Wines to pair with your pancakes this Shrove Tuesday

What’s on your menu this Shrove Tuesday? Is it pancakes smothered in chocolate or perhaps something savoury? Once you’ve settled on your style of pancake, the next you need to ask yourself is what wine you will pair it with. The foodies and the wine lovers out there will know that pancakes and wine make a perfect pairing.

With many options to choose from, we’re here to help you find your perfect pancake and wine match.

Classic Lemon and Sugar

Classic pancakes with lemon and sugar
The Pancake Day classic – thin pancakes topped with lemon and sugar

This classic pancake flavour balances the sweetness of sugar and the acidity of lemon perfectly so needs a well balanced wine to match.

As a rule dishes that are high in sugar should be matched with a wine that is equally as sweet or sweeter. That’s because sugar in food can mask the fruity characters in dry wines and make them seem unpleasantly acidic.

We love to pair our classic pancakes with a German Riesling. Labelled in terms of their sweetness, you want to be looking for something with Spätlese or Auslese on the bottle! Sweet Agnes would also work as a super sweet style of Riesling.

Mushroom and Spinach

Savoury mushroom and spinach pancakes
A savoury twist for Pancake Day – mushroom and spinach pancakes

The ultimate savoury pancake filling. Mushrooms and spinach are both rich in umami flavours. This increases the sensations of bitterness and acidity, while decreasing both sweetness and fruitiness.

Umami flavours are notoriously tricky to pair wine with. However, a good rule to follow is to steer clear of wines with high levels of tannin (identified as a drying sensation in the mouth) or oak character.

We’d recommend a Pinot Noir or a Grenache as both are more fruity than they are tannic.

If you prefer a white wine, a Gewürztraminer would also make an excellent match as the slight sweetness will counteract the effects of the umami.

Smothered in Chocolate

Pancakes with chocolate spread
Top your pancakes with rich chocolate sauce for a real Pancake Day treat

Rich, velvety and sweet, these pancaked smothered in chocolate spread are the perfect match for a Ruby Port.

A port deeply coloured and intensely fruity will make the perfect partner to your sticky, chocolatey pancakes.

American Stack

American Pancakes with bacon
Go American on Pancake Day with a stack of thick pancakes topped with crispy bacon and sticky maple syrup

Crispy, salty bacon is a winner in most people’s books, and luckily it’s also a real wine-friendly flavour.

Salt in food helps soften the harder elements in wine, so if you’re often put off by strongly tannic wines try them with salty foods. A big punchy Barolo would be perfect with these pancakes.

Cheese and Ham

Most people find foods that are rich in fat, such as cheese, pair excellently with highly aromatic, acidic wines.

This bright, zesty Pouilly-Fume, Domaine de Bel Air Cuvée des Papillons, with its intense lemony flavours, would be a perfect option, and so would many other Sauvignon Blancs.

So what will the perfect pancake and wine pairing look like for you? Tweet us and let us know or you can tag us in your posts and stories on Instagram.

 

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About Laithwaite's Wine

We’re wine nuts, not wine snobs. We’ve been exploring the world on a mission to find great wine for the last 50 years. If you love adventure as much as we do, you belong with us. We know our winegrowers like family – and in some cases they actually are. Expect to hear from these legends of the soil, see behind the scenes access into vineyards and wineries and get news on fresh finds from our travels on this page. Drink responsibly. Visit drinkaware.co.uk for further health information. You must be aged 18 or over to follow.

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