The Best White Wine Pairing For Beef Enchiladas

A plate of savory enchiladas will forever be one of our favorite weeknight meals. Whether you enjoy them fried the traditional Mexican way or embrace the Tex-Mex tactic of baking them, they're great when washed down with a beer. However, sipping white wine with beef enchiladas is just as refreshing, if not more. But which variety is best suited to this dish? We spoke to an expert to determine the best white wine pairings for your beef enchiladas.

A crisp white wine isn't what you'd expect to drink with hearty loaded beef enchiladas, but Lexi Stephens, the wine educator behind Lexi's Wine List, believes the two go together perfectly. "If the beef enchiladas have a bit of spiciness, I would pair them with an off-dry wine like a Riesling or Vouvray to counterbalance the spice," she recommends. Although the tasting experience differs between sweet and dry wines, off-dry wines display a balance of characteristics seen in both varieties.

Off-dry wines open up with a mild sweetness that later turns into acidity. The transformation meshes well with every flavor of beef enchiladas. Both the sweetness and acidity temper the heat, while the finishing tart flavor helps to rein in the richness of the savory meat, preparing your taste buds for the next bite. The drier aspects of the wine also come in handy when balancing out the umami flavors of the cheese that so often covers beef enchiladas.

Outside of the sweet and dry traits of each sort of off-dry white wine, tasting notes also make them an especially good fit for beef enchiladas. Off-dry Rieslings can be quite fruit-forward, often featuring hints of yellow and white peaches, nectarines, pineapples, and melons. The tartness also peeks through in the form of grapefruits, lemons, or limes. There's also an undercurrent of earthiness and floral notes that bring to mind honeysuckle, gardenia, or hibiscus. This can be greatly emphasized when you prepare your enchiladas, especially when crafting an herbaceous homemade red enchilada sauce. Add a little more oregano to display the wine's earthiness, or perhaps pour in a bit of honey in order to make the sweet opening last a little longer.

Off-dry Vouvrays feature the perfect blend of sweet and acidic by displaying fresh and dessert-like tasting notes. While things like quince, chamomile, and apple show off its earthy, tart side, the wine also contains notes of butterscotch, baked apple, and ginger. These warm aspects are a delicious part of Vouvray wines, and you can easily embrace this by slightly amping up the cinnamon or cumin found in enchiladas. If you want those flavors to linger more in the background, make your enchiladas a tad more acidic or earthy with vinegar or cilantro.