Soup of the day

Soup of the day

Assuming a seasonal vegetable soup, blended and finished with a little cream, served with bread.

Soup is a hard case for wine and the reason is temperature rather than flavour: hot liquid dulls the palate and makes alcohol taste hotter, so a big wine turns clumsy. The savoury stock underneath also makes tannin taste metallic. What works is something dry, modest in alcohol and savoury in its own right, with enough acidity to register against a warm bowl.

Pairs Perfectly. Amontillado Sherry, Jerez, Spain. Aged first under a veil of yeast and then in contact with air, which leaves it bone dry and deeply nutty, with a savoury depth that meets stock rather than sitting apart from it. Soup and dry sherry is an old pairing that fell out of fashion for no good reason, and a small glass of it is better with a bowl than almost anything else.

Pairs Well. Chablis, France. Unoaked Chardonnay, chalky and taut, clean enough not to intrude on a delicate soup and sharp enough to be noticed beside one.

Pairs Well. Silvaner, Franken, Germany. Quiet, dry and faintly herbal, with none of the perfume that would bully a gentle bowl. Cheap and thoroughly underrated.

Worth Seeking Out

Chasselas from the Valais, Switzerland. The Swiss drink almost all of it themselves, which is why nobody else has met it. Soft, stony and barely fruited, with low alcohol and a gentle bite, and it is the most obliging white in Europe.

Avoid

Heavily perfumed whites and big reds. A very aromatic wine bullies a delicate soup, and hot liquid makes high alcohol taste hotter and harsher still.

Failing That

A Soave, Italy.

If All Else Fails

Unoaked Chardonnay, Chile.

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