What to drink with a roast meal?
By Dave Anning
Traditional wine pairings for roasts are solid choices, but times and fashions change - the ‘rules’ about red meat/red wine and white meat/white wine have blurred and vegetarian/vegan meals have introduced new flavours.
For food and wine to enhance one another they should match in terms of weight and flavour, so consider the strongest flavour on the plate. If it’s a sauce, match the wine with the sauce! Consider two plates of chicken and pasta. One has a rich tomato and garlic sauce, the other a creamy cheese sauce - match the wine to the sauce, not the chicken!
Rich, succulent lamb is the Easter favourite. A crispy outer coating, garlic and rosemary - this needs a robust bottle. Classics like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah (Shiraz if you’re an Aussie!) won’t let you down, but I’d suggest a Crianza or Reserva Rioja. These wines spend six months or a year respectively in oak barrels, adding spicy flavours to the natural dark fruit flavours. Don’t get confused with Gran Reserva, which is very complex and better suited to seriously hearty foods like game.
Vegan and vegetarian roasts offer enormously varied flavours so I’m going to consider a nut-based roast. Rare but worth seeking out are appassimento white wines from Italy. Some of the grapes are dried to intensify the flavours, and the result is rich, nutty and complex. Red wine fans could consider Cotes du Rhone, with its spicy and herbaceous notes and robust character.
Beef is expensive, so do it proud! Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and claret blends are favourites, but can be dear. Fortunately there are tremendous examples from the New World (eg South America, South Africa and the USA). Chile is an excellent choice, producing sophisticated and weighty Cabernet Sauvignons that are superb value.
With chicken of the much flavour is in the skin and gravy. Generally white wine goes well, but light reds like Pinot Noir and Gamay (aka Beaujolais) can also please. Burgundy-style Chardonnay is the classic pairing but good Chardonnay grows worldwide - again look for a little oak to add texture and body. Viognier is also a good option, being full-bodied with distinctive notes of peach and honeysuckle.
The key to roast pork is crackling - highly flavoursome fat! You can go red or white - robust rose will work too - but I’d like to finish by encouraging you to try something different. Nerello Mascalese is little-known, but could have been made for pork. From the slopes of Mount Etna this has the best qualities of Pinot Noir and Sangiovese - enough acid to cope with crackling and bags of fruit to envelop the meat. Plus - I always like to review something that nobody can spell!