Wine Wisdom: Pair food with sparkling wine

There’s some kind of aura around a bottle of fizz. A sense of occasion, anticipation. Champagne can sit in wait for the right occasion for months, its beauty hidden away for a rainy day. Prosecco and Cava, two of my favourite drinks, might not hold the same cachet, but they usually sit patiently in the fridge, ready to be drunk with gossip, music and a bowl of salty snacks, but not usually with a meal.

Why not? If there’s something I’ve noticed about wine pairings it’s that no matter how off-piste the sommelier is willing to go, sparkling wine is rarely—if ever—offered with a main course. There is something deeply etched into our core that says “red wine for red meat, white wine for fish and chicken” and no matter how hard we try to fight against it, the muscle memory is too strong. I’m saying you have to rewire your brain, for your own sake. Sparkling wine can be a beautiful accompaniment to your dinner.

It’s a well-established fact that fish and chips and fried chicken both work best with champagne, the bubbles and acidity cutting through the deep-fried fattiness, the biscuity, brioche notes accompanying the chips with a richer tone. If that’s true, then what about your roast dinner? I’d happily open an apple-leaning sparkling wine, perhaps a Riesling or a Cava, with gleaming roast potatoes and a fatty, unctuous slice of roast pork. I’d brighten a dish of salmon, rice and tenderstem broccoli with blanc-de-blanc Champagne, letting the lemon brightness of the fizz lift and mingle with the olive oil and pepper seasoning I always use. Sparkling wine is for drinking, not reserving. The best time to open that bottle is on a wet Wednesday, when it can lift your spirits and your weekday tea.