Types of Cooking Wine You Should Actually Use

You don’t need a sommelier badge to cook with wine—but a little knowledge keeps you from ruining dinner or wasting a perfectly good bottle. Somewhere between “just chuck in whatever’s open” and “only use wine that pairs with the emotional tone of the broth” lies a happy middle ground. That’s where this guide lives.

Wine in cooking is magic. It adds acidity, depth, structure, and complexity, often in just a splash. It helps sauces cling, meats soften, and bland dishes suddenly taste like effort was involved. But not all wine should go into a pan—and some should never even be opened.

This guide walks you through the types of cooking wine you should actually use—from the dependable whites to fortified heroes, all the way to what belongs in the bin. No snobbery. No lab coats. Just smart tips, sharp instincts, and a few polite warnings.

What Even Is Cooking Wine?

Let’s set the record straight: that bottle on the supermarket shelf labelled “COOKING WINE (CONTAINS SALT)” isn’t wine. It’s a culinary cautionary tale. More cleaning fluid than liquid flavour. The kind of bottle that makes your risotto taste like salted cardboard.

When people say “cooking wine,” they don’t mean this stuff. They mean real wine—bottled for drinking, but decent enough for deglazing a pan. No fancy vintage necessary. In fact, the ideal cooking wine is affordable, acidic, and fresh. It should still taste like wine—not regret.

Here’s your rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t drink a small glass of it, don’t cook with it. This doesn’t mean you need to raid your cellar. But if the wine tastes flat, funky, or like someone left it open since lockdown, don’t expect it to save your sauce.

Wine is seasoning, not a shortcut. So keep a drinkable bottle handy in the kitchen—one that pulls double duty between the frying pan and your glass. You’ll cook better. And you’ll feel smug while doing it.

Dry White Wines

Ah yes—dry white wine. The unsung hero of risottos, pan sauces, and Wednesday night show-off dinners. It doesn’t steal the spotlight, but it knows how to make your butter, shallots, and cream sing like a well-rehearsed trio.

Look for high-acid, unoaked whites like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or a lean Chardonnay. These wines add freshness and lift without overpowering the dish. They’re perfect for seafood, chicken, mushrooms, or anything with lemon, garlic, or cream.

What you want is brightness and bite—not sweetness or oak. So skip anything labelled “semi-dry” unless you’re looking to confuse your carbonara. And oaky Chardonnays? They’ll throw vanilla and toast notes where they absolutely don’t belong. Like putting whipped cream on a fish finger.

The other win? Most of these wines are happily mid-shelf. £7 to £10. Keep it chilled, cook with a splash, sip the rest with your meal, and congratulate yourself for being a proper adult.

Dry Red Wines

If white wine is your go-to for light sauces, dry red wine is what you call in for the big jobs. Beef stews, lamb shanks, mushroom ragù, slow-braised pork—these are the dishes where red wine shines like a proper supporting actor.

Cabernet Sauvignon brings body and tannin. Merlot’s a bit softer, with more plum and velvet. Pinot Noir adds lightness and acidity if you don’t want the dish to turn into a heavy-handed meat-fest. Choose a red that isn’t too sweet or too oaky, and you’re halfway there.

The trick with reds is patience. If you’re cooking with a bold, tannic wine, it needs time to mellow out. Dumping a full-bodied red into your sauce at the last minute is like inviting a loud uncle to a dinner party ten minutes before dessert.

Avoid “jammy” wines—those fruit bombs that taste like alcoholic Ribena—and steer clear of anything that’s been open too long. Cook with it early in the dish. Let it reduce. And if it smells like vinegar, don’t even think about it.

Fortified Wines

Here’s where things get fun—and a bit boozy. Fortified wines like Sherry, Marsala, Madeira, and Port are absolute flavour bombs in the kitchen. Think of them as condensed complexity in a bottle. A little goes a long way, but the right splash can transform a dish from “fine” to “did you train in France?”

Marsala chicken is the classic example—rich, savoury, and subtly sweet. Dry Sherry, especially Fino or Amontillado, works wonders in mushroom sauces or creamy dishes. Madeira’s brilliant for gravies and sauces with roast meat. And Port, while less common in savoury cooking, can add lushness to reductions, sauces, or even dressings if you know what you’re doing.

