Sandwiches: Britain’s Top Ten and Surefire Wine Pairings. By Mikey on May 16th, 2022 in Blog Spread the love While our nation’s ten favourite sandwiches may not carry the weight of certain current affairs, it’s a brilliant excuse to indulge in a pastime we love here at hometipple HQ – What wine goes with that? British Sandwich Week is upon us from 22nd May. So we’ve divided Britain’s ten favourite sandwiches between four wines we know are surefire pairing winners. And with a red, a white, a pink and fizz, there is something for everyone. Match it up! The thing about wine and food pairings is balance. No one flavour should dominate and everything should be harmonious. It might be easy to assume simpler wines work best here. All these sandwiches seem fairly unfussy. But the key to simple food is great produce and so a little complexity in the wine can work well when each ingredient is allowed to shine. This list was compiled by meal kit makers Hello Fresh and takes its data from Google search, Insta posts and views on Tik Tok. Although other surveys may slightly differ, we recon this list is as good as any. 1. Chicken 2. Breakfast 3. Egg 4. Ham 5. Cheese 6. Club 7. Grilled cheese 8. Ham & cheese 9. Pulled pork 10. Steak Whether you’re out picnicking, livening-up lunchtime or if it’s sangers for supper, you really cannot go wrong with these four beauties. White wine fits for 1, 5 and 6 Our number 1 filling is chicken. While this surprised us at first, on reflection it all made sense. It’s so versatile! It can be made with a simple salad, covered in mayo or jazzed up with thyme, tarragon or other herbs. Cheese at number 5 is a testament to our rich heritage of making exceptional hard cheeses. So delicious when taken between two hunks of freshly cut farmhouse loaf. And what happens when you combine these two and throw in a load of other bits and bobs? You get number 6 – the club sandwich. King of room service midnight feasts. deAlto Gatito Loco Blanco is just the ticket. Clean and lemony which works great with chicken. It’s also refreshing with good acidity to cut through the cheese and butter or mayo. And with a little smoke and nuttiness, the bacon and toasted bread of the club marry up a treat. Fizz is just heaven with 2, 3 and 7 Right behind Chicken comes Breakfast at number 2 and Egg at 3. And we all know the only type of wine you can legitimately drink with the first meal of the day… Sparkling! It just so happens that cheese toasties/ grilled cheese is also friends with fizz. When matching wine with eggs it’s always best to keep it clean, citrusy and not too complex. Breakfast sandwiches are rich, fatty and full-flavoured, so high acid and refreshing bubbles help. That freshness also cuts through melted cheese a treat. Villa Fresco Frizzante is a prosecco in all but name. The Pizzini family have been at the forefront of a small but successful movement, growing Italian grape varieties Down Under for decades. They use Glera grapes (just like in Prosecco) and the Charmat method for creating bubbles (just like in Prosecco) and have created a brilliantly drinkable sparkling wine. If you like prosecco, you’ll LOVE this. Rosé works great with numbers 4 and 8. Both the ham based options now, with good ol’, straight-up ham in fourth place, and a perennial favourite, ham ‘n cheese in 8th. Bit of a surprise there – we thought ham & cheese would have placed higher. Either way, it’s rosé that fits the bill best for these two porcine based sandwiches. Bodegas Manzanos Castillo De Enériz Garnacha Rosé is the snappily-titled Spanish rosé that will work beautifully here. Being pink, ham straddles the line between white meat and red meat. What you need and want is something with some nice red fruit and berry notes (always a winner with ham). And something refreshing and not heavy. Flavours of fresh strawberries, vanilla, redcurrant and lemons are the standouts in this dangerously smashable Rosé. Lovely fresh acidity, a light body and a finish that’s not too long keep you coming back for more. And more. And more. Be warned! One bottle will not be enough. A red that’s super fine with 10 and 9 Last but by no means least are the meaty, hot sandwiches of pulled pork at 9 and Steak at number 10. With such bold flavours, a fine red feels right. There’s plenty of sweetness with the BBQ sauce of a pulled pork, so a little sourness can balance beautifully. But you still want the dark berry fruit a red can offer to play against the red meat and strong savouriness of the pork itself. Tinto de Rulo Pipeño Yumbel strikes the perfect balance. It’s more in the ‘natural’ camp, for want of a better word. That is to say, it is a low intervention wine so has a mixture of lifted red and berry fruit notes along with a little bitterness and just a hint of funk. This is a wine you need to try, especially with these pairings. If you’re not into ‘natural’ wines, welcome to your ideal starting point.
