What to Drink with Charcuterie?

While red wine often comes to mind instinctively, the most accurate pairings are frequently found among white wines, structured rosés and, perhaps more surprisingly yet remarkably successfully, gastronomic champagnes. Rosé champagnes made by maceration, such as Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé, or a well-balanced blended Brut like Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée, are particularly compelling choices.

Charcuterie was born out of a vital necessity: preserving meat.

• From prehistoric times, humans sliced meat into thin strips to dry it in the sun; later, they minced it with fat to improve its keeping qualities.
• With the mastery of fire, smoking and cooking complemented drying and salting as preservation methods.
• In Antiquity, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans relied on salt, a rare and precious resource, to preserve meat and fish. Ancient texts already describe preparations resembling modern charcuterie. Homer, in The Odyssey, mentions a casing filled with blood and fat, roasted over the fire, a distant ancestor of black pudding.

During the Middle Ages, techniques became more refined. The slaughtering of the pig was a major event in rural life, and the animal was transformed from nose to tail to avoid waste.

From the fifteenth century onward, livestock was increasingly raised on the outskirts of cities and slaughtered in specialised workshops. Pork remained an exception: often raised close to homes, it was slaughtered locally and processed within the family, a tradition still alive in some villages of Southern Europe.

In the nineteenth century, industrialisation brought greater structure to meat processing:

• – improvements in salting, drying and smoking techniques,
• – the emergence of organised curing houses,
• – wider commercial distribution, while preserving strong regional identities.

Since then, charcuterie has continued to evolve, balancing artisanal traditions, modern sanitary standards and gastronomic innovation.

1. Charcuterie refers to a wide range of food specialities derived from the transformation of meat, most often pork, but also poultry (turkey, duck), game (wild boar, hare) or other species.
3. It can be divided into three major families.
4. – 1. Cured, raw and dried products
5. Dry sausages, rosette, chorizo, coppa, lomo, dry-cured ham, pancetta, Bündnerfleisch.
6. Preserved through salt and time, by drying, ageing and sometimes smoking.
7. – 2. Cooked products
8. Cooked ham, ham hocks, pâtés, terrines, rillettes, black and white puddings, andouilles and andouillettes.
9. Produced through long cooking processes, in jelly, pastry crusts or fine emulsions.
10. – 3. Products to be cooked
11. Fresh sausages, chipolatas, merguez, Toulouse sausages.
12. Intended for grilling, pan-frying or slow cooking.

Charcuterie should not be confused with cured meats.

• – Curing refers primarily to a preservation method using salt, applied to whole cuts such as ham, beef or fish. By extension, “cured meats” describe products obtained through this process.
• – Charcuterie, on the other hand, involves meats that are chopped, seasoned and reconstituted, such as sausages, pâtés, black pudding or rillettes, even though certain cured meats like dry ham are commonly included in charcuterie platters.

Thus, a dry sausage is charcuterie, while a whole dry-cured ham is technically a cured meat, albeit an essential presence on charcuterie boards.

A versatile Brut: Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée

For those who prefer a white champagne, a well-balanced non-vintage Brut dominated by Chardonnay is a reliable choice.

• – Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée is crafted from the purest juice,
• – with a blend dominated by Chardonnay,
• – reserve wines add complexity and consistency,
• – and the champagne combines freshness, elegance and structure.

On a charcuterie platter:

• – freshness cuts through the fat,
• – the bubbles cleanse the palate,
• – and its balance makes it highly versatile.

Asking “What to drink with charcuterie?” goes far beyond the automatic choice of red wine.
Dry whites, structured rosés, light reds and, above all, gastronomic champagnes offer remarkably precise and elegant pairings.

With Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé, a 100% Pinot Noir rosé of maceration with intense red-fruit character, and Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée, a refined and balanced Brut dominated by Chardonnay, the House of Laurent-Perrier provides two exemplary interpretations capable of elevating any charcuterie platter.

These pairings transform a moment of convivial sharing into a true tasting experience, where wine and champagne enhance the expression of terroirs and craftsmanship.