Verrines are often the holy grail of successful dinner aperitifs. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find these colorful and tasty preparations on the table. They require a little work in advance, but always bring a plus to your aperitif.
In association with the cooking site Nini's frichtis, here we offer you a new wine pairing and its "quintet" of gourmet verrines recipes !
The challenges of wine and verrines pairing
The verrines are the ideal opportunity to vary the pleasures during an aperitif. Cold or hot, they offer us the opportunity for a patchwork of flavors that we can adapt according to the seasons and desires.
Some will prefer the verrines of the sea, other preparations of the earth, freshness or the explosion of flavors…
For this food and wine pairing, the main challenge lies in this same diversity. Indeed, it is easier to find the perfect match between a wine and a single dish. Finding the right formula is more complicated when it comes to a variety of pleasures.
We will therefore focus on a "head agreement" : the perfect marriage of a major verrine with a wine. Then, we will adapt our selection to other verrines. The goal is obviously not to disagree.
What wine pairings with our recipe of verrines for dinner aperitif ?
With this recipe, you will be able to savor five varieties of verrines with varied tastes and textures.
Our famous major verrine will be the salmon tartare, green apples and currants. You can find her in the foreground in the above photograph. We have selected her as the pillar of our quintet because she is a real bite of freshness for the summer.
In the background and from left to right, you can see the verrines :
- Smoked trout and fresh goat cheese cream
- Crushed zucchini and parmesan cream
- Gorgonzola and bacon cream
- Sun crumble with fresh goat cheese
Some great wine ideas to taste
To fully enhance our verrines, it is essential to focus on beautiful fruity aromas with a nice freshness allowing the palate to go from one flavor to the next without saturating.
For this food and wine pairing, you may want to enjoy a glass of white wine.. And you are right ! Thanks to its freshness and subtle aromas, it is a very good companion for a dinner aperitif. Here you need a white wine with a slight tone and aromas of fresh fruit. You can find this character in a Chardonnay from Languedoc-Roussillon or a Viognier from the Rhône Valley. However, be careful not to choose a wine that is too exuberant which could contradict some verrines. !
Obviously, a dinner aperitif is a celebration. It is therefore a unique opportunity to savor a sparkling wine. Like me, you can easily choose one Champagne highlighting Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Indeed, the first brings the structure, while the second offers incomparable aromas. Traditionally, Chardonnay is added to these two grape varieties for its freshness.
Whatever selection you make, you should not choose a wine that is too powerful so as not to weigh down the marriage. A light and fresh wine will pair wonderfully with these verrines.
My selection
For my part, these glasses for a dinner aperitif were the opportunity to savor the champagne Brut Nature du domaine Albert Beerens.
This cuvée contains less than 3 grams of residual sugars to provide a magnificent tension and purity of champagne. This freshness is counterbalanced by the fruitiness of its blend of Pinot Noir (90%) and Pinot Meunier (10%) – two of the three traditional grape varieties of the Champagne blend -. This Champagne offers beautiful nuances of yellow and white fruits supported by a fine and creamy bubble.
With a rich bouquet, it brilliantly highlights the flavors of the Salmon Tartare verrine, green apples and currants. It blows a thirst-quenching wind of perfect freshness so as not to saturate the palate.
To avoid !
For this selection of verrines, we will avoid red wines… too powerful, too tannic. Indeed, the lightness and structure of white and sparkling wines will highlight the verrines without overwhelming them.
Jean-Nicolas Mouretin
Find other food and wine pairings :
- Which wine should you drink during an appetizer party ?
- Smoked salmon lollipops : which wine to pair them ?
- Wine : discover the Champagne vineyard
- Food and wine pairing
- Leeks quiche : which wine to drink with it ?
- Roast veal : which wine to drink with it ?
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The’ together brings back a good moment of tasting verrines and more particularly the verrine of salmon-green apple-redcurrant tartare accompanied by’ a Brut Nature from the Albert Beerens estate. Bravo