Pies and wine: recipes and best pairings

In the UK culinary landscape, pies occupy a prominent place, in both their savoury and sweet versions. Soft and tasty, they carry centuries of tradition and culture, making them an excellent dish for national celebrations, street food events, birthdays, picnics or simple family meals. Stuffed with meat, fish or vegetables (not to mention their excellent sweet versions!) pies can please just about everyone, especially when paired with the right wine labels.

Here are some cake and wine pairings to celebrate the best of English cuisine!

Pies and wine: a fairytale marriage!

There is something extremely fascinating about the art of combining food and wine. Whether by concordance or contrast, combining different flavours in the kitchen gives enormous satisfaction, provided you know how to do it carefully.

In the case of English pies, it is the intensity of the flavours that dominates, which is why it is necessary to carefully select the aromatic traits of the glass to be brought to the table. To pair savoury pies and wine, one can follow these simple guidelines:

• Meat pies: require red wines with a good structure, which contrast the full-bodied flavours of the meat with a noticeable tannin charge.
• Fish cakes: they prefer white wines, capable of refreshing the palate from brackish hints and accompanying them with their aromas.
• Cheese pies: if the cheese is mature or blue-veined, it goes well with lively red wines, while soft varieties tend to require aromatic whites.
• Vegetable pies: the more intense flavours go well with an aromatic white or rosé, while in the presence of pulses you can opt for a red, provided it is light, fresh and low in alcohol. More unusual vegetable ingredients - such as mushrooms - appreciate wines with slightly earthy hints.
• Sweet cakes: they are at their best when accompanied by sparkling wines, aromatic whites, slightly sweet reds or liqueur wines.

Best wines for meat pies

The daughters of centuries-old traditions, English meat pies have rightfully entered among the great classics of local cuisine. One succulent slice of these pies is enough to confirm the fact that even the simplest ingredients can make for unforgettable recipes.

Of these, Shepherd's Pie is one of the most popular and best-loved, a variant of Cottage Pie formerly made (from 1800 onwards) with leftover meat and other ingredients from the shepherd's tradition, to avoid waste in the kitchen. This pie consists of a delicious puff pastry shell filled with lamb, dairy products and pulses (usually peas). The addition of a little Worcestershire sauce gives it its own distinctive flavour.

Pairing Shepherd's Pie and wine gives great satisfaction. Among the perfect pairings of pie and wine is the Merlot DOC Friuli 2021, characterised by heady aromas of small fruits, such as cherry and raspberry, to which are added - especially after ageing - more complex notes of chocolate and nutmeg. The load of tannins is unobtrusive, while on the palate this wine offers a soft and velvety texture.

Equally tasty comfort food is Steak and Kidney Pie, a dish that appeared in the 19th century and is also popular in its pudding variant. Consisting of layers of puff pastry or shortcrust pastry and a soft filling of beef, kidney, carrots and onions, this pie is the star of family feasts and casual lunches.

Enjoying Steak and Kidney Pie with wine is a great idea, especially if a glass of Pinot Noir accompanies this recipe, characterised by slightly earthy hints, softened by floral and fruity notes and a light spiciness in the background. Medium tannic and enlivened by an acidic note that does not go unnoticed, Pinot Noir gives the diner an unforgettable tasting experience!

Beef and lamb are not, however, the only raw materials designated to make excellent meat pies. Pork Pie, for example, is one of the UK's most famous pork pies, a natural evolution of ancient medieval recipes. According to the traditional recipe, a puff pastry shell hides a soft and delicious heart of minced pork, to which the fattest cuts and a bit of jelly are added.

Talking about Pork Pie and wine pairing might trigger red wine lovers, but the world of whites can also guarantee the perfect marriage. A Langhe Riesling DOC is a good candidate, able to counterbalance the intense savouriness of this meat pie and the fatty texture of its dough thanks to its mineral notes and herbaceous suggestions conferred by the terroir to which it belongs.

Cake and wine tasting guide: what to drink with fish and vegetables?

Although meat pies are a veritable institution in the UK, local gastronomic traditions offer a wide range of tasty recipes based on fish and vegetables. In these cases, it is the white wines that perfectly complement both the briny tones of the fish and the organoleptic variety of the vegetables, with their freshness and distinctive mineral notes.

Fish Pie (probably imported by the Romans during the conquest of Britain) is a tasty pie made with a base of cod, haddock or halibut and flavoured with a cream cheese made from the milk in which the fish is cooked. Instead of the traditional layer of puff pastry typical of British pies, it is customary to use mashed potatoes, which form a delicious crust when cooked.

To enjoy a Fish Pie with a matching wine, one can discomfort oneself with the white of whites, a lively and fresh Chardonnay, a perfect candidate to lighten the palate from the brackish hints of Fish Pie and the unctuousness of cheese. With its straw-yellow colouring and refined golden hues, it looks great on the table, also conquering the senses with its organoleptic notes of yellow and tropical fruit and a mineral component reminiscent of marine scents.

Among the most popular vegetarian pies on the British culinary scene is the Cheese and Onion Pie, which with its only two main ingredients is the quintessence of simplicity. The savouriness of the filling, enclosed in a crumbly puff pastry shell, can be accompanied and enhanced by a wine with a racy character, such as a Sauvignon Blanc. This product conquers the senses with an intense and distinctive bouquet, in which exotic fruit notes and herbaceous hints dominate. The hint of acidity perceivable on the palate is harmonious and does not detract from the pleasantness of the tasting, but rather enlivens the intense tones of cheese and onions.

Traditional cakes and wine pairings: what to drink with dessert?

No self-respecting gastronomic tradition is complete without a worthy sweet offering, which is well represented by the Apple Pie. The softness of the filling and the crispness of the pastry provide the palate with an excellent contrast of textures, while the cinnamon-flavoured apple filling conquers the senses with its persuasive aromas. To enhance them, an equally aromatic wine is needed, such as a Malvasia delle Lipari, as warm and welcoming as an embrace. Its richness of fruity aromas is followed on the palate by pleasant sugary notes and a light final note of herbs and almond.

Another popular UK dessert is the Mince Pie, a puff pastry crust once filled with meat, but now characterised by a soft and delicious heart of dried fruit (walnuts or almonds, sultanas, apricots, cherries and orange peel), with the addition of nutmeg, cinnamon and a little liqueur. The perfect combination of sweet cakes and wine is achieved in this case with a glass of Moscato d'Asti DOCG, a sparkling wine from Piedmont that releases a remarkable aromatic charge on the nose, with hints of orange blossom and peach and a light touch of herbs. Its light and harmonious effervescence is just what is needed to liven up festive lunches!

Are you ready to enjoy a traditional cake with a good glass of wine? Svinando has the bottle for you!