| Wine With . . . Chicken Salad by Paul Lukacs and At the end of our last ‘Wine With . . . ‘ column, we noted that one wine-it was an Australian Chardonnay, Jacob’s Creek Reserve-bombed with the gazpacho we were sampling (and writing about), but turned out to taste great with the dollop of chicken salad we ate at the end of the meal. Of course, that’s the whole point of ‘Wine With . . ., ‘ since different wines literally taste different when paired with different foods. But that experience got us wondering: What wines really go best with chicken salad? We eat a lot of chicken salad in summer-in part because it seems so refreshing on a hot, steamy evening, and in part because our favorite local grocery store makes a really good one. This isn’t any hoity-toity, gourmet rendition. Instead, it’s old-fashioned American fare, with chunks of white meat, diced celery and onion, and plenty of rich-tasting mayonnaise. We love it in sandwiches, as well as on its own, on a bed of romaine lettuce perhaps, or sometimes stuffed into scooped out tomatoes. We’ve enjoyed all sorts of summer wines with it-mostly whites. In an effort to compare styles and types and so figure out which wines work best-and why-we sampled thirteen different ones (twelve whites and one rosé) with chicken salad on an especially steamy evening the other week. Our favorites are recommended below, but this turned out to be the rare dish that worked with just about everything we tried. True, some wines (a Chablis, a German kabinett Riesling, and an Italian bubbly from Trentino) were a bit too light for it, and a couple of others (an otherwise crisp South African Sauvignon Blanc and the rosé) seemed a tad clunky; but none of the wines we tried fell completely flat. Who knew that store-bought chicken salad would be such a versatile partner for wine? Some wines, though, shined especially brightly with our chicken salad, and these are the ones we are highlighting below. What do they have in common? Well, four of the five display a definite oak influence, leading us to conclude that the richness of this dish allows it to marry successfully with rich, oak-laden wines. (The fifth wine, the Spanish Albariño, while unwooded, nonetheless has a rich, almost waxy mouthfeel, linking it in texture though not flavor with the other four.) Over the course of the year in which we have been writing this column, we’ve found that overt oak flavor frequently gets in the way of a successful food and wine match, particularly with whites. With our chicken salad, however, it made the pairing even more successful. The wood added another note of richness, making the whole experience superior to the sum of the proverbial parts. | ||
| Selection | Approx. Price | Comments |
| Eberle, Paso Robles ( | $22 | The range of flavors in this generously textured wine includes not only the nuttiness that often characterizes Roussanne, but also something reminiscent of preserved lemon. All in all, it proved remarkably flattering to the chicken salad. |
| Concha Y Toro Marques de Casa Concha, Pirque ( | $19 | This delicious Chilean contender is sumptuous on the palate, with vibrant notes of ripe tropical fruit. Chicken salad is often served with fresh pineapple, mango or papaya, and this Chardonnay proves a splendid surrogate for that classic pairing. |
| Laetitia, | $14 | Perhaps the most restrained of the wines we favored in this tasting, the Pinot Blanc is still rich and full bodied enough to stand up to the soft, creamy mayonnaise. It also has fine, spicy elements that add interest, and so form another flavor link to the salad. |
| Pazo San Mauro, Rias Baixas ( (Imported by Billington Imports) | $24 | Beautifully aromatic and fleshy, with prolonged juicy flavors, the Albariño finishes on a typically crisp, palate-cleansing note, making it idyllically compatible with cool, mayonnaise-based salads. |
| Chateau Ste. Michelle, | $20 | Full throttled Chardonnays such as this, with a barrel-influenced creamy texture and mouth-filling flavor, really do work well with summery chicken salad. This wine also has an appealing caramel-apple note that seems especially appealing with the salad. |
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Wine With…Chicken Salad
By Paul Lukacs and Marguerite Thomas