Serve a light tomato-based soup with fortified wines like sherry.
When preparing a multi-course meal for guests, serving wine with each course is not an option -- it's a necessity. Wine complements the accompanying meal and fills the time between one course and the next. The thought of pairing wine with soup may seem daunting, as it involves pairing a liquid with liquid. However, you need not worry if you abide by the basic principle of using wine to enhance the flavor of your soup. Refrain from overpowering the flavor of either liquid by using the soup's texture and ingredients to determine the appropriate accompanying wine.
Instructions
White Wines
1. Serve mildly flavored creamy vegetable soups with light white wines. Accompany cream of cauliflower, butternut, pumpkin and other summer squash soups with dry, aromatic and full-bodied whites such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.
2. Match sweet or medium sweet white wines with subtly flavored fish soups. Serve a dry crisp white like Picpoul de Pinet with Provencal fish soups. Combine creamy seafood crab or lobster chowders and bisques with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and white Burgundy.
3. Accompany mild chicken noodle soups or cream of chicken soups with Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc. Serve coconut-based Thai soups with Verdelho or Australian Riesling.
Red Wines
4. Balance the spice, acid and protein of chili-based soups with the depth of robust red wines. Serve Mexican chicken tortilla or zucchini soups with Spanish Riojas, soft Merlots or Zinfandels. Balance curry flavored meat or vegetable soups with Australian Shiraz.
5. Use the earthiness and mild spice of Pinot Noir to complement root vegetable soups such as potato and leek. Pinot Noir also blends well with lightly spiced chicken gumbo soups.
6. Serve beef-based soups with full-bodied red wines such as Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Beaujolais.
Fortified Wines
7. Pair clear soups such as a consomm with sherry. Combine consomm s with dry Oloroso, dry Madeira or Amontillado. A fortified wine, sherry has high alcohol content and provides a texture contrast to the clear soup.
8. Open a chilled Manzanilla Sherry to serve with a light, tomato-based soup, Serve a cold gazpacho with Fino Sherry.
9. Accompany sparkling wines like Champagne Brut or Japanese Sake with chilled fruit and nut soups such as almond and avocado.
Tags: soups with, Sauvignon Blanc, soups such, vegetable soups, Blanc Pinot, Chardonnay Sauvignon, Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc