Pairings | Salmon
The best food matches for Semillon and Semillon-Sauvignon blends
One of the world’s most underrated grapes yet capable of making some of its most delicious dry whites, Sémillon isn’t on the radar for many. So if you get hold of a bottle what should you pair with it?
Although there’s a marked difference between young unoaked Sémillon and those blended with its habitual stablemate Sauvignon Blanc it helps to look at it as similar to but less pungent than Sauvignon. Without that marked green, grassy edge that can make sauvignon too much of a good thing with foods that have herbaceous note of their own such as asparagus, peas and mangetout.
If I had to sum up the ideal match in a few words think shellfish, fish and spring vegetables. Here are a few more specific suggestions:
Hunter Valley Semillon and other lighter styles
The Hunter Valley in Australia is the place to go for Semillon and has its most distinctive style. Fresh and zippy when it’s young, more complex and oily (in a nice way) as it ages this is the perfect wine for raw and lightly cooked shellfish especially with Asian flavours. (Think the delicious kind of food you get in Sydney.) Remember Hunter Valley wines are light - generally only about 11-12% ABV. Try them with:
Oysters, especially with an Asian dressing - the best match bar none
Fresh crab
Clams
Sashimi
Seafood salads
Spring veg such as asparagus and peas - a pasta primavera would work well with a Hunter Valley Semillon
Dishes with fennel
Dishes with a touch of citrus
Lightly cooked fish dishes such as seabass and razor clams
Fried soft shell crab - I owe this one to my colleague Victoria Moore
Salt and pepper squid
Young goats’ cheese or salads with goats’ cheese
For older vintages try smoked fish such as smoked salmon, smoked trout and - this is surprisingly good - kedgeree
Barossa Valley Semillon and other richer styles
Fuller and riper, often with a lick of oak, Southern Australian Semillons can take richer fish and shellfish dishes and light meats like chicken and pork - again with an Asian accent. Try:
Scallops (probably my number one choice)
Grilled lobster, prawns or Moreton Bay bugs
Salmon and salmon trout
Fish or chicken in a creamy sauce such as this kingklip with prawns and a white wine sauce I had in South Africa
Seafood risotto
Thickly sliced ham off the bone
Pork or chicken satay
Other spicy but not over-hot pork dishes
Grilled and barbecued fish
Semillon-Sauvignon blends
Found chiefly in the Margaret River region of Western Australia and in the Bordeaux region of France where it’s mainly oaked
For Australian sem-sauv I’d go for much the same sort of dishes as I would for a Hunter Valley Sémillon - perhaps a shade richer or with a little more citrus. This dish of pan-fried scallops with orange braised chicory, celeriac remoulade and lotus crisps was a perfect match or you could go for scallops with a pea purée. It would also stand up to a mild Thai green curry.
With oaked white Bordeaux I’d be looking at more classic French or European-style dishes like this light raviolo of prawns, simply cooked fish in butter like a Dover sole, poached salmon or a posh fish pie.
Photo © vsl at shutterstock.com
The best food pairings with white burgundy
White burgundy includes a multitude of wines from generic bourgogne blanc to the grandeur of a Bâtard-Montrachet or Corton-Charlemagne. But it’s the affordable wines that I’m focussing on in this post. What type of food do they pair with best?
White burgundy - and that includes Chablis - is of course chardonnay but ranges from the lean minerality of Chablis (which I’ve dealt with in a separate post on food and Chablis) to the sumptuous richness of a Meursault.
The two things that will affect your food pairing is whether the wine is oaked and the age of the wine. Oh, and the price. It’s safe to assume, barring some Chablis, that most of the more expensive wines will have received some oak ageing. Oak-aged wines like Meursault can carry richer sauces or deeply savoury dishes like roast chicken - and even turkey. But to sum it up in one word you’re on safe ground with dairy, especially cream and butter.
Anything buttery
Fish cooked in butter (like sole meunière), a buttery roast chicken, buttery sauces like hollandaise or béarnaise, potted shrimps (a British delicacy - small brown shrimps preserved in spiced (generally mace and a touch of cayenne) butter). The richer the dish the fuller-bodied wine it can take.
