A simple guide to helping you pick the correct cooking wine.

Lots of us know how to drink wine, but it’s cooking with wine when things start to get more complicated. Adding wine to a dish is a great way to enhance flavour and complexity — as long as you know how to pick the correct one. No matter what you’re cooking, whether it’s pasta, a slow cooked meat, or a delicious sauce, we’ve answered the most commonly asked questions about cooking wine below so that you can add a splash with confidence.

Is it ok to use cheap wine for cooking?

Firstly, it’s important to remember that price isn’t a good indicator of a wine’s quality. In our annual Decoded Wine Awards moderately priced bottles of wine sometimes beat out their more expensive competition. What really matters when it comes to selecting cooking wine is that it will add the right flavour to your dish. Remember: you should only ever cook with a wine that you’d happily drink. Then there’s the added bonus that most recipes don’t call for a full bottle, which means a glass or two for you.

Can I cook with leftover wine?

Yes, you can — depending on one important factor. Most important is how old the leftover wine is. When wine is opened it begins oxidising, which makes the flavour of the wine change and that could affect the outcome of your dish. If it’s only been a couple of days then it won’t be an issue. But if you’re hoping to cook with a two week old open bottle, we’d suggest that wine is better poured out in the garden.

What are the best cooking wines? And are they interchangeable?

Recipes turn out best when they’re followed. If your recipe calls for red wine then you need to use red wine. Using white wine in a red wine dish is going to create something completely different, so don’t take the risk. In general the best wines for cooking are dry rather than sweet, slightly higher in acidity, and lower on tannis. The honest truth is that you've got a lot of options to choose from, depending on the flavour you're going for. But we know you're here for a quick answer, so here it is.

The best white wines for cooking:

The best red wines for cooking:

What about cooking wine for desserts?

When you’re cooking a dessert it’s even more important to pay attention to the recipe and which type of wine it calls for. Some desserts, like wine poached pears for example, will ask for “dry red wine” and that means you can use the same reds we talked about for savoury dishes. If the dessert recipe calls for a sweet wine however you’ll want to pick up something like a late harvest Riesling or a Sauternes.

How much alcohol is there in a dish featuring wine?

It’s true that alcohol reduces or burns off when you’re cooking with wine, however it doesn't completely disappear. Some traces of the alcohol will remain in the final dish but exactly how much depends on the heat level and how long it was cooked. Adding wine to the early stages of a dish for things like casseroles or stews burns off more alcohol because they tend to simmer for a few hours. If you’re adding wine at the later stage of a recipe or cook quickly then it’s less likely to reduce as much. The amount of alcohol remaining in your food also depends on how much wine you use to begin with. One cup of wine added to a huge pot of stew doesn’t end up being that much once it’s served out in portions.