Which wine to drink with mushrooms

Button mushrooms taste mild on their own: the butter, garlic or sauce sets the tone of the dish, and the wine follows. Before you open a bottle, ask yourself three questions. Are the mushrooms cultivated or wild? How are they cooked? What goes over them? The answers point you toward a white or a red.

Farmed or Gathered in the Woods

Button mushroom farming began in the tunnels under Paris. Pushed out by the building of the Metro, it moved at the end of the 19th century to the Loire Valley and its old tuffeau limestone quarries, cool and very damp galleries.

Growers there also raise oyster mushrooms, blewits and shiitake. Button and oyster mushrooms, both delicate, go well with a crisp dry white.

Porcini, chanterelles, morels and black trumpets are gathered in the wild. France's food safety agency, ANSES, advises never eating wild mushrooms raw and cooking them thoroughly, 20 to 30 minutes in a skillet. Once cooked, they can take a fuller white or a supple red with smooth tannins. For porcini, our guide to wine with cèpes covers the pairings.

Mostly Water: What the Skillet Changes in the Glass

A raw white button mushroom is about 92% water, according to the USDA's FoodData Central database. In a hot skillet it first gives up that water, then browns. While it is still pale and moist, a dry white is enough. Once well browned, with toasty notes, it can take a low-tannin red, such as a Gamay from Beaujolais-Villages.

Button mushrooms are also eaten raw, sliced thin in a salad with lemon or olive oil: pick a crisp white without obvious oak to keep the dish fresh. Slow-cooked in a covered pot, mushrooms take on the flavor of the cooking liquid instead, so the wine follows the meat or the liquid around them.

What Coats the Mushrooms Sets the Color of the Wine

Persillade, chopped parsley often mixed with garlic, keeps the dish bright: either a dry white or a light red suits it. If the mushrooms come alongside grilled meat, the light red has the edge. Cream rounds everything out. Choose a round white with enough acidity to balance the sauce.

Simmered in a red wine sauce, mushrooms take on its color and flavor: a supple red at the table follows the sauce, where a very tannic one would make it taste hard. Served à la forestière, with a garnish of wild mushrooms, they go with a meat, so choose the wine for the meat and its sauce.

Your Questions About Wine and Mushrooms

What wine goes with mushrooms à la grecque?

With mushrooms à la grecque, serve a crisp dry white or a dry rosé, well chilled. This French preparation with olive oil and aromatic herbs, often brightened with lemon and coriander seed, is usually eaten cold, so a light, unoaked wine matches its acidity.

What wine goes with oyster mushrooms or shiitake?

With sautéed oyster mushrooms or shiitake, choose a dry white with clear aromas or a light red. Shiitake must be cooked through, fresh or dried: French health authorities warn that a quick stir-fry may not be enough. With soy sauce, these mushrooms also suit a fruity, low-tannin red.

What wine goes with stuffed mushrooms?

For stuffed mushrooms, look at the filling: sausage meat or bacon calls for a supple red, cream cheese and herbs for a dry white. Large button mushroom caps bake in the oven, where the filling browns and the mushroom releases its juices, so serve a wine fresh enough to balance the richness.

What wine goes with black trumpet mushrooms?

With black trumpet mushrooms, serve a supple red with smooth tannins or, if they finish in cream, a fuller white. This dark wild mushroom is often sautéed in butter, or dried and then soaked to flavor a sauce.

Where can I buy wine for mushrooms direct from the winemaker?

You can buy wine for mushroom dishes direct from the winemaker on Avenue des Vins. Your order ships straight from the producer, with no middleman.

See also: Which wine to drink with truffles - Which wine should you drink with a vegetarian dish? - What wine should you drink with quenelles?