving your mouth ready for the next swig and bite.”

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BBQ Wings

Whether it’s mustard- or vinegar-based, this regional-style sauce is so jam-packed with flavor, it requires a wine that can hold its own. Fortunately, there are a variety of styles that fit the bill.

“Barbecue is the holy grail of an amalgamation that requires a wine just as diverse,” says Price. “A rosato, also spelled rosado, offers that in spades. The hot pink styles at this end of the pink-drink spectrum have a body that is more medium to full, as opposed to the lighter styles of Provence, which is just what this hefty sauce needs to hold the line.”

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Dubose also believes that rosé is the perfect complement to barbecue wings—however, she prefers hers with bubbles. “It’s such a versatile and food-friendly style of wine and, depending on where in the world it’s coming from, there are plenty of options,” she says. “Bugey-Cerdon is a delicious option for a sweeter BBQ sauce.” The light-bodied, ancestral-method sparkling rosés from the western edge of the French Alps between the Jura and Savoie “complements the sweetness in the sauce perfectly,” she adds.

For those who prefer red wine with their barbecue, Dubose suggests a Gamay from Beaujolais. “This light- to medium-bodied wine that boasts red-fruit flavors is the perfect pairing option for BBQ wings,” she says. “Especially when it’s served with a slight chill.”

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Lemon Pepper Wings

Made with a dry rub of ground pepper, lemon zest and other seasonings, these snappy favorites are a perfect foil for bubbles. Most sparklers will pair wonderfully, but Dubose points specifically to Blanc de Blancs Champagne. “Champagne and fried chicken are one of my favorite pairings,” she says, and notes that this specific pairing is “a match made in heaven. This style of Champagne rounds out the tanginess of the wings while the citrus flavors complement each other beautifully.”

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Korean-Style Wings

These wings get their unique flavor from gochujang, a fermented chili paste that’s a staple in Korean cooking. It’s savory, sweet and a bit funky with medium spice (though spice levels vary between brands and recipes). These layers of flavors allow for a range of diverse pairing options.

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Sommelier Rebecca Phillips, co-owner of Buvette LA and Vintage Wine + Eats in Studio City, California, recommends accentuating the savory notes with a Syrah from France’s Northern Rhône. “It’s a little horsey and leathery and you get notes of umami, like soy sauce and beef jerky, in the wine,” she says. “When you match those notes with umami flavors, it becomes super dynamic—it’s a really good example of a matching pairing.”

On the other hand, for a contrasting pairing, Ryan Kraemer, lead sommelier of Majordomo in downtown Los Angeles, also proposes reaching for a bottle of Bugey-Cerdon, the French pét-nat-style sparkler made from Gamay and Poulsard. “The gentle sweetness and interwoven floral and fruity aromas and flavors will provide a nice counterbalance to the smoky, chili-driven spice of Korean-style wings,” he says.

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Garlic Parm Wings

A straightforward descriptor, garlic Parmesan wings combine garlic and Parmesan in a sauce with some kind of oil or butter. “It kind of gives me shrimp scampi vibes,” says Phillips, who suggests cutting through the richness of the sauce with a mineral-driven Chablis. “It’s still got a richness on the nose with white chalky, floral and citrus notes.”

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Mango Habanero

Though mango habanero salsas likely date back to pre-Columbian times, the sweet, spicy and slightly floral-scented sauce didn’t enter the canon of chicken wing condiments until about a decade ago. It blew up nationally right around the time that Wingstop added it to the menu. Given the obvious tropical flavors, Phillips’s go-to bottle would be an off-dry Riesling from the Mosel. “You get that sweet-tart vibe on the nose and a little residual sugar to balance the habanero,” she says. “We forget how many tropical fruit notes are in Riesling—it’s kind of like a fruit salad.”

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