Guacamole Wine Pairing Ideas

Wondering what wine goes with guacamole? Our Guacamole Wine Pairing Ideas article gives you some options to try based on our pairing experiments. We keep this updated when we find new ideas. Most of the article focuses on the wine pairings for guacamole; some of the wines mentioned were sent as complimentary samples. If you want to get right to the recipe, click here.

Pairing wine with guacamole, we need to think about two aspects of the dish. First, the spice. My recipe isn’t super spicy, but there is some kick there that needs to be accounted for. Second, there is the healthy fat content of the avocado. This makes the guacamole fairly substantial and I wouldn’t want to pick a wine that is too light.

Summary of pairings tested

With these factors mentioned above in mind, in our testing we have found the following types of wine to work well (click the wine of interest or read on to get more details on the specific wines that we tested with good results):

• • Rosé: I wouldn’t say all rosé would necessarily work, but one with medium to full body and good acidity can be a good guacamole wine pairing. Read about one we tried with good results  
  • Sauvignon Blanc: This versatile white wine can be a good pairing for guacamole. Read about the excellent Sauvignon Blanc from Mexico we tested with guac.
  • Riesling: In our original testing, we preferred a Riesling with a bit of residual sugar.
  • Sparkling wine: click here to jump ahead to read more about the bubbly we enjoyed with guacamole.

A Mexican Pairing Option

In 2020, I had a chance to sample a range of Mexican wines, a first for me. We found some excellent wines thanks to our introduction to Tozi Imports, which brings Mexican wine into Massachusetts.

Max from Tozi emphasized that their high quality Mexican wines can paired with a range of cuisines, such as the Chanterelle Mushroom Beef Stew I made to go with one of their reds. But he also did mention that the Monte Xanic Sauvignon Blanc ($18, 13.9% ABV)is excellent paired with guacamole.

We tested out this crisp Mexican white wine, and not surprisingly, it was a great match for our guac! I do suggest tracking down this Monte Xanic bottle for a Mexican wine and guacamole pairing. But I would say other Sauvignon Blanc could do the trick, too.

Rosé can be the way!

Sure, rosé can be a great choice to sip as the weather gets warm. But don’t forget about this food friendly type of wine in the winter time!

We recently received a sample of the 2020 Sonoma-Cutrer Rosé of Pinot Noir ($25, 11.9% ABV) from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley to test out. I’d been waiting patiently for a pairing to try with this rosé; and decided to open it for a recent taco night.

But before serving this rosé with the beef and bean tacos, I figured I should test it with the fresh guacamole I had whipped up for the meal. Glad I did!

I get melon notes on the nose of the Sonoma-Cutrer Rosé. Pink bubblegum and watermelon fruit on the palate, with good acidity. Some rosés seem best meant to be sipped on their own, preferably on the porch or by a pool. But others, like this selection from Sonoma, seem meant to be enjoyed with food.

The lively flavors of the rosé, including that good acidity, make it a delicious pairing for guacamole. If you are looking for a good start to Valentine’s Day or other date night, why not whip up a batch of fresh guacamole, and pour a glass of this pink wine for you and your valentine! 

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, our friends at Sonoma-Cutrer have a live Sweetheart Virtual Tasting on February 11, 7 p.m. Eastern.

By the way, this versatile wine worked pretty well with our tacos, but I’d say was better served directly with the guacamole.

 

Our Original Wine Pick for Guacamole

We originally wrote about picking wine for guacamole when we were making a batch of guac for the Super Bowl back in January 2015. For that matchup, we compared a white wine and red wine for guacamole. 

I know, wine might not be the go to drink to serve with guacamole, or the Super Bowl in general, for that matter. But I’m sure there are plenty of folks out there for whom wine is the adult beverage of choice. So I thought I’d test out two wines to help with your selections.

The 2012 Finger Lakes Circle Riesling from Red Newt Cellars turned out to be our winning wine for guacamole pairing. Rieslings are food friendly in general. In picking a Riesling for guacamole, I was looking for something slightly sweet. Many rieslings, including this one from Red Newt, show you a sweetness scale on the back. This one is “medium sweet”, with 2.6% residual sugar (RS).

On my first taste of the wine, I got green apple along with a modest amount of sweetness. After taking a bite of the guac, the sweetness was more pronounced, a refreshing contrast to the spice. Cleansed out the palate nicely, making me ready for the next bite. A winning pairing!

You should be able to find the Red Newt Riesling for under $15. In addition to pairing well with guacamole, I’d suspect it would go well with other Super Bowl fare like spicy wings, dips, and perhaps chili.

We also sampled a 2009 Enkidu Diener Ranch Zinfandel. I thought the spice element in many zins might work well with the guac. While it’s a very nice wine, the spice and flavor elements of the wine did not quite marry with the guac. No worries, this zin went very nicely with the Bee Bim Bop we had for dinner.

Speaking of recipes, be sure to note our little guacamole serving tip! Keep those peels, and use to serve the guacamole. Makes a nice presentation…not to mention they are kind of football shaped!

Sparkling Wine

Our original wine pairing for guacamole showdown featured white vs. red wine options. But what about bubbly? Sparkling wine is a versatile food wine, and some versions of bubbly can go well with spicy food. We decided to give it a try recently when we made another batch of guacamole. We were also nibbling on some Indian samosas, a second spicy element to contend with in this wine pairing.
We paired the guacamole with a bottle of Maison Vergnes Le Berceau Blanquette de Limoux Brut (appx. $17, 12.5% ABV). This sparkling wine comes from the Languedoc region of France. Taste of pear fruit, cream, and a touch of sweetness. Refreshes the palate after bites of spicy guacamole as well as the samosa.

I would add this sparkling wine or similar bubbly to the list of wines to pair with guacamole. So next time you make guac and want wine to pair with it, our experiments say try a Riesling or sparkling wine. Full disclosure: I received a complimentary sample bottle of the Blanquette de Limoux. As always, the opinions reflected here are entirely my own.

Bottom line for our sampling so far suggest that whites and sparking wines work better with guacamole than red wine. But if we find a red to suggest we will let you know!

Time to check out the Cooking Chat guacamole recipe details! This recipe is included in our What to Serve with Guacamole roundup, visit that post for more ideas.

Print

Recipe card

Of course, guacamole is great simply served with chips. But if you want to feature it as part of a meal, here are a couple of ideas:

• Grilled Swordfish with Guacamole
• Guacamole Cheeseburger

Love avocados? You should also check out my Awesome Avocado Steak Tacos recipe!