Red Wine & Fish
Is there anything better than food & wine?
There are millions of guides that can tell you that you should drink white wine with cheese, champagne with oysters, red wine with beef and so on and so on…. Our attitude is really; Forget everything you've heard about food & wine, and eat and drink what you like!
You shouldn't be cheated of the taste tips in this email, but first and foremost, you should drink what you think goes best with the food. And with this little list, we have a few food and wine combinations that I hope you will use as inspiration for your next wine evening.
We start slowly and finish with the slightly more advanced combinations - Enjoy!
1. The Easy One: Bread & Wine
It almost sounds too easy, but bread and wine is a combination you rarely go wrong with;
Once you've tried enjoying a piece of freshly baked sourdough bread or fresh ciabatta with a good glass of wine, there's no going back; this is an obvious combination that you shouldn't miss out on.
2. Olive
Olives grow in most of the wine-producing countries we often buy wine from; Italy, France, Spain, etc. Therefore, it hardly comes as a surprise that olives and wine are also a really good combination.
The slightly salty olive flavor, the high content of essential oils and the rich aroma mean that olives and both red and white wine go well together. You might want to try a light Nebbiolo like Ca' del Baio below, along with a selection of delicious olives.
3. For the intermediate: Fish & Red Wine
You've probably heard it before: you NEVER drink red wine with fish! But you risk cheating yourself out of some wonderful taste experiences if you don't try red wine and fish.
Of course, not all red wines are suitable for fish; tannins found in many full-bodied red wines do not go very well with the acidity that many fish dishes require from, for example, citrus fruits.
For the tuna steak
A grilled tuna steak has qualities that are very similar to beef, and the full flavor is emphasized well if you try a soft and fruity Merlot from South America like Montes Classic. You will get the best out of the fish.
But if you have a fuller fish dish like swordfish or Kingfish, there is often more spice and here a Pinot Noir or a fruity Sangiovese will compliment the wine in a way that white wine simply cannot.
For the salmon
Salmon is perhaps the most popular fish here in Denmark and whether to drink red wine with salmon depends on how it is prepared. Fried or grilled salmon tastes great with a red wine with very little tannin, for example a Beaujolais or a Valpolicella wine that is not barrel-aged, here the sweetness from the Corvina grape will support the fatness of the salmon.
When it comes to smoked salmon, it's Pinot Noir we swear by again. Here you can't miss a light cold climate Pinot Noir like Montes Alpha next time there is smoked salmon on the menu – you won't be disappointed!
Try it out, start with rosé
If you're not yet ready to jump straight into red wine & fish, a cautious start could be a fresh rosé, made from Grenache or Syrah, which typically gives a little more body and makes them suitable for food, especially fish.
3 wines that are perfect for fish
Montes Alpha Pinot Noir
Cold climate Pinot Noir in the classic style - a 'must-try' with smoked salmon!
Domaines Ott - By Ott
Domianes Ott are the kings of rosé - try their By Ott with grilled shrimp or sushi
Lenotti Bardolino
The daring one: Lots of sweetness from the Corvina grape to the grilled salmon
The Untraditional: Pork Roast and Riesling
The classic Danish pork roast with sour side dishes can be notoriously difficult to find wine to pair with.
Beer is often a better choice, but for extra coziness, many people appreciate a good glass of wine. And when it comes to pairing roast pork with red cabbage and Asian dishes with red wine, it can be a challenge.
The rich brown sauce, the sweetness from the red cabbage and the acidity from the Asians make great demands on the wine you choose.
You can easily choose a red and have a wonderful experience; a full-bodied Malbec or a nicely rounded Ripasso can fit in well here, but the exciting – and often best choice, will be a good Riesling.
There is plenty of sweetness in the sauce and the red cabbage, so a full-bodied and sweet Riesling is an obvious choice – here you shouldn't go for the crisp dry one, but rather a full-bodied Grand Cru, Kabinett or Spätlese, preferably with a few years of aging.
The acidity of the Riesling will cleanse your mouth and its sweetness will pair perfectly with the side dishes for the pork roast.
If you haven't tried the combination of roast pork and Riesling yet, you're really missing out.
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The (almost) classic: Wine & Cheese
Wine and Cheese is almost a whole science in itself; in the past, the classic choice was red wine with cheese and you may have heard that white wine & cheese is 'the new variety'.
It's of course more complicated than that and there are as many combinations as there are wines and cheeses - our best advice is to eat and drink what you like best, then you can't go wrong ;-)
But now this is a guide to food and wine, so here are 3 quick tips for choosing the right wine for cheese.
Match strong cheeses with sweet wine.
If you're in the mood for hearty dishes like Gorgonzola, Roquefort or other blue cheeses, drink sweet wine, preferably dessert wine, with them.
The strong-smelling cheeses are 'softened' by the sweet wine and you can find combinations here that taste fantastic.
MUST TRY: Port wine and Stilton cheese – it simply tastes amazing!
Wines and cheeses from the same region often go well together
You can never go wrong in the city when you lean towards local traditions - at least not when it comes to choosing wine and cheese.
A few good suggestions for this are Sauvignon Blanc and goat cheese, a good tradition from the Loire Valley, or how about a Spanish Garnacha together with Manchego cheese?
When in doubt, go for a firm, nutty cheese
It can be a jungle to find your way around the combination of food and wine. If there are several different wines on the table and you are in doubt about what to choose, you can rarely go wrong if you choose one of the firm cheeses with a nutty flavor, such as Gruyere, Emmenthaler or Gouda.
These cheeses are rich enough to accommodate the tannins of red wines, but also delicate with a sweet white wine.
We hope you enjoyed our little guide - remember that good wine tastes even better when enjoyed with good friends. Cheers!
