Black Bean Salsa

White · Light · Dry

Italy's everyday white — light, lemony, neutral by design. Pleasant with anything; profound with very little. The best Friuli bottles are quietly excellent.

Works with Black Bean Salsa · Black Bean Salsa Chicken · Black Bean Cakes With Fresh Salsa

Red · Light · Dry

Burgundy's most temperamental grape, but the rewards are real — translucent ruby with a perfumed lift of red cherry, forest floor, and clove. Silken tannins and bright acid make it the most versatile red on the table; serve cool, around 58°F.

Works with Black Bean Salsa Chicken · Grilled Pork Tenderloin With Black Bean And Corn Salsa · Chorizo Stuffed Quail With Red Rice, Black Beans, Tomatillo Salsa

Rosé · Light · Dry

Provence's gift to summer — dry, pale, faintly strawberry-and-citrus, with low alcohol and crisp acid. Made to drink cold, with food, in the shade.

Works with Black Bean Salsa · Black Bean Salsa Chicken · Black Bean Cakes With Fresh Salsa

White · Light · Dry

Citrus, cut grass, and a wire of acid. Marlborough makes it loudest; Sancerre makes it most refined. Either way, it cuts cleanly through goat cheese, herbs, and anything with shellfish.

Works with Black Bean Salsa · Black Bean Salsa Chicken · Black Bean Cakes With Fresh Salsa

Red · Full · Dry

The benchmark for full-bodied red — structured, age-worthy, unapologetic. Black currant, graphite, and tobacco lead into firm tannins that demand protein on the plate. Decant young bottles; cellar the serious ones.

Works with Grilled Pork Tenderloin With Black Bean And Corn Salsa · Chorizo Stuffed Quail With Red Rice, Black Beans, Tomatillo Salsa

White · Medium · Dry

Austria's national white — green apple, white pepper, faint celery; lean acid, medium body, and an uncanny ability to pair with otherwise wine-hostile vegetables like asparagus and artichoke.

Works with Black Bean Salsa · Black Bean Cakes With Fresh Salsa

Red · Full · Dry

Argentina's signature grape: deep purple, plummy, and remarkably smooth for its weight. Soft tannins and a touch of cocoa make it the dinner-party Cabernet alternative — and far easier on the wallet.

Works with Grilled Pork Tenderloin With Black Bean And Corn Salsa · Chorizo Stuffed Quail With Red Rice, Black Beans, Tomatillo Salsa

Red · Full · Dry

Shiraz's more reserved European cousin — Northern Rhône style, all violets, black olive, and white pepper. Less brawn, more poise; pairs as well with lamb as with peppered duck breast.

Works with Grilled Pork Tenderloin With Black Bean And Corn Salsa · Chorizo Stuffed Quail With Red Rice, Black Beans, Tomatillo Salsa

White · Medium · Dry

The most-planted white grape and the most chameleon-like. Crisp and steely from Chablis; rich, oaky, and tropical from California. Read the label, then match the style to the dish.

White · Medium · Dry

Chardonnay grown on Burgundy's chalkiest soils, almost never oaked. Lean, steely, oyster-shell minerality; a wine that tastes like a place. The wine for shellfish, full stop.

Red · Medium · Dry

Cabernet's softer sibling — plum, black cherry, and a whisper of chocolate, framed by rounder tannins and earlier drinkability. The wine that built Pomerol and the one to reach for when Cabernet feels like overkill.

White · Light · Dry

Sancerre's cousin across the Loire — Sauvignon Blanc with a smokier, flintier profile. The 'fumé' in the name refers to that struck-match minerality.