W
hite wine with fish. It’s one of the first
rules all hungry grape geeks learn when
they start to think about matching wine
and food. And on the whole, it’s a very
reliable rule: nobody would disagree that a nice glass
of crisp, cold Chablis is going to taste better with
a platter of oysters than a full-bodied, oaky shiraz.
But that doesn’t mean you should only reach
for a chardonnay or savvy blanc when fish is on the
menu. I have found, over decades of careful research
(yes, mostly in the form of eating and drinking to
joyous excess in exotic locations around the world)
that there are plenty of other, less-obvious liquid
matches that work just as well, if not better.
Take that platter of plump oysters. Sure, a good
Chablis – or, even better, a lesser-known French dry
white such as Muscadet or Picpoul – is a deservedly
classic match. But consider instead pairing oysters
with a late-disgorged sparkling wine.
After performing the secondary, fizz-forming
fermentation in the bottle, yeast cells settle as
sediment, called lees, and eventually break down
over time, releasing a number of compounds into
the liquid that make it more complex, more creamy,
more delicious – including amino acids, which give
the wine a savoury, umami taste that’s perfect with
oysters. And the longer the wine remains in contact
with the lees before disgorging, the more savoury
and oyster-friendly it is.
Yeast also plays a big role in the production and
flavour profile of bone-dry, pale-coloured Spanish
sherry styles such as fino and manzanilla. As these
sherries mature over many years in not-quite-fullThere’s an easy match with things from the
ocean, but there’s also a sea of options outside
the tried and the true, writes MAX ALLEN.
barrels, a film of special creamy yeast called flor
grows on the surface of the liquid, contributing
a nutty, yeasty, slightly saline flavour. And it’s this
briny, tangy character that makes a cold glass of fino
or manzanilla such a great accompaniment to salty,
grilled prawns in a seaside tapas bar.
If you’ve travelled around the western Mediterranean
you’ll have noticed that when local seafood recipes
include richer-tasting ingredients such as garlic
and tomato, saffron and broth – I’m looking at
you, bouillabaisse – then the local drinkers tend to
pour pink wine, not white, in their glasses. Which
makes sense: you need the extra weight of flavour
and slightly higher alcohol and even the subtle
grippiness of tannin in, say, a good pale, dry
Provençal rosé to stand up to the bigger flavours
in the food.
Up in the opposite corner of France, in Normandy
and Brittany, one of the most popular seafood dishes
is mussels cooked in a creamy, boozy sauce. But
unlike the white wine used to make moules marinière
elsewhere in France, in the north-west the locals use
cider, called cidre here, and they eat the mussels with
a glass of the same cider they splashed in the pan.
It’s a heavenly combo: the sweet/tart/bitter
character of traditional Norman and Breton cider
apples matches the sweetness of the mussels and
cuts through the fattiness of the sauce. The same
gastronomic principle lies behind the classic Basque2015 Terre à Terre
Crayères Reserve,
Wrattonbully, $110
This blend of cabernet
and shiraz is lovely now- rich black fruit wrapped
in savoury, almost saline
tannins – but five to ten
years in the cellar will
bring out its character.
terreaterre.com.au
2017 Von Hövel
Scharzhofberger
Riesling Auslese,
Mosel, $137
Glorious auslese made
from later-harvested
riesling: mouthwatering
grapey fruit, scintillating
sun-shower acidity.
Imported by
heartandsoil.com.auCurrent
drinking
ERAMKRBA
LERIESLINGECLLRA
WORTHYTop drops of the monthOpposite: Wonki
Ware bowl from
The Bay Tree.
Stockists p152.44 GOURMET TRAVELLER
PHOTOGRAPHY CHRIS JANSEN (TOP DROPS) & ROB SHAW (MAIN). STYLING AIMEE JONES.