The best wines to pair with Baked Potatoes are acidic and earthy/herbally red wines like Cabernet Franc, Carménère, Carignan and Beaujolais Villages. For Baked Potatoes loaded with cheese or Sour Cream, a full-bodied Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigio with a bit of minerality and smoke are good choices.
Baked Potatoes are often a side dish, and most likely you’re having some sort of protein with them, like a NY Strip Steak, grilled salmon, or some roasted chicken. For the steak, Barbaresco makes an excellent choice. This Italian red has wonderful notes of smoke, tar, tobacco, minerals and earth that merge beautifully with the earthy potato skin. Meanwhile, the soft creamy potato flesh soaks up the wine’s notes of black cherry, roses, and blackberries.
Baked Potato with Salmon or Chicken, I’d most likely stick to either a Beaujolais Villages or Chardonnay. Beaujolais is a lighter red, that has notes of earth that complement the potato skin, meanwhile it has plenty of acidity to handle the carbs plus any fatty toppings like butter, cheese or sour cream. Chardonnay, on the other hand, will jive better with the butter, cheese and sour cream in a baked potato as the buttery notes of Chardonnay are complementary. In addition, the toasty notes of Chardonnay are lovely with the grilled flavours of grilled salmon or roasted chicken.
If you are eating a Baked Potato on its own, and there’s no shame in that, we all love our carbs, the toppings will totally dictate the most appropriate wine. Something like a Baked Potato with Sour Cream and chives would be excellent with Sauvignon Blanc, which has a lot of green flavours to complement the chives. Meanwhile, the high acidity of Sauvignon Blanc will wash that sour cream down, clearing your taste buds in one single sip.
+ Click on the plus sign in the table below to expand upon why these individual pairings work! +