Pumpkin Wine Pairing
Pumpkin Wine Pairing
We’ve been writing so much about pumpkin beers and pumpkin wines that we thought that we should go ahead and write a little about pairing pumpkin dishes with wines. There are a few dishes involving pumpkins that require a good pumpkin wine pairing: pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, and pumpkin pie. It’s a topic that quite a few wine experts and consumers have written about in recent years. So here are a few of their ideas:
Pumpkin Soup / Stew
Pinot Gris from Alsace, Oregon or New Zealand.
Pair curried pumpkin soup with a red wine such as Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, or Chianti.
Sherry.
Beef and Pumpkin Stew – Malbec.
Chardonnay, Viognier or Gewuztraminer.
Pumpkin Ravioli
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We recommend either a pinot noir or a chardonnay. The pinot has the acidity to handle a tomato sauce, and the chardonnay will pair perfectly with a creamy dish.
Pumpkin Risotto
With Risotto, try a high acidity or sparkling wine to pair with this rice dish.
California chardonnay if the rissoto is cheese heavy, an Alsatian white if it is lighter. Or
sauvignon blanc.
Pumpkin Pie
Pedro Ximenez, Cream Sherry, Late Harvest Reisling, Tawny Port or Chocolate Martini.
Sherry, Tokaji or Vin Santo.
Muscat
Madeira
Chenin Blanc, off-dry Reisling or Gewurtzraminer
For a pumpkin dessert with ginger, such as cheesecake, try a spicy wine like a Sauterne or SGN from Alsace or a Tokaji from Hungary.
For those who prefer liquor, pair it with Rum, Bourbon, or a Chocolate Martini. If you want to drink beer, don’t go with pumpkin ale. Go with a barley wine instead.
If you’ll be having other desserts on the table, here are a few other wines to go with dessert on Thanksgiving.
Now that you have read our roundup on what others have recommended, we thought we would leave you with this video from Kenmore with Jess Alieri of Wine Channel TV discussing pairing pumpkin dishes with wine.
Alieri recommends a Michael Schultz Napa Valley sauvignon blanc with crisp citrus and grapefruit aromas for pumpkin stew and a Nelson New Zealand off dry Riesling with ripe floral notes for pumpkin cornbread.