Creamy and even slightly cheesy sauces
So dishes like chicken pot pie, chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce or fish pie - or a cauliflower cheese (see below). Random discovery - bacon with a parsley sauce is magnificent with Meursault!
Simply cooked fish
Most fish pairs well with white burgundy but salmon - cooked simply rather than, say, given the teriyaki treatment is particularly good. That includes salmon fishcakes
Wine with salmon: 10 ways to serve salmon and the wines to pair with them
Seared scallops
Good - as you can see here - when you have a classy white burgundy such as a Puligny-Montrachet (or cheaper Saint-Aubin) to show off
Top wine pairings with scallops
Crab
Delicate white crabmeat is lovely with a young unoaked or subtly oaked white burgundy. Brown crabmeat, particularly served baked with cheese is better with a richer or more mature one
Which wines would you pair with crab?
Mushrooms
Think button or wild mushrooms such as chanterelles rather than dark, richly flavoured porcini or portobello ones which tend to be better with a red burgundy. White burgundy is great matched with a mushroom risotto (but that’s back to that creamy texture again) or even mushrooms on toast.
Which wines pair best with mushrooms?
Cauliflower purée or soup
Cooked cauliflower with a degree of caramelisation really shows off a good white burgundy. So it’s perfect for a dish that includes cauliflower purée, a cauliflower soup or on-trend cauliflower steaks.
The best wine pairings for cauliflower
Braised fennel
The ideal side to enhance the match with a good piece of fish. Fennel purée does the trick too
Chalky cheeses
Like Caerphilly and Chaource. White burgundy can be a great pairing with cheese provided it’s not too strong.
For more food pairing ideas see
15 Easter wine pairings to learn by heart
If you're wondering what wines you should buy for Easter weekend here's quick guide to what I think are the best Easter wine pairings.
As with my previous ‘learn by heart’ posts it's a simple way to remember great food and wine matches at a busy time of year. There are of course other possibilities to which the links will guide you.
Colomba Pasquale and extra dry prosecco
Colomba Pasquale is the traditional Italian Easter cake and ‘extra dry’ prosecco perversely a slightly sweeter style that is perfect with sweeter things.
You can drink so many red wines with lamb (Chianti and Cabernet being two other favourites) but rioja is such a crowd-pleaser. I’d go for a reserva myself.
Roast chicken (or turkey) and pinot noir
Hey, it’s spring (or supposed to be) so lighten up with a brighter, fruitier red. Pinot is perfect
Baked or roast ham or gammon could also take a pinot but I’m rooting for a good Beaujolais like a Morgon
And yes, here’s pinot noir again! But you can’t find a better pairing with duck. Especially with peas.
Roast kid and Chianti
Kid would be a traditional Mediterranean choice for the Easter feast so I’d be inclined to go for an Italian, Greek or Portuguese red. Chianti is the easy-to-memorise option.
Depends how you cook it but salmon pretty well always works with chardonnay. Especially en croute or in a creamy sauce. (If it’s smoked salmon try sauvignon blanc.)
Maybe you’re planning a fish pie for Good Friday? Again chardonnay is a reliable match - I’d go for a Chablis.
Asparagus and Sancerre
There are major arguments over which wine suits asparagus best but Sancerre (or Pouilly Fumé) does it for me. Especially if goats cheese is involved. Other optionshere
Scrambled eggs and champagne (or cheaper fizz)
What else are you going to drink for Easter brunch? Seriously - eggs and bubbles is the way to go. (It works with eggs benedict too)
Torta pasquale (Italian spinach and ricotta pie) and Soave
Or any other smooth dry Italian white come to that. Like Gavi. Here's a lovely recipe from Gennaro Contaldo or, following the recommendation below, from Rachel Roddy. A great option for vegetarians.
Simnel cake and orange pekoe tea
Perfect combination!
Hot cross buns and marsala
I owe this one to the Italian wine buyer at M & S Jeneve Williams. (They have a really well-priced half bottle of marsala you should try which is no doubt why they came up with the suggestion!). Nice recipe here too.
