For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah! For those of you don’t celebrate, Happy Hanukkah to you as well. Hanukkah is the holiday of lights, and goodness knows we could all use some light in our lives right now. One of the many blessings of Hanukkah is the foods we eat: latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts). The common theme of these two foods is oil, which ties closely to the Hanukkah miracle where a vat of oil that was only supposed to last a day lasted eight days – enough time for more oil to be found to light the synagogue. Today, we’re going to look at Hanukkah wine pairings. We’ll focus on which wines go best with latkes and sufganiyot. Thank you to Food&Wine, JustWineApp, Tablet and Israel21C for their help with this article.
Hanukkah Wine Pairings for Latkes
Whenever I think of fried food, I think of Sparling Wine or Champagne. Why? The wines’ acidity does a great job of cutting through the oil. According to Food&Wine, sommelier Rajat Parr notes, “fried foods and sparkling wines echo each other in texture: The wine’s abrasive bubbles feel similar to the crackly crispness of the food, creating a satisfying effect that’s hard to beat.”
A Few More Possibilities for Latkes
JustWineApp offers a few more suggestions, based on what you put on top of your latkes:
- Latkes with sour cream = Chardonnay
- Latkes with sugar = Riesling
- Latkes with apple sauce = Muscat
- Latkes with smoke salmon – Riesling
Israel21C touts Gewürztraminer for latkes with sour cream and Sauvignon Blanc for latkes with applesauce. They say the Gewürztraminer “accentuate[s] the flavor of the pancakes and complement[s] the viscosity of the cream” and the acidity of Sauvignon Blanc makes the applesauce taste sweeter and its grass and herbal notes bring out the earthiness of the potato.
Hanukkah Wine Pairings for Sufganiyot
Most of the sites I looked at recommended an off-dry Rosé, either still or sparkling. They say that sufganiyot offer a combination of sweet and savory. Sweetness from the jelly and sugar, and savory from the frying. A Rosé has a good amount of acidity that can cut through both the sugar and the oil, making for a scrumptious combination. Several sites also recommended Muscats.
I’d love to hear what you do for Hanukkah wine pairings.
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