Four weeks or so into the asparagus season, and are you getting bored yet? Not me: at this time of year, I could happily eat the stuff every day, and frequently do, but not always cooked the same way. And how you cook or serve your asparagus will affect which wine you drink with it.
What’s that, you say – you thought wine was supposed to be a no-no with asparagus? Like most of these so-called rules, the difficulties are massively overstated. Do you think the Germans or Austrians, mad asparagus fiends that they are, don’t drink wine with their spargel? Of course they do. In Alsace, too.
White asparagus is easier, admittedly, not least because it doesn’t have that sappy green character that makes some wines taste sweet. In Alsace, they often serve asparagus with an aromatic dry muscat, which I rather like – the Tanners wine in today’s pick is a really well-priced example – while a dry riesling works very well, too.
Even green asparagus, though, is rarely served without an accompaniment that is rather more wine-friendly: common bedfellows include eggs and eggy sauces such as hollandaise, all of which smooth, dry whites such as a pinot blanc or a white burgundy rub along very happily with, as they do an asparagus quiche.
Sauvignon is slightly more problematic, seeing as it’s quite similar to asparagus in flavour – especially pungent, grassy, herbal ones from New Zealand. More citrussy styles and sauvignon drinkalikes such as English bacchus and Spanish rueda (the Aldi one in my pick is an absolute steal) are a better match. If you add goat’s cheese to the equation, as you might in a salad, say, and it will work even better, creating a bridge between the asparagus and the wine.
The neutral Italian whites I wrote about a couple of weeks ago are also really useful with asparagus dishes, as they are with artichoke dishes – another overdramatised, so-called “tricky” ingredient, but rarely problematic, especially if the artichokes are grilled.
You can even – and this may seem heretical to some – drink red wine with asparagus. I’m not thinking of blockbuster cabernets or malbecs, but rather fresh, crunchy, cool-climate cabernet franc from the Loire, which has green herbal notes of its own (though perhaps I should say it generally does: producers are sadly trying to eradicate it’s “greenness” and make it in a riper, higher-alcohol style that makes it more like other red wines). Anyway, the likes of the saumur below will taste great with grilled asparagus, either as the main event or as a side for grilled fish such as salmon or with some lamb cutlets. Don’t drink wine with asparagus? You must be joking.
Five wines to drink with asparagus
Baron Amarillo Verdejo Rueda 2023 £5.99 Aldi, 13%. Sharp, citrussy, clean: like a bright squeeze of lemon.
Adnams Crouch Valley English White 2021 £12.99, 11.5%. English wine, with its crisp, citrus and elderflower flavours, is perfect for English asparagus, especially with goat’s cheese.
Henri Ehrhart Muscat Réserve Particulière 2022 £12.80 Tanners, 12.5%. Delicious, delicately scented dry Alsace muscat. For white asparagus, or green asparagus in a stir-fry or Asian-style salad.
Les Nivières Saumur 2021 £10.95 Waitrose, 12.5%. Fresh, crunchy red with a herbal edge. Try with grilled asparagus.
Château Martin Graves Blanc 2022 £15 Tesco, 13.5%. This elegant, creamy white bordeaux works well with richer dishes such as salmon or chicken pie with asparagus as a side.