Pulses were among the first cultivated plants, grown since our hunter-gatherer forebears began developing agrarian communities around 11,000 years ago, and although they have a certain modest charm when served alone, pulses more often play an unassuming but nutritionally valuable role to bulk up more flavourful and flashy ingredients. And it is those that should guide you when it comes to picking an accompanying wine.
A good general rule is to look to the roots of a dish and drink something that comes from nearby. Beans are very big in Tuscany, for example, often in frugal, cucina povera dishes involving tomatoes, so more often than not are a top match with a chianti or another sangiovese, just as a cassoulet from south-west France wants a local, rustic red with some acidity to cut through that meaty fattiness. Malbec from this region (or côt, as it’s known) is more savoury and earthy than its sleeker South American brethren, whose well-priced wines go as well with Mexican mole beans as they do with a pork feijoada. And when sweet, smoky spices come into play, in a traditional chorizo-and-bean casserole or a paprika-heavy veggie stew, say, choose a gutsy rioja or a brooding Georgian saperavi.
If tomatoes are absent, creamy white beans in herbaceous dishes generally love a lightly oaked chardonnay or chenin blanc, although if you’re dressing them with lemon and/or vinegar, you’d be better off with something a little crisper, to which end Asda’s sapid Wine Atlas Carricante (12.5%) is a snip at £6.50.
All pulses have a mealy backbone of earthiness, and green and brown lentils are the earthiest of them all. Pinot noir is the obvious choice to echo that – something truffly from Burgundy, if funds allow; a simpler, pocket-friendly New World number if they don’t. Cabernet franc from the Loire, flirtatiously perfumed, but with a racy, mineral crunch, is also a good fit. Les Terrasses St Nicolas de Bourgueil 2023 (£11 Tesco, 9%) gives good, burly bang for your buck.
Rosés, meanwhile, can be really good in bean dishes with seafood, rather than meat, especially those with Middle Eastern or Asian spicing. Steer clear of weedy Provençal ones and opt instead for something darker and with a bit more attitude, or go for a floral, off-dry white such as Majestic’s One-to-One Gewürztraminer 2023 (£9.99, or £8.99 on mix-six, 13.5%), which has appealing, rose petal and ginger notes and is ace with lemongrass/chilli/lime combos.
Skin-contact (or orange) wines, natural or otherwise, with their russet-apple tannins and roast quince fruit, have an earthy register that also works really well with spice, and nicely cut the autumnal sweetness of squash or pumpkin. Go as funky as you like; the more extreme echelons of natural wines are often rather snootily compared to rough farmhouse cider, which itself actually sits rather well with such things, too.
As for the nation’s favourite baked beans on toast, a glass of chilled amontillado is a left-field but bullseye match: try M&S’s Medium Dry Amontillado (£11 in store or Ocado, 17%).
Five bottles to serve with beansSpecially Selected Australian Pinot Noir 2023 £8.29 Aldi, 14%. Nicely tart red fruit with a savoury, slightly smoky underbelly. Top value.
Le Chant du Côt à la Négrette 2022 £9.50 Booth’s, 13.5%. Intense, dark, brambly fruit with a wild, slightly grubby (in a good way) rusticity.
Catena High Mountain Vines Chardonnay 2023 £13.99 Waitrose, 13.5%. Tropical, toasty and with a lemon-curd creaminess kept fresh from the high-altitude vineyards.
Tavel Prima Donna Rosé 2023 £14.50 The Wine Society, 14%. The Rhône’s famous cinsault/grenache dark rosé: ripe red berries with bright acidity and a very gastronomic flourish.
Insieme Orange Santa Tresa £14.50 Vintage Roots, 13%. Pristine organic inzolia/zibibbo blend – think dried apricots, warm spice and a little tannic grip with a zesty grapefruit finish.