5 Easy Pairings for Pinot Noir Lovers

Pinot Noir is right up there with our faves at the top of the Good Pair Days’ wine pops, with its red-berried fruitiness, savoury notes of forest floor and aromatic spice, gameyness and slinky texture. Pinot Noir is light in body but intense in flavour, plus it doesn’t stain your teeth on date night!

As a drink, it ticks all the boxes, whether as a standalone glass of wine at the end of a work day, or something to Netflix and chill with, but Pinot really comes into its own matched with food… so here are our ultimate five perfect prandial Pinot picks!

1. Duck--strawberry

Numero uno in the world of Pinot partnering is duck. Yes siree, duck has everything you want with a glass of Pinot: richness of flavour; a soft, juicy texture; fattiness that is cleaned up by Pinot’s natural acidity, and when it’s Peking duck, in particular, it has that crispy skin thing going on too that is the metaphorical cherry on top. And with a piece of that duck partnered with a baton of cucumber and a few strips of spring onion, dabbed with hoisin sauce and wrapped in a soft flour pancake in one hand, and a glass of Burgundy’s finest (or New Zealand’s, or Yarra Valley’s, or Tasmania’s, or Oregon’s… you get our drift) in the other, it will be like a meeting of heaven with another heavenly thing. Like a super-heaven. And you’ve died and gone to heaven. Indeed.

2. Mushroom Risotto--vegan

“Make room for the mushrooms”, sang a classic advertising jingle from a few years ago, and we wonder now if it was sponsored by the P-NAB (the Pinot Noir Advisory Board*), as these slippery suckers, certainly pack a punch when it comes to Pinot. Soft and textural, earthy and savoury, they are so complimentary to Pinot it’s ridiculous. Plus the fact that they’re a sponge for all the buttery, garlicky, herby and winey juices! Wild mushrooms like porcini or morels, or even simple portobellos sautéed with finely chopped onion and these sublime juices and stirred through silky arborio rice, then scattered with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and handed over with a large glass of Pinot, and you’ve had us right at P. (*we think we made that up…)

3. Chinese Roast Pork--racy

You have to hand it to the Chinese… so many Chinese dishes are Pinot-friendly, it’s like they were invented for each other. Peking duck, shiitake mushrooms, pippies in XO, steamed whole fish, and then the glory of pork! Whether juicy tender chunks of Chinese roast pork belly with crunchy crackling, or sweet slices of char siu BBQ pork, Pinot rises to the savoury challenge each time, with its fleshy fruit complementing the meat’s sweetness, its bright acidity refreshing the meat’s fatty elements, and the light tannins nestling up to the pork’s texture. ‘It’s a taste sensation!’, as they say, ‘round our parts.

4. Slow-braised Beef--cellar

Think winter and you’ll invariably have a meaty stew or casserole in your sights; chunks of lamb, beef or pork gently braised in red wine over many hours with shallots and root vegetables, for a meltingly tender dish sure to put a glow to your cheeks and a warm feeling in your belly. Beef Bourguignon, arguably France’s national dish, has its origins in the Middle Ages in Burgundy, the home of Pinot Noir; the wine’s light colour, soft red fruits, light-to-medium body and high acidity give freshness and zing to what is otherwise a rich and unctuous dish and has enough grunt to carry the texture of the beef and the smokiness of the bacon lardons. With a few buttery potatoes on the side, what more could you want on a cold winter’s day?

5. Roast Salmon--lavender

Who was it that said you couldn’t drink red wine with fish? We don’t agree! A perfectly pink fillet of just-cooked salmon, roasted - or BBQ’d, grilled or pan-fried for that matter - slightly charred on the outside and blushingly succulent in the middle simply begs for a silky, light-bodied and fruit-driven glass of Pinot to accompany. Texturally harmonious and simply gorgeous. Try it for yourself!

About the Author

Melissa Moore is a perpetual student of wine (currently WSET Diploma) and competition-winning sommelier. She has a sharp palate for both wine (duh) and sandwiches, enhanced only when blaring loud dance music.