Brunch: Which Wines to Feature on Your Menu?

Brunch is all the rage, and more and more restaurants are adding it to their menus (especially on Sundays) so their customers can enjoy this culinary concept, which combines “breakfast” and “lunch.” Brunch menus combine sweet and savory dishes with hot and cold beverages, including tea, coffee, and fruit juice. So, people don’t always think to serve wine with brunch, even though there are wonderful pairings to be made, and it adds a touch of festivity!

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To recommend the right wines to pair with your brunch, it all depends on the type of brunch you serve at your establishment. While brunch is an American concept, it has adapted to local culinary traditions, so there are countless ways to serve it. Here’s a look at the main types of brunch, along with wine pairings, so you’ll find at least one that fits your situation.

American brunch

Let’s start with a classic: American brunch, featuring pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages, as well as cheesecake and muffins. For an authentic New York-style brunch, serve eggs Benedict: a poached egg placed on a slice of bacon and a muffin, all topped with hollandaise sauce.

If you're serving this type of brunch:

We recommend a rosé from Provence, or even from Languedoc-Roussillon or Bordeaux. Their lightness and crisp acidity, without too much tannin, pair very well with pork and charcuterie in general. Our top pick to pair with this meal: “J’ai rendez-vous avec vous” from Domaine Rière Cadène.

Another option is to serve a light red wine, again with very low tannins. We suggest a red from the Loire Valley, but be mindful of the grape variety—opt for a Côteaux or a Pinot Noir rather than a Cabernet Franc. Our top pick to pair with this dish: Pinot Noir from JM Biet

English brunch

With its savory breakfast options, the concept of brunch is also very popular in England, and although it’s similar to American brunch, it has its own unique features: you’ll find scrambled eggs with bacon and muffins, but there are also English specialties such as scones, crumpets, baked beans, porridge, and toast with marmalade. It’s served with English tea, but wine can also work very well, provided you find the right one and serve it at the right time.

If you're serving this type of brunch:

Our first tip is to avoid red wines, especially if brunch is served with tea. Generally speaking, tea is served with the sweeter part of brunch, while wine is served with the savory part.

For an English-style brunch, we’ll go with a white wine: a dry, fruity white that’s crisp and easy to drink. Our top pick to pair with it: Sables Fauves from Domaine de Laballe.

For those who prefer sweeter wines, we also recommend a sweeter option that pairs just as well with the sweet dishes at brunch as it does with bacon and eggs. Our top pick to pair with this meal: Coteaux du Layon from Clos des Sables

Nordic/Scandinavian Brunch

If you prefer fish and fresh ingredients for your brunches, you’ll be serving up what could be described as a Scandinavian-style brunch. The menu typically features smoked fish (salmon, tuna, herring), fish roe, and tarama served with blinis, raw vegetables, and fresh greens.

If you're serving this type of brunch:

When pairing with fish and seafood, opt for dry, mineral-driven white wines such as Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley, specifically from the Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé appellations. From these two appellations, we recommend the wines from JM Berthier.

We also recommend dry white wines from Alsace (note: only dry whites): preferably Riesling or Sylvaner. Our top pick to pair with this: the Riesling from Rieflé Landmann

French-style brunch

Brunch works just as well in the French style: it features delicious pastries, cottage cheese with fresh fruit or jam, open-faced sandwiches, and poached or soft-boiled eggs. You can also add crêpes and a lovely cheese platter, finishing with an apple tart topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If you're serving this type of brunch:

It’s time to serve some bubbly! We recommend pairing it with all our pastries and sweet treats, and our top pick is the Brut Réserve from Champagne Marteaux.

For a change from Champagne, Blanquette de Limoux, a sparkling wine from the Roussillon region, is also an excellent choice:Antech Limoux’s traditional-method Blanquette de Limoux features buttery notes along with hints of almonds and hazelnuts from its barrel aging, which pair beautifully with pastries.

Italian-style brunch

Here too, even though brunch isn’t originally from the Mediterranean, there are plenty of Italian specialties to include in a brunch that’s sure to satisfy all fans of this cuisine. The menu features soft-boiled eggs, bruschetta with prosciutto, mozzarella, olives, and smoked scamorza, focaccia, herb-seasoned cooked ham, and for a sweet touch, panna cotta or tiramisu.

If you're serving this type of brunch:

This time, we’ll go with a light red with a bit of character. Charcuterie pairs very well with this type of wine, though you should always avoid wines that are too tannic. So we’ll start with a Beaujolais, and our top pick is the Côtes de Py from Domaine de la Bonne Tonne.

You could also opt for a right-bank Bordeaux, such as a Côtes de Bordeaux, a Côtes de Blaye, or a Côtes de Bourg. Our favorite winery: Château Fleur Lamothe.

If you have the opportunity, you could also suggest an Italian wine, such as a red from Sicily.

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