Crab, chervil and Smederevka

There were two wine pairings in contention for my match of the week slot this week. The other being the excellent combination of mature cheddar with Washington State cabernet but that’s not rocket science and this was the more intriguing discovery.

It stemmed from the fact that I suddenly have an abundance of herbs including chervil which I’ve managed to grow successfully for the first time and am flinging into everything. It has, I’ve discovered, a wonderful affinity with fresh crab with which I was planning to do something clever but decided in the end to serve straight with a squeeze of lemon, mayo and chervil sprinkled lavishly on top.

Having tried a youngish chablis (a bit of a disappointment) and a New Zealand sauvignon blanc (too overpowering) I found the perfect match in a crisp, citrussy white called Smederevka Belo 2019 12% from Tikves in Macedonia which had marked herbal notes of its own. (Smederevka is the grape variety, Tikves is the place)

It’s great value too. You can buy it for £8.45 from the The Whisky Exchange or £48.18 for six and from a number of other indies including Noble Green.

For other crab pairings see The Best Wines to Pair with Crab

I was sent the smederevka as a sample by The Whisky Exchange.