Gambas pil pil and albariño

Albariño is a well-established pairing for seafood but in fact it was the seasoning rather than the prawns that made this combination sing.

I enjoyed it, admittedly, in the idyllic setting of the Chiringuito Tropicana restaurant overlooking the beach at Malaga which puts you in the mood to like practically anything in your glass but the Mar de Frades is a reliable brand that I knew my friends would enjoy.

The 2023 - a little fruitier than I remember - sailed right through the meal but was stood up particularly well to the gambas pil pil, the Spanish name for prawns cooked with olive oil, chilli and garlic. It was a really punchy version but didn’t throw the wine in the least. Albarino can carry strong flavours.

You can buy it from Tesco currently for £17 - not cheap for Tesco but a good price for the wine which generally sells for over £20 elsewhere.

And - whisper it - Aldi has just introduced an albarino in a cheekily similar blue bottle in their Baron Amarillo range for just £8.99 which is definitely worth a whirl if you’re an albarino fan.

For other albariño pairings see The best pairings for albariño (and alvarinho)

For other prawn and shrimp pairings see The best pairings for prawns or shrimp

Satay and aromatic whites

What do you drink at those restaurants that have multiple small plates - I.e. most restaurants these days?

Well it depends on the dominant style of the food. Spanish tapas and middle eastern mezze being different from predominantly Asian-inspired dishes.

It was the latter I came across at Square Bistro in Lisburn in Northern Ireland last week: a couple of dishes in particular - the lobster with pickled cabbage, apple and ponzu and salt and chilli prawns with satay and charred lettuce with roast peanuts - hit the spot with a wine from Australian producer Peter Lehmann called Layers.

It was an off-dry a blend of semillon, muscat, gewürztraminer and pinot gris - a ’21 vintage but still tasting fresh. The advantage of having multiple grape varieties in the blend is that no one variety dominates (muscat and gewürztraminer being particularly prone to do that) so will rub along with anything a bit spicy. Not that these dishes were hot.

You can buy it for £12.75 from Define fine wines in Birmingham although the more current 2022 vintage is £16.50 (at Alexander Hadleigh). Serve well chilled.

If you like satay see also this recipe for Five Spiced Smoked Tofu nuggets 

Fideuá and Bobal

You might know Valencia best for paella but in fact it has another paella-like dish called fideuá pronounced fi-de-wah which is made with pasta rather than rice.

As opposed to the classic Valencian paella which contains chicken and rabbit it’s almost always based on seafood, generally prawns and squid with tomato and sweet (dulce) pimenton.

You might think that would make it a better pairing with a white wine than a red one but the locals drink red with it, not always a red from the region (Valencia or Utiel-Requena) as Rioja and Ribera del Duero are popular here. But the local grape variety Bobal which is fresh, fruity and cherry flavoured - not unlike a Valpolicella - is a particularly good match.

I had a home-cooked fideuá at a local winemaker called Bruno Murciano with a couple of their wines - of which I think the fresh, vibrant 2022 Cambio de Tercio worked best although their very elegant El Sueño which isn’t currently available in the UK is my overall favourite of their range*. You can buy the Cambio de Tercio from Ultracomida for £15.95

There’s a recipe for fideua here if you want to give it a try yourself. The secret according to this post is a really good fish stock.

*I made Bruno Murciano's L’Alegria my wine of the week a couple of years ago.

I lunched with Bruno and José Luis as their guest

Sesame prawn toasts and Ortega

English wine might not be the first thing you’d think of pairing with prawn toasts - more likely something like a riesling but at the Caravel restaurant in London the other night it just hit the spot.

The toasts which were served with chilli jam were one of a selection of snacks and starters we shared as is generally the way these days. There was also smoked duck with a carrot pickle and rosti with sour cream and ‘caviar’ but it was the toasts that were the standout pairing.

The wine, by Westwell in Kent - the Ortega Classic - was young, fresh and floral so not unlike the aromatic whites you might pick from Alsace or elsewhere. You can buy the ’21 vintage we had for £19 from The Good Wine Shop and £19.50 from Highbury Vintners.

Caravel is a great choice if you’re looking for an special venue for a date night. It’s on a barge on Regent’s Canal and has very romantic (and flattering) low, soft lighting. Snacks and starters aside, the cooking is a bit hit and miss and the wine list could do with being a bit longer but the atmosphere is lovely. Hard to get into though so book well ahead.