Soups

People are always surprised when I tell them I would rather select a wine to go with a salad than a soup, but I have always found pairing a “liquid” with another “liquid” to be quite challenging. As my mother points out, there are two elements to a good soup: a good stock and flavorful raw materials. When selecting a wine, one must consider a third factor: the thickness of the soup. A pureed soup—be it beans, starchy vegetables (potato and fennel, or butternut squash)—has a thick texture. Such soups are much easier to match than broth-based soups, which force one to pair a wine with a liquid of similar weight.