Choosing the best wine to pair with beef wellington starts with simple rules. First, avoid white wine because white wine with beef is a poor wine pairing. Second, choose red wines with the right flavor profile (i.e., full-bodied red wines).
Best Wine With Beef Wellington
Choose one of the wines profiled below to make your dinner party memorable and create the perfect meal. We love French wine at Travel By Glass, so Bordeaux is the perfect wine to start the best wine to pair with beef wellington discussion with French bottles.
Red Bordeaux Wines With Beef Wellington
For many wine lovers, Bordeaux makes the perfect wine. For a rich meal with Beef Wellington, finding a better choice than red Bordeaux blends is tough. Your personal taste may be different, but do yourself a favor and start with some of these red wines.
Red Bordeaux blends work well with Beef Wellington’s flavors for a reason. Most Bordeaux red blends include a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. This combination yields a complex flavor that works well with many beef dishes.
2019 Chateau Sansonnet (starting price: $35-40)
This Grand Cru wine from Saint-Emilion has earned wine critic scores over 90. The wine’s flavor profile includes strawberry, blackberry, plum, and vanilla. The dry red wine has 14.5% alcohol content. As the bottle ages, it will only become richer.
Chateau Malescot-St-Exupery (starting price: $70-80)
The Château Malescot St Exupéry wine estate has been recognized as one of the best in France since 1855. The estate emphasizes its commitment to quality with the Latin phrase “Semper Ad Altum” (always striving higher) on every bottle. The wine’s flavor profile includes an earthy flavor, floral notes, and coffee.
Domaine de Chevalier (starting price: $70)
Drinking this Grand Cru wine is a beautiful experience. The wine’s flavor profile offers blackberries, notes of wild mushrooms, and rich tannins. The 13.5% alcohol content wine also offers oaky notes. The winery sorts the grape harvest three times to ensure only the best berries are used in the wine.
In addition to Bordeaux wines, I suggest picking up a bottle of French Malbec wine to enjoy with your Beef Wellington.
Italian Red Wines With Beef Wellington
Italian wine and French wine almost always earn a spot on my dinner table. Your taste buds may be different. Find out if this classic marriage of food and wine is a good fit for your taste. The best wine to pair with Beef Wellington includes Italian wine options.
Barolo
Produced in Piedmont, a wine region in northern Italy, Barolo wines are made from the Nebbiolo grape. These wines are typically full-bodied with solid tannins and acidity. For special occasions, please pick up a bottle of DOCG (the highest quality level of Italian wines) labeled with riserva (which means it has been cellared for several years).
Araldica Flori Barolo DOCG (price: +$20)
The Piedmont wine has a layered flavor profile, including cherry, cooking spices, and tobacco. The wine producer has won awards at several competitions, including the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine & Spirit competition.
Marchesi di Barolo ‘Barolo’ DOCG (price: +$40)
You’ll experience a range of flavors when you pour this Italian wine. The wine offers raspberry, cherry, and cinnamon notes. The wine also offers baking spice notes. The wine also has aging potential for several years, so consider buying several bottles.
Chianti
I love the taste of Chianti wine. It’s one of the most food-friendly wines I’ve ever experienced. You might be used to drinking Chianti wine with Italian food like tomato-based pasta and pizza dishes. The wine also pairs well with beef dishes, so it deserves a place in this guide to the best wine to pair with Beef Wellington. Here are some Chianti bottles that you may enjoy with Beef Wellington.
Tenuta Villa Rosa ‘Ribaldoni’ (starting price: $40)
This Chianti Classico DOCG is a complex wine. The wine has earthy notes, spices, and mocha. The tannins balance the fruity notes of blackberry. Look out for vintages three to four years old.
Isole e Olena Chianti Classico DOCG (starting price: $25)
This Chianti Classico wine is a blend of three grape varieties: 83% Sangiovese, 2% Syrah, and the rest from Canaiolo. The flavor profile offers a combination of red cherry (not black cherry), raspberry, white paper, and baking spice.
Beef Wellington Recipe: What’s In It?
This classic dish is thought to be named after the famous British general Arthur Wellesley. Following his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Wellesley became the first Duke of Wellington. Encyclopedia Britannica points out some uncertainty about the dish’s origins.
With a cooking time ranging between 2.5 to 7 hours, preparing this dish takes significant effort. The typical recipe you find online or in books will make several individual servings.
- Beef. This dish is made with one of the most tender cuts of beef, beef tenderloin.
- Mushrooms. Combine the mushrooms with shallots and thyme to enhance the savory notes in your Beef Wellington. The mushroom mixture is vital to making Beef Wellingtons.
- Pastry. Puff pastry (or you may prefer a buttery pastry crust) is an essential part of this exquisite dish.
- Additional Ingredients. 1 Egg, unsalted butter, Dijon mustard, black pepper, kosher salt, all-purpose flour, and prosciutto.
Beef Wellington’s recipe takes hours to prepare. Before learning how to make this dish for dinner guests, order it at a restaurant. Once you see how the pros make this dish, you’ll learn about some of the perfect side dish options
