Gazpacho: an impossible food-wine pairing?!?
Soon enough, and barring a worsening of the blight, ripe local tomatoes will be flooding greenmarkets around the country–if they aren’t already. Which always puts me in the mood for gazpacho!
So easy to make and so fresh: Some tomatoes, a cucumber, a little red onion, a garlic clove, some vinegar…Mmm!
But tomatoes have high acidity and vinegar is wine gone bad, which is always hard to pair with good wine.
Which wine would you pair with a bowl of gazpacho? Or is it…impossible?!?
Aug
4
2009
On August 4th, 2009 at 9:07 am ,Doug Smith wrote:
Gazpacho and salmorejo (a thicker variant one finds in Córdoba) go very well with Fino and Manzanilla Sherries.
On August 4th, 2009 at 9:35 am ,Roberto N. wrote:
As it’s been said: Sherries, or for a different one, Malamado Extra Dry, from The Zuccardi Family
On August 4th, 2009 at 9:42 am ,Leslie wrote:
Rioja Rose was perfect.
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:07 am ,Tom wrote:
I love pairing with sherry, especially if the Gazpacho include sherry in the recipe. Txakoli is another great pairing….
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:08 am ,Andrea wrote:
Rose all the way.
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am ,Doug Hall wrote:
Have done good dry rose’s many times ,with good results.muga worked well,but my fav’s have been from Provence.Hope this helps….
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:25 am ,Cindy wrote:
It would depend on how garlicky and/or peppery the recipe was, but I would lean toward a white blend with a soft, but not sweet, finish. Sokol Blosser (Oregon) makes a blend of nine grapes branded as Evolution that I think might work well. Another option: a white Bordeaux.
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am ,Thomas P. Offner wrote:
Try a dry and light Grüner Veltliner. It adds a bit of pepper to your meal!
Best wishes, Tom
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am ,Rosa Maria Gonzalez wrote:
Sherry. A fino or a manzanilla. Sherry is one of the very few wines that can overcome salt and vinegar.
On August 4th, 2009 at 10:41 am ,Damien wrote:
Dry rose is delicious, but well documented here. Another option is Riesling Spatlese Trocken – a wine that has weight from being harvested later and crisp acidity is perfect.
On August 4th, 2009 at 12:29 pm ,Laurie wrote:
Score another vote for rose (especially a Spanish garnacha rose), but because I often make gazpacho a complete summer meal by topping it with a couple of seared sea scallops, I’m thinking I might try the Evolution reccommendation! Cheers!
On August 4th, 2009 at 3:33 pm ,Tim Eustis wrote:
Really fat gruner,
Gruner Veltliner Lamm,
Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg, Lamm Vineyard, 06 or 07.
That would be very nice.
On August 4th, 2009 at 4:48 pm ,Brian Mitchell wrote:
The Feudi di San Grgegorio Fiano worked quite well with my gazpacho last night. The Dievole Nero d’Avola Pinocchio was quite tasty with it, as well.
On August 4th, 2009 at 4:49 pm ,Brian Mitchell wrote:
Gregorio (sorry)
On August 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm ,Marcela wrote:
I would go for a dry rosé from Lopez de Heredia- Rioja, Haro, their white, dry and aged in old oak, would go very well too. Another option would be an Argentinian rose, a 50%- 50% blend of Malbec and Pinot Noir, “Henry Lagarde” Reserve, easy drinking and simply yummy !!
On August 4th, 2009 at 9:06 pm ,Howard G. Goldberg wrote:
Foremost, I’m with the manzanilla and fino partisans, but first I would
try a bracingly herbaceous New Zealand sauvignon blanc, and,
acting on instinct — no prior experience here — I half-think a
glass of well-chilled vinho verde.
On August 4th, 2009 at 9:13 pm ,babylonfalling wrote:
I usually don’t eat with prosecco, but I’ve had prosecco w gazpacho and it works well
On August 5th, 2009 at 3:49 am ,Tista wrote:
I agree totally with Marcela’s suggestion of Lopez de Heredia Rosado Viña Tondonia, or the white Tondonia Reserva too.
Unless the Gaspacho is particulary agressive with vinegar and garlic, I would stay away from Manzanilla, as the Flor character I find dominates the gaspacho. Or simply add a few small slivers of Jamon iberico de Bellota on top to help the gaspacho fend itself against the Manzanilla.
Or, to run away from the geographical logic : An Arbois Poulsard, Overnoy of course comes to mind first.
On August 5th, 2009 at 10:09 am ,Dylan wrote:
Just make sure whatever wine you pair it with doesn’t have too scandalous a label.
