The best 5 wines for ham

The golden rule. There are no rules.

Boomer. We're sorry for the disappointment. But really, we're just saying this as a disclaimer in case you don't like what we're suggesting. The reality is that there is a lot written about the world of food and wine pairing and sometimes we can be overly intense when we talk about it.

However, beyond what, organoleptically, enhances more intensely one product or another, your habits and internalised tastes will define your preferences as to the best harmonies. Or in other words, perhaps an old amontillado is a fantastic pairing for an Iberian lomito de bellota, but if sherry wines are not your forte, we are wasting our time.

Another important point before we start is that we have to understand that not all cured meats are the same, and above all that not all hams are the same. The differences are obvious depending on the breed and feed, as they are in sausages in the case of the addition of ingredients. But they are less so, depending on which part of the ham we eat.

Raúl Igual, one of the best sommeliers in the country and owner of Restaurante Yain (Teruel), told us a few days ago on live on our Instagram channel @enbotella the differences between the different parts of the ham (take a look at the live on our IGTV channel between minutes 12 and 30), and how important it is to take them into account when choosing our wine. That said, here's our top 5.

Champagne AR Lenoble Brut Intense

If there is one wine that works fantastically well with cold meats, especially Iberian cured meats, it is champagne. Champagne combines several things that are essential for a good pairing: good acidity, bubbles that always give us an extra cleanness on the palate, and toasted notes from the ageing in rhyme in contact with the yeasts. All this helps to ensure that, above all, Iberian cured meats, with good infiltration and also if they come from acorn-fed pigs, with the extra nutty flavours of these oils, the mixture is perfect in the mouth.

We have chosen a small producer champagne with very little sugar in its dosage, 100% Chardonnay and a blend of wines with part reserve wines but without an excessively long ageing. One of our favourites in Champagne with unbeatable value for money in a Grand Cru.

Ossian 2018 VT Castilla y León

Maybe it sounds strange to many of you but if there is a group of wines that work perfectly with hams and shoulders, it is the whites with some ageing. Lees, some oak, that preserve freshness, we don't want a lot of evolution but we do want that point of volume and structure and those more unctuous sensations. We can find it in many styles, a good Godello de Valdeorras, a white Rioja with some ageing, a well worked Macabeo...

And if there is a guaranteed white wine that we like for this kind of pairings, it is Ossian's flagship. A Verdejo from one of the most impressive white vineyards in the country, certified organic and with perfect woodwork. Iberian hams with acorns, especially the beginning of the ham, the part of the mace. Fine stuff.

Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza 2012

For those of you who are worried about seeing too few reds in our round-up. Not to worry. We all like a red wine with some cured meats. But if we're talking about hams, look especially for the stifle of the ham. It is the leanest part, the one that needs the most work in the mouth and the one that most appreciates some tannin, without overdoing it. Never forget some acidity, too sweet or too heavy wines, please abstain.

And we propose you one of our favourite "crianzas" (to call it somehow). Viña Cubillo from Bodegas Lopez de Heredia is the benjamin of the family, which in this family does not mean the same as in the rest. A wine already very refined when it arrives to our tables, with an unthinkable freshness for its age, and a balance between fruit, wood, tannin and acidity, funambulist.

We said hams, but here we say "jamones", but here we say "morcones", "salchichones", etc... and the wine will come out unscathed. Try with these other more seasoned sausages (pepper, paprika, etc...) reds with an extra point of acid fruit, such as Atlantic wines, gamay from southern Burgundy (Beaujolais), garnachas without much wood...

Williams & Humbert Amontillado Don Zoilo

Hams and hams or shoulders with a lot of curing, long reserves and intense flavours. And above all in the contramaza and tip of the ham, bear in mind that hams are dried hanging from the hoof, and therefore the tip, concentrates more fat and generally more potency of flavour.

We propose a historical, geographical and even cultural pairing. The Marco de Jerez. The wines of the region combine in a very unique way, concentration, notes of complex biological and oxidative ageing, and a sapid residue of albariza and sea that gives us texture and cleanliness in the mouth. These pungent notes and at the same time the aromatic complexity of an amontillado of a certain age, such as Williams & Humbert's Don Zoilo (12 years in Criaderas y Soleras), are fantastic with the most powerful products. Hams and shoulders of acorn-fed Iberian pigs, lomitos de larga crianza... a few picos or some toasted almonds... and there is no pandemic to spoil your moment.

AT Roca Rosat Rosat Reserva Eco 2018

And we finish with more bubbles but with more colour. We had not mentioned any rosé and they are a perfect tool for this type of product. That point of fruit and structure of red wines, and the freshness and acidity of its white soul.

This is what a wine like AT Roca Rosat Reserva 2018 gives us. A wine that comes from an area of particularly characteristic soils, and that gives us very cold sensations, very refreshing in the mouth. At the same time, and as a counterpoint, this wine has notes of red fruit, mountain herbs and toasted notes from its ageing. Try it even with sobrasadas, with very intense sausages, and you will be surprised.

I'm running out of time to start talking about cheese... but we'll leave you time to train with the hams. And by the way, if you haven't chosen your ham yet, have you seen our selection?