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Chicken, mushrooms and a sauce made from a fortified wine. The sauce is the dish.
Pinot Noir, a lightly oaked Chardonnay, or a soft Sicilian red. The chicken is mild; the Marsala and mushroom sauce is what the wine has to meet.
Chicken marsala is an Italian-American classic: thin cutlets, pan-fried, then finished in a sauce of Marsala reduced with mushrooms, stock and butter, sometimes cream. Reduced Marsala tastes nutty, caramel-like and savoury, with a faint sweetness that a very dry, sharp wine will fight.
Three things in the sauce matter. The mushrooms are earthy and savoury, which points to Pinot Noir. The reduced Marsala brings dried-fruit, nutty and caramel notes, and a little sweetness. And the butter or cream adds richness that needs some acidity to cut.
Put together, you want a wine with moderate acidity, soft tannin and some savoury or nutty depth of its own. Big, tannic reds are the wrong shape: the chicken is too lean to soften them and the sauce’s sweetness makes them taste bitter.
Pinot Noir. The best all-round match. Its red fruit and earthy, mushroomy notes line up with the sauce, and its low tannin suits lean chicken.
Lightly oaked Chardonnay. The white choice, especially if the sauce has cream. A little oak gives a nutty, toasty note that echoes the Marsala; keep it restrained, as a heavily oaked bottle turns the dish heavy.
A Sicilian red. Marsala is Sicilian, so the island’s own reds fit naturally. Frappato is light, bright and cherry-fruited; Nero d’Avola is fuller and suits the veal version.
Veal marsala is the older, Italian form of the dish. Veal has a little more flavour than chicken and can take a touch more structure: Nero d’Avola, a Barbera, or a young Sangiovese. See also wine with veal.
Creamy marsala leans towards the Chardonnay, which handles cream better than most reds.
A version heavy on mushrooms leans even further towards Pinot Noir. The same logic applies as for mushroom risotto: earthy wine for earthy food.
Marsala is a fortified wine from western Sicily, named after the port town it comes from. English merchants built its trade in the late eighteenth century, as they did for Port and Sherry. It is made mainly from the white grapes Grillo, Catarratto and Inzolia, and it comes dry (secco), medium (semisecco) or sweet (dolce).
For cooking, most recipes use dry or medium Marsala. If you have none, a dry Oloroso sherry or a Madeira gives a similar nutty depth in the sauce.
FAQ
Pinot Noir is the best all-round choice: its earthy, red-fruited character suits the mushroom and Marsala sauce, and its low tannin suits lean chicken. A lightly oaked Chardonnay is the white alternative.
Either works. A light red like Pinot Noir suits the mushrooms and the savoury sauce; a lightly oaked Chardonnay is better if the sauce contains cream. Avoid big, tannic reds.
A slightly fuller red than for the chicken version: Nero d’Avola, Barbera or a young Sangiovese. Veal has more flavour than chicken and can take a little more structure.
A dry Oloroso sherry or a Madeira gives a similar nutty, caramel depth. Use a dry or medium one, not a sweet dessert style, unless the recipe asks for sweet Marsala.
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