On August 5th, 2009 at 10:52 am ,Wine at Five wrote:
Just the other weekend, out in Southold, I made a batch of Gazpacho, and rather like the mish-mash of ingredients innthe soup, we had a mish-mash of wines on the table. The absolute favorite and clear winner to pair with the slightly spicy (I add a hint of Spanish smoked paprika)gazpacho was the Spanish Txakoli, Gurrutxaga Rose. Worked like a charm.
On August 5th, 2009 at 11:24 am ,Wine Splodge wrote:
Personally I find gazpacho kills wine, for me a nice cold beer works best. Sol with a wedge of lime or Cruzcampo for a bit more flavour.
On August 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm ,Vinedo Bosco wrote:
Ive done it! Actually I have paired wine with all sorts of strange foods just for fun, but with gazpacho I would say that Malbec works fine for me.
On August 5th, 2009 at 6:33 pm ,Bettie wrote:
Wine and tomatoe pairing is a trickey proposition. There are as many opinions as there are different varieties of wine. Wines that have worked for me are acidic, crisp white wines. Pinot Gris or Tocai Friulano are two of my favorites. Enjoy!!
On August 5th, 2009 at 7:21 pm ,pietro wrote:
Impossible, but that does not stop me from enjoying it with a simple, chilled Frascati, a white wine from around Rome whose acidity easily stands up to the tomatoes, and does not pretend to be more than pleasant drinking in a warm summer evening.
On August 5th, 2009 at 11:40 pm ,M. Y. wrote:
I agree with others that think Gazpacho would go with a Spanish Rose.
On August 6th, 2009 at 5:46 pm ,John Martin wrote:
Malbec to Frascati: pretty much proof positive that pairing is a subjective art.
On August 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pm ,Howard Bernstein wrote:
A light, crisp Rose. Preferably from Provence or somewhere along the Meditteranean.
On August 7th, 2009 at 3:54 pm ,James Wright wrote:
Howard Goldberg is right on, I think. Fino would be the most interesting, although sauvignon blanc is very reliable and resourceful—more so than GV, I think—at coping with this sort of combination. and I liked Tista’s warning about flor…
On August 9th, 2009 at 3:28 pm ,Joker Filsby wrote:
Mollydooker ‘The Boxer’ (Shiraz/Cab) is a great pairing – light and delicate.
On August 10th, 2009 at 11:13 am ,Terence wrote:
I’ve got to go with a Sangiovese, or at least something with a Sangiovese base.
That Grape was born and bred to take on Tomatoes!
On August 11th, 2009 at 4:31 pm ,Jason Haas wrote:
I’ll chime in (late) and agree with the crowd… definitely a Rose, but a Rose with some substance (so, based on a heartier, higher-acid red grape like Grenache rather than, say, Pinot Noir).
We think that the Rose pairing for gazpacho is so good that it’s going to be our featured recipe in our next newsletter!
Hope all is well.
-Jason
On August 12th, 2009 at 3:25 pm ,Rich wrote:
I would recommend a crisp, acidic white wine from a cooler climate, such as a Pinot Gris, Grüner Veltliner, Soave or Tocai Friulano. For a good Gazpacho, try this recipe.
On August 17th, 2009 at 7:48 pm ,Tom wrote:
Just had my wife’s great gazpacho, paired nicely with an albariño.
On August 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm ,Audrey wrote:
Rose’ of Carmenere, dry dry dry
On September 9th, 2009 at 11:13 am ,Warren Bobrow wrote:
Pax Rose of Syrah.. perfect with Gazpacho.
On October 1st, 2009 at 4:22 pm ,Is retro sherry ripe for a makeover? On public radio’s Marketplace | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[…] chic or remain simply retro? Some of you have recommended a fino here in food pairings, such as gazpacho. Food really is key. Assuming people will even try […]
On October 27th, 2009 at 5:55 am ,veronica wrote:
I agree with the rosé, but i don’t agree on the comment about vinegar… you need good wine to make good vinegar, and it’s not wine gone bad, but wine that’s at the end of it’s life. it’s inevitable that wine becomes vinegar…
On July 24th, 2010 at 12:51 pm ,nigel carr wrote:
you are in spain.
the perfect partner for your gazpacho is actually cava.
light refreshing and festive–look no further.
a white cava or even prettier a rose cava.
but if perchance you’re out of cava, no need to travel out of spain.
as previously noted a rioja/tempranillo or garnacha rose will go well.
and certainly the super versatile albarino–from rias baixas, of course.
On August 15th, 2012 at 9:34 pm ,Carolyn wrote:
Recommend a Torrontes from Argentina.
On February 2nd, 2013 at 3:57 pm ,WhyNo wrote:
Just had gazpacho with lobster louis, avocado and tarragon. Albariño was the best choice of the wines I tried