Match of the week

Crisp duck salad with Fielding Estate Riesling

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 30 2009 at 14:18

I came across so many great wine pairings in Toronto last week it's hard to pick out one but this dish just shaves it as my match of the week.

It was at one of the most exciting restaurants I went to, Nota Bene, whose young chef David Lee weaves Asian and French influences into his menu to create food that epitomises what this exciting food city now has to offer.

The salad was simply sensational - crispy duck (from Quebec) given a twist with a dusting of sumac and served with cashews, noodles and a green papaya slaw in which I also detected chilli, mint and Thai basil. It was singingly fresh - just perfect with an intense citrussy 2007 Riesling from Fielding Estate in Niagara which won a gold medal in the Canadian wine awards last year (2008).

You probably wouldn't automatically think of pairing duck and Riesling but this was a really sensational match.