Why pretzels are the best thing to eat with wine

Salt does something useful to wine. It softens bitterness, rounds off sharp acidity and makes the fruit taste fruitier. A glass that tastes a bit harsh on its own can taste lovely next to something salty.

Most salty snacks bring a lot of other things along: fat, spice, cheese dust, sugar. Pretzels mostly don’t. A good pretzel is flour, water, yeast, salt and a dark, crackly crust. The salt does its job and then gets out of the way.

The crust matters too

Traditional soft pretzels get a quick dip in an alkaline bath before they bake. The high pH speeds up browning, which is where the deep colour and the toasty, slightly malty taste come from. Toasty notes turn up in plenty of wines as well, especially sparkling wines that rest on their yeast for a long time. Like goes with like.

Three to try this weekend

• Hard salted pretzels with Champagne, or any sparkling wine made the same way. The bubbles and acid cut through the salt, and the toastiness matches.
• A warm soft pretzel with an off-dry Riesling. German Kabinett is a good place to look. The hint of sweetness against the salt works like salted caramel.
• Sourdough pretzels with a cold glass of fino sherry. It’s salty, nutty and very dry, and it makes the pretzels taste even saltier in the best way.

One thing to watch

Sweet dips change the rules. Honey mustard or a caramel drizzle can make a dry wine taste sour and thin. If the snack is sweet, the wine should be a little sweet too.