Pairing Wine With Puerto Rican Food

Puerto Rican food is like most Latin American cuisines, influenced by various cultures including Spanish, Taino and African.  This is most easily noticed when taking into account the base ingredients of Puerto Rican dishes. From Taino culture we have a lot of starchy vegetables such as yam, batata and apio. The Spanish influence is often seen in dishes with rice. African influence can be seen due to the presence of coconuts, coffee, plantains and many bananas brought from Africa.

Traditional Puerto Rican Food Ingredients

The cuisine is locally called Cocina criolla, using lots of different ingredients and seasonings, imparting lots of flavor to the dishes. The base of the dishes are often starchy vegetables found only locally. One of the most popular Puerto Rican ingredients in their dishes is sofrito, which is a mix of vegetables, fresh herbs like cilantro and garlic. In the coastal areas it is easy to see lots of seafood influenced dishes. Seasoning blends are based fresh herbs, peppers and vegetables

Best Red Wine With Puerto Rican Food

Puerto Rican food can be quite rich in flavor, always richly seasoned as well. In general Puerto Rican meat dishes pair well with light to medium bodied red wines with lots of flavor. The wines complement the chicken and pork dishes well and they should have a bit of a herbal flavor to complement the seasonings and  vegetables. Apart from the body, try having wines with low to medium tannins, higher acidity levels and a good texture. Cabernet Franc from France– Puerto Rican Pernil is tender pork, which is marinated for two days in sofrito. Sangiovese from Italy – Puerto Rican Pollo is a classic arroz con pollo, made with peas and tomatoes Tempranillo from Spain – Puerto Rican Stew is a beef stew that is made in lots of countries in Latin America. Puerto Rican one gets its flavor from sofrito. Pinot Noir from the USA – Pavochon is a turkey dish traditionally prepared for thanksgiving in Puerto Rico.

Best White Wine With Puerto Rican Food

White wines generally pair well with Puerto Rican food due to the freshness it has and the spice that the sofrito gives. Acidity of white wines works well with seafood and starchy vegetables which you can often find in Puerto Rican cuisine. Since sofrito is a mix of garlic, cilantro, peppers and many more ingredients, it asks for a fresh, herbal white wine. Apart from the sofrito, Puerto Ricans marinade their dishes in citrus as well and we need an acidic white wine to balance that. Sauvignon Blanc from Chile– Arroz con gandules is a traditional rice and pigeon peas dish, served mostly around Christmas. Verdejo from Spain– Tostones are crispy fried plantain slices which are often served as a side dish. Chardonnay from France– Mofongo is a dish that consists of mashed plantain which is then mixed with either seafood, pork or chicken. Chenin Blanc from France– Frituras are made from mashed plantains, cassava or malanga which are mixed together, stuffed with meat and then deep fried.

Pairing Wine With Traditional Puerto Rican Recipes

Frituras Wine Pairing

Chenin Blanc from France is a good wine pairing with frituras as it has a great acidity which cuts through the deep fried mash and a good, creamy texture to pair with the meat inside.

Mofongo Wine Pairing

Chardonnay from France, more precisely from Chablis is a good wine pairing with Mofongo as it complements the seafood or chicken mix but cuts through mashed plantain.

Arroz con Gandules Wine Pairing

Sauvignon Blanc from Chile is a fresh, vegetal wine with a great acidity level which will pair nicely with the peas and the rice.

Puerto Rican Pernil Wine Pairing

Cabernet Franc from France will complement the traditional Pernil as it is heavily marinated in sofrito which has lots of freshness and green pepper aromas. Cabernet Franc doesn’t have high tannins, so it won’t overwhelm the dish.

Puerto Rican Stew Wine Pairing

Spanish Tempranillo will complement any beef stew, especially this seasoned Puerto Rican version.

Pavochon Wine Pairing

Pinot Noir from the USA pairs well with the Pavochon as turkey meat can pair nicely with lighter reds, and this dish is heavily seasoned.

Pairing Wine With Puerto Rican Desserts

Many of Puerto Rican desserts have lots of sugar, sometimes even caramelized sugar which pairs nicely with Greek Vinsanto or Late harvested Rieslings. The desserts that have guava are well paired with ruby port.