Dried Apricot

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.

Works with Dried Apricots · Roast Pork Tenderloin With Pears And Dried Apricots · Chicken Baked With Dried Fruit And Apricot Preserves

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 Dried Apricots · Lamb Tagine With Dried Apricots · Chicken Baked With Dried Fruit And Apricot Preserves

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 Dried Apricots · Chicken Baked With Dried Fruit And Apricot Preserves

Red · Medium · Dry

Tempranillo-based blend from northern Spain, traditionally oak-aged into something quietly profound. Cherry, dill, vanilla, leather; great with lamb, paella, and aged Manchego.

Works with Lamb Tagine With Dried Apricots · Chicken Curry With Dried Apricots

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 Dried Apricot · Chicken Baked With Dried Fruit And Apricot Preserves

White · Medium · Dry

A medium-bodied dry white in the European tradition — crisp acid, citrus and orchard fruit, a clean mineral finish. Pairs reliably with most lighter dishes.

Works with Chicken Curry With Dried Apricots · Roast Pork Tenderloin With Pears And Dried Apricots

White · Medium · Dry

California and Pacific Northwest Gewürztraminer — lychee, rose petal, ginger, made riper and fuller than Alsace. The American spicy-food companion.

Red · Medium · Dry

California Merlot, when made well — plummy, supple, with a touch of cocoa and earlier drinkability than its Bordeaux cousins. The unfairly maligned dinner-party red.

Red · Medium · Dry

California and Oregon's answer to Burgundy — riper, more upfront fruit than the French original, with cherry, raspberry, and gentle oak. Sonoma and Willamette set the standard.

White · Light · Off-dry

Washington and Finger Lakes Rieslings split the difference between Mosel delicacy and Alsatian heft — bright stone fruit, modest sweetness, lively acid. A natural with Thai, Indian, and anything off the spice rack.

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.

Red · Medium · Dry

Australia's signature red — dense, spice-driven, peppery, often pushing 15% alcohol. Barossa makes it brawniest; McLaren Vale, smokier; Hunter, leaner. Built for the grill.