Croque monsieur

Croque monsieur

Assuming ham and Gruyere between buttered bread, covered in bechamel and grilled until browned.

This is one of the fattiest things on any menu, and the wine's first job is to cut through it. The second job is harder: aged cheese and cured ham together make tannin taste metallic and hollow, so a red with any structure turns against the plate. A wine with a toasted, biscuity register also mirrors the browned top rather than sitting apart from it.

Pairs Perfectly. Champagne, Brut, France. Acidity and a fine bead scrub the butter and the bechamel off the palate between mouthfuls, which nothing still can do as thoroughly. The biscuit and brioche that come from long ageing on the lees land directly on the grilled bread, and there is no tannin anywhere to catch on the cheese. A Crémant de Bourgogne is made the same way from the same grape and gives the same logic for a third of the price.

Pairs Well. Dry Furmint from Tokaj, Hungary. Better known for the sweet wines of the region, but the dry version is firm, quince scented and high in acid with a little barrel texture. It has the substance to sit under a rich plate without being bullied by it.

Pairs Well. Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, Italy. A rosé deep enough to be mistaken for a light red, full in body with red cherry and almond. Darker roses like this were made for cured ham and fried, fatty food.

Worth Seeking Out

Savagnin from the Jura, France, in the topped up style rather than the oxidative one. Grown in the mountains where the cheese comes from, taut and nutty with a stony finish. Mountain cheese and mountain wine is not a coincidence.

Avoid

Tannic reds. The combination of aged cheese and cured ham makes even a good Bordeaux taste metallic and hard here.

Failing That

A Soave, Italy.

If All Else Fails

Unoaked Chardonnay, Chile.

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