Coq au vin: what wine should you choose for the sauce?

"You can't make a good sauce with rubbish wine!"

A common belief is that you can cook a wine-based sauce with any cru. Some people go so far as to even buy "cheap plonk". A reflex which can be understood because it has to be said that pouring a whole bottle of wine into a dish is hard on your pocket. However, steer well away from this practice. Because, as the journalist, Olivier Bompas, quite rightly says in his book "Les Accords Mets et Vins" (Food and Wine Combinations), "you can't make a good sauce with rubbish wine!"

This is particularly the case of coq au vin, seen as the sauce is the key element of this dish. Indeed, although cooking eliminates the alcohol, it does however retain all of the aromas. So you need to make sure that you choose a best value for money wine before making your sauce. You also need to check that it is not corked, otherwise your sauce will be terrible. The traditional recipe involves preparing this dish with red wine (even though variants using white wine and yellow wine exist). So aim for a lively red wine with silky tannins and spicy hints, such as a full-bodied Beaujolais or a southern wine from Provence or Languedoc.

And what about during the meal? 

Once cooked and ready to eat, your coq au vin will be greatly enhanced with a lovely glass of red wine. You can also play on the acidic flavour of the sauce and vegetables by choosing a Rhône Valley Vacqueyras appellation tannic wine, a Languedoc Faugères appellation wine, or a South West France Gaillac appellation wine. If you prefer a lighter wine, go for a Saint-Amour (Beaujolais) or a Pommard (Bourgogne), which will go perfectly with the tender texture of the meat. In both cases, it is important to choose a wine that is fresh enough to balance with the slightly dry element of the poultry.

The 2 perfect wines to go with coq au vin