Riesling Food Pairing

Riesling is a wonderful wine that is built for pairing with food. However, it is a wine that is unlike most other wines because it can range from very dry to very sweet and even sparkling. That can make it difficult to provide guidance on what to eat with riesling, so we will try to separate dry riesling, off-dry riesling and sweet riesling recommendations.

The acidity and fruit notes in the wine are what makes it such a great wine for many different dishes. In fact, if you are unsure what wine will go best with your meal, riesling is most often the wine that is recommended as the safe choice or default. Dishes that have bold flavors or are spicy are perfect to pair with riesling.

The refreshing wine is an excellent choice to drink with international foods that have bold flavors and are often spicy. Thai, Mexican, Indian dishes all are wonderful with a nice glass of dry riesling. The acidity and the sweetness in the wine cut through the spicy food and the bold flavors.

Best Food To Eat With Dry Riesling

For people who do not like sweet wines at all, a dry riesling can be a go-to wine to pair with most foods. Especially in the summertime, as white wines tend to be more refreshing during hot days than red wines. The most well-known region for dry rieslings is in Alsace, France. So that’s a great region to look for when first experimenting with dry rieslings.

Dry riesling typically has a lot of minerality and acidity, which makes it a perfect wine to drink with seafood like sushi, oysters, ceviche, crab and lobster. It is also delicious with pork dishes, like smoked ham, BLTs, and sausages.

Best Food To Eat With Off-Dry Riesling

Off dry (semi-dry) is a slightly sweet version of riesling. This is the most common style of riesling found in the United States. In Germany, this style of riesling is called Spatlese and sometimes called Kabinett. The hint of sweetness makes this wine the best wine for spicy American dishes like hot wings and creole food. It is also the best style of riesling to drink with spicy Indian, Thai and Mexican dishes.

Slightly sweet rieslings are also the perfect wine for family gatherings and holidays. Those meals tend to have side dishes like corn, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and carrots that are typically sweet.

The sweetness in the wine also complements salty food very well. Large meals with family and friends usually also have several finger foods and appetizers that are salty, which goes well with the hint of sweetness. Chinese food is perfect with a refreshing glass of off-dry riesling.

Spicy meals

Sweet side dishes
Salty food

Best Food To Eat With Sweet Riesling

Sweet riesling is typically the first type of riesling people try, and often it can be off-putting if you do not like sweet wines. However, there are delightful sweet rieslings that you can drink, especially with dessert. In fact, sweet riesling is sometimes called dessert riesling, late harvest riesling or even ice wine.

The best way to pair a sweet riesling is with a dessert or some type of sweet food. Usually sweet rieslings aren’t very good with appetizers or the main course of a meal.

Most any dessert will be a great complement to a sweet riesling. We do not recommend drinking sweet riesling with chocolate desserts though, as the chocolate can overpower the wine.

Meat That Pairs Well With Riesling

We really like seafood with dry and off-dry riesling. The minerality in the wine and the seafood are a perfect match. And the soft floral & fruity notes enhance the delicate flavors in the seafood. Some heavier dishes in cream and cheese sauces may not go as well with a super dry riesling. And fried seafood can often be the same. As mentioned above, pork is also a great pairing with riesling. We also like spicy dishes like hot wings and spicy Thai food with a glass (or two).

Cheeses That Pair Well With Riesling

If you are going to be trying several different types of cheeses, riesling would be the wine we recommend drinking with it. That is because the wine has a balanced acidity, fruity and floral notes and high minerality.

Dry Riesling – dry riesling is perfect to drink with creamy soft cheeses. Brie, camembert, chevre, roquefort, cottage cheese and cream cheese are all wonderful choices. This is also why we like dry riesling with crab rangoons, because the cream cheese and crab meat both complement dry riesling well.

Off-Dry Riesling – semi dry rieslings go perfectly with semi-hard to hard cheeses that are medium aged. Popular cheeses like aged cheddar, colby, monterey jack, & swiss work very well. If you are more adventurous, you can also try asiago, fontina, muenster & havarti with off-dry riesling.

Sweet Riesling – contrast a sweet riesling with salty cheeses. This complementary pairing of sweet and salty is delicious. Don’t forget that crackers can also often add saltiness to the combo. Cheeses like Italian Parmigiano Reggiano, gouda, Greek feta cheese, and gorgonzola will be great paired with a sweet riesling.

Appetizers That Pair Well With Riesling

Any delicate seafood appetizers are perfect with dry riesling. Cocktail shrimp, chilled oysters, crab rangoons are all delicious with dry riesling. With off-dry rieslings, we recommend finger foods like hot wings, jalapeno poppers, and little smokies.

Riesling is also great with charcuterie boards because it does work so well with so many different types of foods. So having a board with a large array of choices and flavors will be safe bet to go well with riesling.

Vegetarian Dishes That Pair Well With Riesling

Vegetarian dishes can be a little harder to pair with wine, because the dish will often take on attributes of the herbs/spices/sauces that the dish is cooked with. But that makes riesling a great wine to drink with vegetarian dishes, because it can be paired with so many different foods. Some of our favorites are Indian cuisine like red curry and vegetables, salads with blue cheese and fruits, and vegetarian pho. And of course you can pair sweet riesling with most any dessert.

Herbs That Pair Well With Riesling

The go-to herb to add to dishes when you plan on drinking a riesling is parsley. Some other herbs that are good with riesling are caraway, sage, basil, horseradish, ginger, allspice, fennel and hot peppers.

Foods That Do Not Pair Well With Riesling

Try to avoid foods or dishes with these foods in them if you are hoping to drink a riesling with your meal. This doesn’t mean it can’t work, but the chances are much lower of it being a great pairing if the dish has these foods in them.