Wine to pair with paella

Eva Pizarro

Sumiller en restaurante Fierro y formadora en Tandem Gastronómico.

Paella is unquestionably one of the most representative dishes both inside and outside our borders. Perhaps that is why, along with its popularity, it is one of the most controversial dishes. Tell me about it, I’m Valencian... For me, paella was always on Sundays, and my grandmother still makes it today.

It is cooked on a fire burning orange tree wood, as could be no other way as that is what we have around here. It is made with chicken and rabbit and a lot of vegetables, produced locally in our market garden.

It is strange to see how my grandmother’s paellas change over the year. In winter she adds artichokes, as they are in season and in summer “garrofó” the typical beans we put in paella in summer when they are fresh. If we make a paella out in the countryside, we add a few sprigs of rosemary, which always conjures up memories of a day outdoors.

But these are not the only variations on the theme of paella, with the famous English chef Jamie Oliver adding chorizo, much to the dismay of many critics, there are also varieties made with fish, shellfish, vegetarian...

Paella is undoubtedly a dish that lends itself to variations, although here we perhaps call them rice dishes rather than paella, reserving the latter for the more traditional recipe.

But with this wide range of possibilities, pairing a wine with paella is good fun.

Bearing in mind that it is usually a fairly light meal, that we sometimes eat outdoors, either in the countryside or on a sunny terrace, etc., we need something fresh, a light, lively wine to pair with it so as not to distort the nuances of the dish itself.

Rosé wines pair perfectly with paella, such as Cune Rosado or the Valencian wine Miracle,  made using Bobal grapes, both of which are safe bets. Rosé wines pair well with vegetables, light meals and even with mild meat dishes.

If our rice dish includes fish and shellfish, we can turn to white wines like a Verdejo from the Rueda region such as José Pariente, an Albariño such as the ones made by Martin Codax or La Tremenda, from Alicante, which will all enhance the flavours of the sea. If we are making a fish or shellfish rice dish, don’t forget that a good fish stock is absolutely fundamental to flavour the rice.

So what if we prefer a red wine, or perhaps in winter and the rice dish is made with stronger flavoured meat? Clea from Ribera del Duero, is a safe bet, as is Viñas del Vero from Somontano or Les Alcusses  from Valencia which will all make the rice dish more enjoyable.

Whichever paella variety you choose, don’t forget that it is a dish that requires company, sitting around a table with the pan in the middle, all made for sharing special moments. This is much the same as a bottle of wine, where the environment and the company make it all that much more enjoyable.