Top food pairings with Clare Valley and Eden Valley riesling

One of the most distinctive styles of white wine, dry rieslings from the Clare and Eden Valley in south Australia have a distinctive limey twist that makes them a particularly good match for Asian and Asian-inspired food.

Spot ingredients such as ginger, kaffir lime, lemongrass, coriander and fresh chillies on a menu or in a recipe and Aussie riesling* is the obvious go to.

There are three main styles:

Inexpensive young rieslings

Here the flavour of lemon and apple is more obvious than the characteristic lime which makes them a great match for raw and lightly cooked shellfish like prawns, crab and seared squid or light noodle dishes with seafood

Also try: smoked salmon, fish and chips and light Mexican-style seafood dishes like tacos

More mature dry rieslings

These tend to develop a more intense lime and kerosene flavour (much nicer than it sounds). These can handle a fair bit of spice but are still relatively low in alcohol so won’t overwhelm delicate ingredients such as crab or crayfish. They’re especially good with Vietnamese food

Also try: milder Thai dishes such as Thai beef salad, raw Asian fish dishes such as sashimi and fish tartares and seared tuna with sesame

Some people go for creamy sauces with this style of riesling but I’m not convinced. Dairy seems too heavy with this style of wine

Medium-dry rieslings with a touch of sweetness

These can handle hotter food such as the fish-fragrant aubergines I cooked a while back for the Chinese new year or the Indonesian rijstaffel I had in Amsterdam.

Also try: hotter Thai dishes, pork belly with Asian spicing

* Other dry rieslings will work with this type of dish too but south Australian riesling has a particularly vigorous zesty character that makes it work particularly well.

Do you have other favourite pairings for Clare and Eden Valley rieslings?

Image © weerastudio at shutterstock.com

The best wine matches for fishcakes (updated)

Fishcakes are one of the ultimate comfort foods - but is there an equally comforting wine pairing?

In general they go well with dry white wines, however it depends what type of fish and other ingredients you use and whether you’re serving a sauce or salsa alongside.

You’ll want a different wine with a classic salmon fishcake with a hollandaise, for example than a Thai fishcake with a sweet chilli sauce which might well be served alongside other dishes.

Here are some good wines to choose from:

Salmon fishcakes
Salmon fishcakes are quite rich and often served with a butter sauce such as hollandaise. I tend to favour the same types of wine as I’d pick for a fish pie - unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Blanc or a Sauvignon/Semillon blend such as you find in Bordeaux or the Margaret River region of Australia

‘Melting middle’ fishcakes
‘Melting middle’ fishcakes, often with an oozy cheese filling have become a popular supermarket staple in recent years. Given they’re on the richer side they’re also a good match for Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. 

White fish cakes with parsley
Not being quite as rich these are fine with a lighter, crisper white such as Albarino, Muscadet, Picpoul de Pinet or Pinot Grigio. A minerally Sauvignon Blanc like a Sancerre is a good pairing too

Maryland crab cakes
Crab has a delicate flavour which again responds well to an elegant dry white wine such as a Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé or albarino but would be great with a glass of champagne or crémant too

Fishcakes with chorizo
The chorizo brings a spicy meaty element to a fishcake that makes a medium-bodied red wine as good a match as a white. I’d be inclined to pick an inexpensive red Côtes du Rhône red but a full-bodied white from the region would work too.

Thai fish cakes
Here the seasoning is all-important together with the sweet chilli sauce with which they’re often served. I’d tend to go for a dry Riesling - particularly Clare or Eden Valley Riesling though you could also drink a New Zealand - or other zesty - Sauvignon Blanc. Witbier/bière blanche (wheat beer) is also a really good match

See also 4 good wines to pair with fish pie

Photo ©Magdanatka at shutterstock.com

8 great wine matches for brussels sprouts

The idea of doing a post on wine matches with brussels sprouts might strike you as a tad over the top - after all who eats sprouts on their own? (Answer: me. Whenever I get the chance.)

I’m not the only one it seems. When I've posted these sprout pictures on Instagram they've got an amazing number of ‘likes’. There’s some serious sproutlurve out there.

For those who are resolutely anti-sprout a reminder that they are no longer the soggy, sulphurous veg of your youth but can be served all manner of delicious ways. And it’s a myth that none of them work with wine. Here are 8 and the wines (and other drinks) that match with them.

Sprouts with bacon or pancetta and chestnuts

Probably the favourite sprout dish of the festive season. I’d be inclined to serve them with the same sort of red as the turkey - in other words a gutsy Rhône or Languedoc red. If they’re roasted or pan-fried they can handle a bit of tannin

Sprouts with chorizo

Has to be Spanish really. I’m rooting for Rioja reserva.

Stir-fried sprouts

Any sprout dish with Asian-style seasonings such as fish sauce, sesame and soy would be good with a Gruner Veltliner. Or a dry-ish riesling. Or, better still, a sake.

Sprouts with cheese

Roast sprouts and baked Camembert is a surprisingly good combination and one which goes well with a simple white burgundy like a Maçon Villages. Or a medium-dry cider. You should also try sprouts with Tallegio (once sampled - and never forgotten - on a pizza in New York). I’d drink a Gavi with that.

Sprout gratin

Involves cream so think Chablis or chardonnay again

Shaved sprouts with pecorino (or parmesan)

Enjoyed at my favourite Bristol wine bar Bar Buvette. With a dry Vouvray which was perfect.

Sprout slaw

Depends a bit on the seasoning and what you serve it with. With the Christmas leftovers, for example, I’d quite fancy a Beaujolais or other chilled gamay. With Ottolenghi’s brussel sprout and ginger slaw I’d go for a Clare Valley riesling

Sprouts with citrus

Ottolenghi again. Needs a white with some tropical fruit character such as a lush sauvignon-semillon blend or a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

If you're a leafy green vegetable fan you can also check out my drink pairings for kale and cauliflower

Wine and Indonesian food: which wine pairs best with Rijsttafel?

I posted this last year after trying Rijsttafel - the Indonesian speciality that’s widely available in Amsterdam. Translated literally as ‘rice table’, it’s an elaborate array of curries, salads and pickles which present a tough challenge for any wine.

The one we had was at Blauw, a restaurant strongly recommended by foodie colleagues and in the immensely useful Where Chefs Eat and couldn’t have been a better introduction to the genre.

The curries are hot but also sweet which tends to strip the flavour out of drier wines including the Gruner Veltliner we ordered, a normal go-to with south-east Asian food, although it matched a couple of lighter introductory dishes. Several also had a rich peanut sauce. The wines I thought would make the best pairings for Rijsttafel itself were off-dry whites though I came up with a couple of other options you might enjoy:

Viognier

Actually we tried a sip of this and it did work

Gewurztraminer - it wouldn’t match all the dishes but would be a good all-rounder

Off-dry Pinot Gris from Alsace or New Zealand

Barossa semillon would work well with the peanut sauces

Torrontes (a suggestion from Blauw’s own list)

Off-dry Clare or Eden Valley riesling like this Grosset riesling which was my match of the week a while back with a Chinese New Year feast

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with a dash of tropical fruit

Off-dry strong rosé such as those you get from Portugal and South America

Chilled New Zealand Pinot Noir - the favourite of the chef Agus Hermawan. Or Chilean Pinot Noir, for that matter. You need a touch of sweetness.

Ripe but not over-alcoholic Shiraz and similar GSM (Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre) blends