Oak and yolk no match in pairing food and wine

Wine isn’t the first thing that might come to mind when you think about eggs. After all, it’s bad form, not to mention a warning sign of alcoholism, to drink before noon. But since egg-based dishes, despite their breakfast connotations, play so well in other meals, the question arises: What wine should you drink with them?

Joshua Wesson of the Best Cellars retail chain once told us memorably: “Wood and eggs are an awful combination. If you want to make someone suffer, serve them barrel-aged chardonnay with an egg salad sandwich!”

Of course, then we had to taste the combination of a particularly oaky chardonnay and egg salad for ourselves. It struck us as a cross between tinfoil and one of Harry Potter’s more distasteful Every Flavor Beans. Our tongues still haven’t forgiven us that research.

In general, savory egg dishes such as omelets, frittatas and quiches are well-matched by a dry champagne, especially blanc de blancs (that is, 100 percent chardonnay), or sparkling wine. Chardonnay – unoaked or very lightly oaked, of course (as if you could forget) – works, too.

A general rule of thumb for identifying an unoaked chardonnay: The lighter the color and the lower the price, the less likely it is to have spent time in expensive oak barrels. More important, check the label. While some indicate the wine is “unoaked” or “oak free” (as does the smooth-textured St. Supery Estate Oak Free Chardonnay), wineries sometimes have fun with their wording. For example, Trevor Jones christens its unoaked chardonnay “Virgin,” and Four Vines describes its own as “Naked.”

Let the dominant flavors of the dish guide you, as eggs fade to the background when matched with vegetables and herbs, both of which suggest a lightly oaked or unoaked sauvignon blanc. Or, if the egg dish is heavy on breakfast meats, such as a bacon-laden quiche Lorraine or a ham omelet, consider a dry Alsatian pinot gris or even a light-bodied red, such as Beaujolais. At an elegant brunch, we once enjoyed a delicious lobster omelet that was magically elevated by its pairing with a white Burgundy.

Sweeter egg-based brunch items such as custardy French toast are well matched by sweeter sparkling wines. Look to demi-sec (semi-sweet) or doux (sweet) champagnes, or the sweet Italian sparkler Moscato d’Asti. (We’re fans of Marchesi di Gresy Moscato d’Asti La Serra.) If your French toast is topped with fruit such as berries or bananas, it would be delightfully complemented by Brachetto d’Acqui, a sweet red sparkling wine. If all you have on hand is dry sparkling wine, which will wilt under the sweetness of your dish, consider adding a compatibly flavored fruit juice, such as pear or litchi, to create your own mimosa.

Few people celebrate eggs with as much gusto as do natives of Spain, where they are eaten at all times of the day. Eggs not only are served up in the ubiquitous Spanish tortilla or fried in olive oil for dinner, but also are commonly featured after dinner, in the form of creme Catalan and other custard-like desserts.

We turned to Spanish native Antoni Yelamos of Jaleo Wine Shop in Crystal City, Va., who also selects wines for award-winning chef Jose Andres’s restaurants, and he recommended a few of his favorites.

Dry Spanish sherry, such as La Gitana (a favorite we share with Yelamos), is one ideal accompaniment to tortilla. You’ll want to drink sherry chilled and fresh, as it doesn’t store well. The Spanish sparkling wine cava is another perfect match, and Yelamos recommends one called 1+1=3 Cava Brut.

“Its depth of flavor brings it very close to champagne,” he says.

For fried eggs, too, he sees cava’s mix of acidity, freshness and bubbles as the ideal accompaniment. A purist, he recommends cooking the eggs soft, not hard, allowing full appreciation of the way the bubbles cut through the richness of the yolks.

Sweet sherry can be a lovely accompaniment to a custardy flan-like dessert. We’re longtime fans of oloroso sherry, but Yelamos turned us on to Bailen oloroso, which starts sweet with notes of chocolate and caramel but finishes dry. “It’s a very nice balance to flan’s richness,” he enthuses.

The old American oak barrels (called butts) used in the making of sherry are much larger than regular wine barrels, by the way, so far less sherry comes into direct contact with the oak. That, plus the butts’ age, means that far less oak flavor is imparted into the sherry – or into the eggs you drink it with.

Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg are award-winning authors of “What to Drink With What You Eat” and several other books.