Butternut squash soup + aged Chenin Blanc is a match made in heaven. Chardonnay works, too, but I do Chenin because I prefer Chenin over Chardonnay and because I think Chenin is the better match, anyways.
French Onion Soup + dry oxidative Sherry (Amontillado; Oloroso; Palo Cortado) is not only amazing, but is – imo – the only wine that isn’t a terrible pairing with that soup.
Roasted red bell pepper soup + dry minerally white (my fave. being Riesling) is lovely.
The more brothy the soup the more difficult I find it to pair with wine. And I find cold soups easier to match with wine than I do hot soups, generally.
“In Occitanian tradition, the last spoonfuls of garbure are enjoyed through an ancient ritual called faire chabrot. This custom involves pouring red wine into the nearly empty bowl, creating a rich blend of soup and wine. This savory mix is then sipped in hearty gulps, savoring every last drop”
My wife loves soup and we both like wine, so seems like I end up pairing it a fair bit. I’m thoughtful but not that fussy about pairing.
What pairs perfectly with a sausage, white bean, kale soup? I’m not sure. What pairs pretty well? Just about anything.
The temperature thing doesn’t bother me at all, so for me the usual rules apply.
That said, I don’t like wine with chili (meat with beans, spicy) even a little bit.
In my head, heavy cream soups, bisques etc, go well with bigger and sweeter wines. The easy solution would be a riesling, but I think wines like late harvest Zinfandels etc work here. Humbly, my late harvest Mission or the Angelica would also work - or any Portuguese port.
Not quite sure where I got this connection in my head from, but growing up in Scandinavia we used to traditionally eat pea soup on Thursdays. And if it was a more formal setting, it would be accompanied by Punsch - a liqueur of arrack. And Punsch and pea soup works rather well together, so I think that’s what triggers the connection between heavier soups and big, sweet wines for me. I could be the only one who feels that way tho, because you could easily make an equally good case for something lean and acidic to cut through the heaviness.
As I write this, I’m enjoying an Alto Piemonte nebbiolo along with some hearty soup of chicken stock, sausage, kale, white beans, and tortellini. They taste great together.
I think wine goes well with all kinds of soup and I’m surprised so many people say they don’t go together. My approach is to match flavors- meaty or otherwise hearty soups, in my opinion, go great with reds. Red pairings I’ve tried and liked: beef stew or fancy boeuf bourguignon with Bordeaux or New world bordeaux blends, coq au vin with Pinot, pea soup with cab franc, chili with or without meat goes well with Zin or CdP. Same approach for whites: chicken noodle soup with Chardonnay, butternut squash with bigger whites (new world Chard, alsace pinot gris, rhone white), lobster bisque with high quality rose or Champagne. Avgolemono is great with Assyrtiko.
Two surprising, but excellent, soup/wine matches that I’ve had:
French Onion Soup that I make at home from scratch, roasted marrow bones for the stock along with pounds of slowly caramelized onions. The soup is a true weekend cooking project and goes marvelously with aged Champagne.
Shabu shabu (tecnhicnally not soup, but it is soupy) with 15+ yr old Gravner Ribolla Giala- the wine was the color of a deep amber ale. The pairing was stunning.
Temperature is a non issue for me. I just don’t drink the wine immediately after a spoonful of boiling hot soup. I give it a minute, and there’s no issue. A sip of cold water in between is enough of a palate reset for me and even that isn’t necessary most of the time.
“Soup” with solid stuff seems more likely to be enjoyed with a wine. When the soup is liquid or pureed, that might be more of a challenge. It’s an area for adventure and discovery.
Mmm . . . split pea soup with a pinot noir?
Haha you’re right- the default answer for the question “what wine can I drink with xyz food” seems to be “nothing”. It reminds me of the classic response when asking for directions in Maine “You can’t get theyah from heah”.
I’ve had puréed soups like butternut squash or pumpkin with higher acid whites and it’s been very good.
To your point, something that is all or almost all broth (eg miso soup) or broth with noodles (ramen, basic chicken noodle soup) seems less likely to generate synergy with a wine.
Usually i’d drink mineral water or beer with soup, but 3 times I had good experiences: with a stronger corn soup and aged Sherry, then with an Austrian orange wine - and a Viennese Soup Pot (boiled beef, fine noodles, a lot of vegetables) with a Grüner Veltliner.
I have Gewurz with pumpkin or butternut squash soup all the time. Works well with the typical seasonings. I can see where Pinot Gris would also work well, but I am not a big fan of PG.
I have had a few fantastic experiences pairing Grüner Veltliner with asparagus soup.
I agree in a sense that it very much depends on the type of soup, but in our experience countless variations of Italian soups go wonderfully with wine. @Noah_C touched on a favorite pairing.
Our house recipe for minestrone soup involves: zucchini, onion, leeks, baby potatoes, rainbow carrots, navy beans, mezze rigatoni, chicken stock, crushed tomato, and of course, salt and plenty of black pepper. I’ve been making it for about four years now and I could eat it literally every day for a week without question. So as you can imagine, we’ve served it bunch of times! It’s gone well with mid-quality Montefalco Sagrantino, Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo, and lighter-bodied Sangiovese. I probably wouldn’t ever try to push it with mid-to-upper level Barolo, but I’m certain we’ve opened a Vajra Albe Barolo with it. Anyway, it’s a winner. Bread alongside is important.
Another one of our favorites is a french green lentil soup, that sneakily involves orange peel and coriander seeds. Goes great with younger Cote Chalonnaise White Burg, like Macon La Roche Vineuse, St. Veran, and things of that type.
These are the things that come to mind, but I suspect we’ve had others. I won’t deny that involving some fattiness from cheese, and then bread with butter provide textural layers that probably help when pairing wine with soup. Having the brief respite of the bread or the denser bites with more cheese in the soup only improves things!
