Open up your best reds for roast lamb

Lamb is one of the most wine-friendly of meats. The traditional roast, a leg studded with garlic and rosemary, served with gravy and roasties, is a brilliant match for just about any red wine. So feel free to crack open your finest bottles.

Two grape varieties in particular stand out: Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. To some of us Cabernet means Bordeaux. The Bordelais would be more specific and they serve a Pauillac with their gigot d’agneau but any Cabernet-based claret would do me.

Just about every country produces Cabernet Sauvignon of some sort, the best being Australia, Chile or South Africa, but I tend to favour tradition with classic roasts.

The dry tannic edge of good Bordeaux is a fantastic foil to the fatty richness of lamb. The other traditional combination for roast lamb is Rioja and a mature Rioja Reserva would be perfect if you can afford it.

Just try to avoid mint sauce with your finest wine; that combination of vinegar and sugar will kill any wine stone dead.

Once you switch to other lamb recipes, the picture changes a little. With shoulder or shank of lamb, I would suggest something a bit more robust to match those richer, powerful flavours. A southern Rhône, a nicely rustic Languedoc, or maybe an Australian Shiraz.

However, now that the warmer weather has arrived, I know that I will be looking for lighter, fresher ways to cook my lamb.

Spring lamb, with its more delicate flavour, served with young vegetables and fresh herbs will certainly go well with a Cabernet or Tempranillo, but I would be tempted to try a lighter red such as a Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, a Cabernet Franc from the Loire, or a Valpolicella or Bardolino from Italy.

It may be a little early in the year to get the barbeque going but chargrilled kebabs in a lemon and herb dressing is one of the few times when I would consider serving a white wine with lamb.

I would be tempted to try it out with a fresh dry Assytirko from Santorini in Greece. Easter is a major celebration in the Greek Orthodox Church, which this year coincides with our own Easter Sunday. I am told that this is the one time of year when Greeks do eat lamb, and would recommend trying out a Xinomavro-based Greek red if you can find one. That tangy freshness would go perfectly with lighter lamb dishes.

I am not a food and wine fascist, insisting on a perfect match for every wine or food. I firmly believe that most food tastes better with wine and that the opposite holds good too.

However, as Domini Kemp gleefully points out, her recipe presented me with something of a challenge; white wine and lamb doesn’t really work, with the one exception above.

Chilled white wine clashes with anything fatty. Yet both feta and pea purée call out for a white wine. Most cheese is best with white wine, and the tangy acidic flavours of feta even more so.

Pea purée with its inherent sweetness is usually served with seared scallops, and a glass of fresh fruity white works well here again. But tannic red wines clash with anything sweet. Then throw in artichokes, allegedly one of the least red wine-friendly foods. So what to do?

In the end I decided to go for a red wine that thinks it’s a white or a white wine that is almost a red, and included a rosé as a form of compromise. I am not sure I created the best version of Domini’s dish but it certainly received appreciative noises over dinner.

The rosé, which wasn’t as dry as I had hoped was disappointing, as were the two richer white wines that I tried. It was the lighter reds, particularly those with a bit of acidity that proved the best match of all.

You won’t go wrong with one of these wines. They will provide the perfect backdrop to all but the most substantial of lamb dishes, including a plain roast.

As for pizza, featured earlier in these pages, I feel much more comfortable recommending a match – just about anything. I usually go for a light- to medium-bodied red.

Either of the Pinot Noirs or the Fleurie mentioned below would do nicely, but if you want to keep the Italian vibe, why not go for a Valpolicella, Barbera or Dolcetto?

Alternatively a beer or two, or a white wine will do fine.
jwilson@irishtimes.com