Pairing wines with Easter can be tricky due to the variety and volume of food on the table. Your strategy should be to pair the wine with the main dish being served but remain versatile enough to pair nicely with all the other delicious food items.

The two most common dishes served at a traditional Easter dinner, lamb and ham, both pair quite well with a wide variety of wines.

Here are some suggestions:

HAM

The tradition of eating ham on Easter began well before refrigeration existed.  Meats that were not used within the winter would be cured for the spring, making ham ready just in time for Easter. If you are thinking of pairing a White Wine, try a tropical Chardonnay. The toastiness of the oak will go great with the smoky flavours of the ham, while the tropical fruit notes, such as pineapple will give the meal a refreshing tang.

LAMB

The roast lamb dinner that many eat on Easter Sunday goes back to the first Passover of the Jewish people. The sacrificial lamb was roasted and eaten in hopes that the angel of God would pass over their homes and bring good fortune.

No white wine is going to stand up against the gaminess of lamb but red wine offers a lot of incredible options. Bordeaux and lamb are the holy grail of food and wine pairings. The cherry, cassis and spice flavours merge well with lamb’s mild gamey quality. The earthiness of the Bordeaux will also match nicely with the root vegetables such as parsnips, potatoes and turnips that may accompany a lamb roast.