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As people who pride ourselves on our wine pairing expertise, we consider it a learning experience when we get it wrong. For a recent dinner party, we were planning to serve a small portion of giardiniera—Italian pickled vegetables—alongside a dry white wine, and while testing our planned pairings, the result was unpalatable. The vinegary vegetables were far too acidic and spicy for the wine, which tasted flat and bitter alongside the giardiniera. Instead, we opened a half bottle of Château Rieussec Sauternes that had been chilling in the fridge, and the outcome was outstanding. The wine’s vivid acidity and sweetness held up beautifully to the heat and tanginess of the vegetables, and despite it being outside the norm, the pairing turned out to be perfect.

One of the most sought-after and often high-priced wines in the world, poor Sauternes is shoehorned into a corner of limited pairing options, with most folks choosing to pour it alongside foie gras, blue cheese, or creamy desserts like crème brûlée. Period. But we ask you to expand your minds. With its elegant, full body, luscious acidity, and delightful sweetness, it is also a perfect pairing for a variety of savory dishes. We’ve found allies in our argument. Massimo Bottura of Michelin three-star Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, suggests pairing a glass of young Château d’Yquem with aged culatello, an Italian cured ham that is a step up from prosciutto. “The wine’s freshness and vibrant energy create a beautiful contrast with the depth, sweetness, and umami of the cured meat,” he tells Robb Report. For older vintages of Yquem such as 1990, Bottura recommends tortellini served in a Parmigiano Reggiano sauce, which he says reaches another dimension with the addition of white truffle. “The richness of the wine, its acidity, and its aromatic complexity weave seamlessly into the layers of the dish,” says the world-renowned chef.

Yquem is known for its richness, but it also has freshness, acidity, tension, and remarkable length. In addition to cured meats, Parmigiano, mushrooms, and truffle, Bottura likes to pair it with shellfish, an idea that also occurs to Michaël Peltier, senior fine-wine specialist at Millesima in New York City. He suggests pouring a youthful Château Suduiraut—under 10 years old—alongside lobster with delicately spiced butter. “The energy of a young Sauternes transforms a simple preparation into a celebration of balance, texture, and aroma,” he says. Lobster’s naturally sweet flavor and luxurious texture “requires a wine with serious architectural strength,” especially if one adds ginger and cardamom to melted butter.

While Europeans and Americans often pigeonhole Sauternes, Victor Petiot, restaurant director of Caprice at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, believes that in China and Hong Kong diners are receptive to sweet wines with savory dishes when they are presented properly. Caprice offers a wide range available by the glass, including Port and Madeira, Jurançon and Passito wines, and Sauternes, including Chateau d’Yquem poured from a six-liter bottle. “The idea is not to add sweetness to sweetness,” Petiot says. “It is to create balance within the dish.”

At Caprice, guests can enjoy a glass of Yquem with laksa, a spicy noodle soup that is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. Made with Alaskan king crab and gentle spices, this creamy delicacy finds a great companion in the Yquem. “The wine’s roundness and freshness help balance the spice while complementing the texture of the dish,” Petiot says. He also pairs Yquem with roasted duck with honey, warm spices, orange, and saffron. “It builds a bridge between texture, spice and savory flavors, revealing dimensions of the wine that might otherwise go unnoticed,” he says. “It moves beyond the obvious.”

“The most traditional pairing would be with the meal that every French family would have on Sunday for lunch, roast chicken,” says Lorenzo Pasquini, CEO of Château d’Yquem. “It may sound surprising, yet it perfectly reflects the place Sauternes has historically occupied at the table, not as a wine reserved for special occasions, but as a wine to share with food.” Under Pasquini’s leadership, the château has been at the forefront of exploring unorthodox pairings through collaboration and in-house residencies in which acclaimed chefs such as Bottura or Mauro Colagreco of Michelin three-star Mirazur in Menton, France prepare a multi-course tasting dinner featuring the wines of Yquem with each course. The upcoming residency this November will feature the team from Hakuba, the two-star kaiseki restaurant in Paris. “A dish does not need to imitate the wine.” Pasquini explains. “In fact, the most interesting combinations often come from the tension between different elements: richness and freshness, intensity and delicacy, salinity and a touch of bitterness.”

Bottura says that what fascinates him most about Château d’Yquem Sauternes is that it can accompany an entire gastronomic journey, “changing character while remaining unmistakably itself.” Although we specifically asked about pairings beyond foie gras, he couldn’t help but suggest pouring a very old vintage alongside Filetto alla Rossini, an extravagant serving of pan-seared filet mignon topped with foie gras and black truffle. “The foie gras, the richness of the meat, and the extraordinary depth that develops in an aged Yquem create a dialogue that feels almost effortless,” he says. In a nod to the maestro for which the dish is named, Bottura says that pairing with Sauternes is like composing music. “You need contrast and tension, but above all you need balance. When food and wine listen to each other, something magical happens.” And we agree it would truly be magical if more of us learned to break Sauternes out of the box and give it the place at the table it deserves.

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