Whatever you do, avoid the “cooking” versions of these wines. They’re often packed with salt and stabilisers, and they taste like syrupy disappointment. Spend a little more on a real bottle—ideally one you’d be happy to sip on its own.

Bonus: most fortified wines have a long shelf life once opened. They’ll sit happily in your cupboard for weeks, maybe months, quietly improving everything from gravy to mood.

Sweet Wines and Glazes

Cooking with sweet wine might sound like a fast track to disaster—but used well, it can add richness, shine, and just the right whisper of sugar to a dish that needs it. Think glazes, reductions, caramelised sauces—anywhere you want a bit of stickiness without resorting to actual syrup.

Late-harvest whites, Moscato, sweet Sherries, and even a splash of dessert wine can be brilliant in small doses. Try them in soy glazes for duck, reductions for pork, or to give a fruity edge to sauces for cheese or roasted veg. One of the sneaky joys of sweet wine is that it caramelises quickly, turning into a glossy, slightly tangy glaze that tastes more expensive than it is.

The trick here is restraint. You’re not making pudding (unless you actually are). A small splash in a hot pan goes a long way, especially when balanced with acid, salt, or spice. And always reduce—never pour sweet wine in raw at the end, or you’ll end up with something cloying and confused.

Pro tip: if you’re already cooking with ingredients like balsamic vinegar, honey, or fruit juice, go easy on the sweet wine. It should be a background note, not the main chorus.

Rice Wines and Regional Essentials

Welcome to the aisle of the supermarket you’ve probably wandered past without knowing the gold that sits there. Rice wines—like Shaoxing wine from China or Mirin from Japan—are essentials in Asian cooking and deserve respect far beyond your Friday night stir-fry.

Shaoxing wine is savoury, nutty, and slightly funky in the best way. It’s used in marinades, broths, and braises to add depth and umami that plain grape wine simply can’t match. Mirin, on the other hand, is sweet, delicate, and perfect for glazes, dressings, and balancing salty ingredients like soy or miso.

The common mistake? Thinking grape wine can fill in. It can’t. Shaoxing and Mirin aren’t just wine—they’re building blocks for a flavour profile that’s entirely different. Subbing in a dry white wine here is like replacing olive oil with mayonnaise because they’re both “creamy.”

If you cook Asian food even semi-regularly, get a decent bottle of both. Skip the £1.99 stuff labelled “cooking sake.” It tastes like varnish. Real rice wine—good enough to sip (if you’re brave)—will lift your dishes in ways a Chardonnay never could.

Wines You Should Never Cook With

This could easily be its own article, but let’s keep it civil. There are wines that simply shouldn’t be anywhere near a flame, a pan, or your face.

First off, that infamous “cooking wine” in supermarkets—usually found near the gravy granules—is absolute trash. It’s full of salt, stabilisers, and the haunting memory of what wine used to be. If it says “for cooking only,” that’s a cry for help.

Also on the blacklist:
– Oxidised wine that’s been open for a week and smells like damp paper
– Super-oaked whites (unless you want your lemon butter sauce tasting like a Yankee Candle)
– Jammy, sweet reds that make your stew taste like alcoholic Ribena
– Anything labelled “fruit wine” that comes in a 2-litre plastic bottle

Another red flag: bottles sold at room temperature on the bottom shelf for under £4. You know the ones. They belong in student parties, not in your risotto.

Bottom line? Wine in cooking doesn’t need to be fancy. But it does need to be wine. Not flavoured liquid sadness.

Final Thoughts on Types of Cooking Wine

Here’s the real takeaway: you don’t need a vast wine rack or culinary diploma to cook with wine. You just need a basic understanding of the types of cooking wine that actually help—not hinder—your food.

Dry whites bring brightness. Dry reds bring depth. Fortified wines add richness and complexity. Sweet wines deliver gloss and contrast when used properly. And rice wines unlock a whole other world of savoury, soulful flavour. Everything else? Proceed with caution.

The key is balance. Wine shouldn’t dominate a dish—it should enhance it. If it’s good enough to sip, it’s good enough to splash. If it smells like salad dressing, pour it down the sink. And always, always reduce it—don’t just chuck it in and hope.

Cooking with wine is one of those tiny things that makes you feel like you know what you’re doing—even if you’re just winging it on a Tuesday night. So keep a few trusty bottles around, use them well, and toast to your own good taste.