The best wine matches with salt cod

Salt cod, a popular Good Friday dish in parts of the Mediterranean, is cooked many different ways which suggest different wine pairings.

Bear in mind that like other salty foods it will have the effect of making wines taste sweeter than they are so drier wines with good acidity work best. In general I’d go for a crisp white like a picpoul or an albarino but there are occasions when a red or rosé will work just as well.

Brandade de morue

This southern French salt cod purée works well with crisp dry whites such as Picpoul de Pinet, slightly earthier whites like a white Côtes du Rhône or a dry southern French rosé

Salt cod croquetas or fish cakes

As you’d expect, very good with chilled fino sherry and albarino but more surprisingly also with savagnin from the Jura

Fried salt cod with garlic-pepper sauce

An ice-cold vinho verde, according to Portuguese-American food writer David Leite who has a particularly good collection of salt cod recipes on his website Leite's Culinaria. It might also work with a grüner veltliner as did this salt cod tartare

Portuguese style baked salt cod with cream (bacalhau com natas)

Also often paired with vinho verde but I’d go for a young Douro white with a lick of oak or - less conventionally - with a white rioja.

A robust dish such as a salt cod stew with tomatoes and peppers (ciambotta) can actually take a full-bodied red, especially if it includes chorizo. See this pairing with a super Tuscan and this match with a Languedoc cabernet/merlot blend.

For more wine pairing ideas with salt cod check out Catavino

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The best food pairings for Vermentino

Vermentino is incredibly versatile - a brilliant wine pairing for anything fishy, herby or citrussy and a great wine for spring and summer drinking.

Most comes from Italy - Sardinia being a particularly good source - but it’s also produced in Liguria, Tuscany, Corsica, Provence and the Languedoc where it's also known as Rolle.

With crisp fresh young vermentinos I’d serve:

* Raw and marinated shellfish such as oysters and carpaccios

* Fritto misto or other fried fish - I had a lovely side of fried lemon and sage (below) at Spring recently

* Simply grilled or baked fish such as seabass especially with fresh olive oil or a salsa verde. Grilled squid. Grilled prawns or shrimp - try this recipe for prawn brochettes from Bruce Poole

* Spaghetti alle vongole, linguini with crab and other pasta dishes with seafood

* Spring and early summer vegetables such as asparagus, peas, broad (fava) beans, fennel and even artichokes

* Raw and lightly cooked vegetables such as marinated courgettes and leeks vinaigrette

* Dishes where herbs are predominant such as pasta or gnocchi with pesto

Late harvested or more mature vermentinos pair well with:

* Richer fish dishes such as lobster or lobster rice (a local Sardinian speciality)

* Light meat dishes such as roast veal, baby lamb and suckling pig.

* Vitello tonnato

The best food matches with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

The flavours of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - and this is why it is so popular - are powerful and aromatic: citrus, gooseberry and passionfruit in spades. So you if you're looking for a food match need big flavours on your plate to stand up to it.

Here are my top suggestions:

Asian-style seafood dishes - oysters, scallops, crab, clams, lobster, prawns - any shellfish with zingy flavours or a citrus or garlic marinade or dressing. (Big fat garlicky prawns - mmmm).

Thai food generally. A Thai green chicken curry or a Thai-style chicken salad is ace.

Grilled fish especially squid* or swordfish.

Dishes with herbs and greens - salmon with dill, for instance, but great with recipes that contain basil, coriander, rocket and especially mint.

Salads with goats cheese and feta, asparagus, avocado or grilled red peppers, fresh tomato salads or salads with fennel, mango or papaya. (A great suggestion from Canadian wine pairing expert Francois Chartier: add a tabbouleh to a salad selection to show off a sauvignon blanc.)

Other good matches (though I personally prefer a less assertive style of sauvignon with them) include smoked salmon, fish and chips and oily fish such as mackerel and sardines.

Dishes that don't work so well are ones with creamy sauces or cooked tomato or, more obviously, meaty dishes with gravy or dark savoury sauces

* Basically if you see big flavoured fusion dishes like these (from Peter Gordon’s Kopapa, which has sadly now closed) reach for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc:

Deep-fried sesame Urfa chilli salted squid, sumac aïoli, caramelised peanuts & cucumber

Fregola, chorizo & lemon stuffed squid, avocado puree, white radicchio, caper & mustard slaw, chervil vinaigrette

The best wine pairings with monkfish

Monkfish (or lotte, as the French call it) is a meaty fish that is often roasted so pairs equally well with red wine as with white. In fact a lightly chilled red wine would generally be my preferred match, particularly if it’s wrapped in pancetta or bacon

Wines to drink with roast monkfish

Pinot noir
I’d choose a pinot with some fresh acidity rather than too much sweet fruit so a pinot from Burgundy, Germany (where it’s known as spätburgunder), Sonoma, Oregon or the Marlborough region of New Zealand rather than Central Otago or Chile

Mencia
A fashionable red from the north of Spain that tastes a bit like a cross between pinot noir and Loire cabernet franc (which you could also drink)

A full-bodied oaked white wine such as a Douro white (there’s a good story about this one!) or an oaked white rioja.

Albarino
Again from Spain this fresh-tasting white is always a safe bet with seafood, and would be a good choice if the monkfish is served with a lemony sauce

Monkfish with Provençal flavours like tomatoes and saffron

Try a strong southern French rosé such as Bandol or a good Languedoc rosé

Monkfish in red wine sauce

I’d choose a more full-bodied red like a merlot

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