Wine Pairings for August

• August 16, 2023
• Wine

It's truly the tastiest time of year. 

by Erin Henderson

Confession time: I have a calendar of Farmer's Markets within a 300km range of my downtown Toronto home. From Muskoka cottage country to Niagara wine country, I know when, where, and what farm stand will be selling the family wares. 

So when August rolls around and the folding tables are sagging under the weight of fresh and bountiful produce, flowers, honey, eggs, and whatever else a person can grow or raise, I get wildly giddy. 

Related: How to Pickle Anything

Almost everything is in season right now, from stone fruit and berries, to nightshades vegetables and the start of root veggie season. It's a great time to be an enthusiastic cook and eater.

Below is a list of the most popular items you will see posted on Instagram. Tomato Girl Summer, Corn Season, and the ever ubiquitous peach emoji... they're all working overtime right now. And I am here for it. 

Tomatoes + Rosé

I’m hearing from farmer friends that tomatoes are slow to ripen this year due to all the rain and (if you can believe it) relatively cool temperatures.

Not that I care. I can’t stand tomatoes. I can handle a well-made sauce for simple pastas and dipping arancini, but a fully fleshed fruit? Hard pass.

As always, the preparation is key to the wine pairing – is this one of those tomato sandwiches that went viral after the New York Times Magazine wrote about it? 

Or is this a simple caprese salad?

As disgusted as I am by this, I’m assuming tomato lovers are indulging in the freshest, purest form of the tom with nothing more than a sprinkling of sea salt, a scattering of olive oil, and maybe a tear of fresh mozzarella.

If this is the case, you need to balance the tomato’s naturally high acidity and sweetness, with a wine with equally bright acidity and fruit flavour. A rosé, particularly from Provence, would highlight and compliment the simple tomato dish. 

Try this recipe: Tomato-Basil Sauce

Corn + Chardonnay

Be still my beating heart.

All year I wait for fresh corn season and then become an unstoppable corn-cooker until the season ends. Fresh off the cob with just salt and butter is best, but I use fresh corn in almost everything I make in August. 

I really think Chardonnay is the best match for fresh corn – the flavours and texture are mirrored in both wine and food, not to mention the popular preparation of corn (risotto, fritters, soup/chowder) also compliments Chardonnay effortlessly.

Try this recipe: Chilled Corn and Coconut Soup

Peaches + Icewine

I get my peaches out in Georgia… JK. I get them in Ontario!

Chances are good that if you are cooking with peaches, you are baking them into something sweet – pie, most likely.

I’m not much of a stickler, but the cardinal rule for pairing wine with sweet foods is the wine must be sweeter than the food itself. Stay local and pair an Ontario Riesling Icewine with your peach pie. Peach flavours run through the wine and the sweetness will keep the pie in check.

Try this recipe: Grilled Peaches and Halloumi

Basil + Côtes du Rhône Blanc

Hear that? It’s the sound of pestle and mortars across the land banging through bushels of basil from overgrown gardens. I hope you like pesto, because every overwhelmed gardener at the office is bringing in a jar (or four) for your culinary pleasure.

Yes, August is the time of year basil plants start whispering “feed me Seymour” in a fascinating and somewhat alarming show of amazing growth. Pesto is one way of dealing with it, but there’s only so much one can reasonably eat.

You can certainly tear up the leaves and scatter in fresh pasta, or puree into tomato soup. One way I’ve been mowing down my abundance of basil is a super simple compound butter which is fabulous as a pasta sauce, but equally delightful on fish and chicken. Scroll down to get the recipe.

For compound butters that are rich and fatty, but still have the bright herbaceous note from the basil, aim for a white wine that’s equally creamy and has a verdant hint. I like white Côtes du Rhône, a blend of potentially several different grapes including Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier and Bourboulenc for a mid-weight wine with complex flavours of citrus, floral and herbs.