See food sip wine

A wine retailer told me last week that one of the two most common questions he gets from customers is “What will I drink with the following dish?” The other is “How alcoholic is that wine? “

This interest in food and wine matching, he said, was a fairly recent phenomenon and he was rapidly becoming expert in the area, reading various books and experimenting at home.

As outlined here before, most wines will taste just fine with most foods, providing you avoid recipes with too much vinegar, chilli, or sweetness. It can however be fun and rewarding to try matching both a little more closely. Today we take a look at fish.

I am a big fan of all things from the sea but my consumption certainly goes up in the summer months. Our stocks may be depleted, and much of our catch goes straight to the continent, but we still do have access to some of the finest seafood in the world.

My local fishmonger has wonderful fresh prawns, mussels and crab, but my current favourite is hake, a fish the Spanish revere. It is delicious served very simply with dill, butter and lemon, accompanied by new potatoes and French beans or another green vegetable.

I have cooked it several times recently, and tried out a range of wines (a great excuse to open a few bottles). All worked reasonably well, the lighter unoaked whites in particular, but the herbiness of the Grüner Veltliner below went perfectly with the dill. Low in alcohol and served well chilled the Laurenz V. makes for a fantastic summer wine.

As with any food, try to match the weight and body of your wine with that of both fish and accompanying sauce; the lightest whites with the most delicate seafood and for more flavoursome richer fish, a wine of similar style.

If you are ever in doubt or choosing a range of dishes in a restaurant, I would look out for an unoaked Chardonnay which will usually have the body and weight to match most fish recipes. With more robust flavours, you could go for a rosé or a lighter red wine, such as a Cabernet Franc from the Loire or a young Pinot Noir.

The lightest freshest dry white wines are often at their very best with simply cooked white fish or plain shellfish. The most obvious example is Muscadet and oysters or even better a plate of spanking fresh fruits de mer, one of the great treats in life. But plainly cooked white fish, such as hake, lemon sole, dab and plaice will all make your light white taste so much better.

Any of the Italian whites, such as Custoza, Verdicchio, Vermentino, Lugana, Soave and Frascati will do nicely, as would Albariño or Verdejo from Spain, or Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc from around the world. If you are eating a herby lightly spicy dish such as Thai green curry with prawns or scallops, a New World Sauvignon, a rosé or even better a Sem-Sauv from Australia will match the intensity of flavour.

With these two shellfish, I find it is better to match the sauce to the wine rather than the seafood. Richer sauces need more full-bodied wines, plainer recipes call for something crisp and mouthwatering.

If you are in extravagant and serving lobster, poached wild salmon, brill, turbot or black sole then it is worth splashing out on a really good rich creamy Chardonnay.

A Meursault of Puligny-Montrachet would be sublime, or the equivalent from Australia. The same style of slightly nutty full-bodied Chardonnay would also go very well with monkfish.

Oily fish such mackerel, sardines and herring are often best with a crisp dry white or a light rosé. However the best match for mackerel – fresh, smoked or soused – is a chilled glass of Fino or Manzanilla sherry. Dry Sherry is also great with crab, but here I usually crack open a bottle of Riesling or, if I am in generous mood, Condrieu.

There are times when a meal is not complete without a red wine, and some fish go better with light reds, served cool rather than chilled. Baked and/or spicy salmon, cod or monkfish with pancetta, grilled tuna all fit in here, as can a bowl of rich Mediterranean fish soup with lots of garlic and herbs.

Lastly, remember that Champagne is one of the best partners for all kinds of fish and shellfish, but it is particularly good with sushi, smoked salmon, oysters and perhaps surprisingly, fish and chips.

jwilson@irishtimes.com