Game season: what to pour with moose, venison and wild boar
The hunt has filled the freezers and the stews are on. How to match each kind of game with the right red, from duck to a dark boar braise.
November is game month. Here in the Piedmont hills the hunters come back from the woods with wild boar and the occasional roe deer, and in Sweden the moose hunt has filled a good many freezers. A neighbour left a boar shoulder on my doorstep last week, wrapped in newspaper, which is how you know you are part of a village.
Game is lean and deeply flavoured, and it is usually cooked with strong friends: juniper, bay, red wine, lingonberries, prunes, chestnuts, mushrooms. That combination is what you match the wine to. Get it right and the bottle tastes better than it did on its own, and so does the stew.
Here is how I choose, from the lightest birds to the darkest braise.
Four rules for wine with game
- Acid first: game has little fat, and its sauces are rich and often a little sweet. A red with lively acidity keeps every mouthful fresh. This is why Italian reds, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese especially, are so good here.
- Tannin with care: firm tannin loves a fatty, slow-cooked boar ragù, but it turns harsh against lean, pink-roasted venison. Lean and quick means softer wine; long and rich means bigger wine.
- Watch the sweetness: lingonberries, redcurrant jelly and prunes make a dry, austere wine taste thin and sour. Choose a red with plenty of ripe fruit when the sauce leans sweet, and keep the berries on the side of the plate.
- Match the sauce as well as the animal: a moose fillet with a cream and chanterelle sauce wants a different glass from moose braised for four hours in red wine.
Animal by animal
What to pour
- Duck and pheasant: Pinot Noir or Dolcetto: Light-bodied, red-fruited and gentle on tannin. A village Burgundy or a Dolcetto d'Alba for a weeknight; both are lovely with a duck breast and a lingonberry glaze.
- Roast venison or moose fillet, served pink: Langhe Nebbiolo: Rose and cherry on the nose, bright acidity, tannin that is present but not punishing. It is the everyday cousin of Barolo and costs far less.
- Moose or venison stew with juniper: Northern Rhône Syrah: Crozes-Hermitage or Saint-Joseph. Syrah's black pepper and olive notes sit right next to juniper and allspice. A Swedish gryta with a glass of this is hard to beat.
- Wild boar ragù or cinghiale in umido: Chianti Classico: Sangiovese's cherry, herbs and sharp acidity cut straight through the richness. This is the Tuscan pairing, and it exists for a reason.
- A long, dark braise for a special night: Barolo or Barbaresco: Save the grand Nebbiolos for slow-cooked shoulder or civet-style dishes, where hours of cooking soften the meat enough to meet their tannin. Open or decant them early.
- Hare or a chocolate-dark civet: Amarone della Valpolicella: Made from dried grapes, so it is big, ripe and warm. It stands up to the richest, most gamey dishes. Small glasses.
Recipe: swedish moose stew with juniper and lingonberries
What is in my glass this week
The boar shoulder went into a ragù with my own soffritto, a bay leaf from the garden, a few juniper berries and half a bottle of red. I let it murmur on the back of the stove all afternoon, then tossed it with wide pappardelle. With it we opened a Langhe Nebbiolo from a small grower down the road, and a Chianti Classico someone brought back from Tuscany, side by side. The Chianti won with the pasta. The Nebbiolo won with the cheese afterwards. Nobody complained.
Recipe: wild boar ragu with pappardelle
Bella's tip: Cook with a wine you would happily drink, but you do not need to cook with the bottle you will serve. A sound, inexpensive red of a similar style in the pot, the good one on the table. And open the serious Nebbiolo an hour before dinner, or pour it into a carafe: it relaxes beautifully.
Guide: decanting wine
Not drinking? Still match it
The same rules work without alcohol. Look for something with acidity and a little tannin: a good unsweetened lingonberry or blackcurrant juice cut with sparkling water, or a cold-brewed black tea with a strip of orange peel. Both are better with a moose stew than you might think.
For more on the grapes of my corner of Italy, the Piedmont wine guide has the full story, from Barolo to the humble, glorious Dolcetto.
Guide: piedmont wines