Easter eggs and Brachetto d’Aqui
If you’re scoffing the remains of the kids’ Easter eggs this sweet, gently sparkling Italian red is hard to beat. But also hard to find, unfortunately. If you’re stumped try a rosato frizzante (pink prosecco by another name though they’re not allowed to call it that)
Lemon tart and late harvest riesling
Lemon tart can be tricky with wine - the more intensely lemony the tougher it is. The trick if you want to serve a dessert wine with it? Add cream either to the tart or a good splodge over the top. Late harvest riesling has the acidity to cope
You may also find these posts useful:
What sort of food to pair with prosecco
20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart
The best wine matches with salt cod (traditional Good Friday fare in Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Portugal.)
Photo by Elena Veselova at shutterstock.com
Six of the best matches for Bacchus and Bacchus-based wine blends
If you've bough a bottle of English wine to celebrate St George's Day or English Wine Week you may be wondering what sort of food suits it best.
Chances are it may be Bacchus, a cross between Müller Thurgau and Silvaner-Riesling that tastes quite similar to a sauvignon blanc. It works well with the sort of food that pairs with sauvignon but is usually a degree or so lighter in alcohol so may not be able to cope with such intense flavours. English whites also have a delicate elderflower character which makes me think of classic summery English food.
Here are six pairings I think work really well.
*fresh goats cheese and goats cheese salads. Just as sauvignon loves goats cheese so do English whites
*spring vegetables such as asparagus, peas and broad beans - such as this dish of asparagus with gnocchi and a wild garlic pesto.
*fresh seafood particularly crab salads or sandwiches and prawns
*other light salads without powerfully flavoured dressings - a seafood or chicken salad for example or even a fresh tomato salad
*poached or grilled salmon without a rich sauce. (Mayonnaise is fine. So is cucumber which is lovely with this style of wine)
*light fish dishes like the celery risotto with Westcombe cheddar and smoked haddock I had at Pump House in Bristol a while back. Simply pan-fried or grilled fish is perfect too.
Photo ©Linda at fotolia.com
10 different drinks to pair with smoked salmon
Smoked salmon is most commonly associated with champagne but in fact it goes with many other wines as well as with beer, whisky and vodka.
I tend to go for lighter, crisper whites and beers with lighter smokes and sherry and spirits with stronger ones.
Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and other Loire Sauvignons
The ultra-dry minerally Sauvignons of the Loire with their delicate gooseberry fruit are perfect for simply served smoked salmon. Other top new world Sauvignons will work too so long as they’re not too ‘herbaceous’ as the green bean/asparagussy notes of some Sauvignons are sometimes described.
Chablis
Especially young, unoaked Chablis which has the freshness and clean, crisp acidity to counteract the slight oiliness of smoked salmon. Richer Chardonnays go well with hot smoked salmon.
Dry Riesling
Dry being a relative description when it comes to Riesling. Young German Kabinett Rieslings with their vivid green apple flavours work especially well, but young Alsace and Australian Rieslings are also good. Avoid medium dry and sweeter Rieslings though.
Gewurztraminer
I’m not a big fan of Gewurz and smoked salmon myself but many people swear by it. Again, Alsace would be the obvious source.
Manzanilla and very dry fino sherry e.g. Tio Pepe
If you like dry sherry this is one of the best matches. The tangy salty taste of dry sherry is perfect with smoked fish. Serve it freshly opened and well chilled.
German or Czech Pilsner
Another excellent match, the freshness and slight bitterness of a pils is just what you need with smoked salmon. (Think smorgasbord . . . )
Weissbier/Witbier/Wheat beer
‘White’ beers go with most kinds of seafood, smoked fish not excepted. The slightly spicy coriander flavours are great with smoked salmon.
Malt whisky
Maybe not the ideal party tipple but an outstanding match for an impromptu smoked salmon snack. Choose a lighter, more fragrant malt with delicately smoked salmon (Springbank is my all-time favourite), a peatier ‘island’ malt if you’re dealing with a stronger smoke.
Aquavit
In particular the glorious Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit from Denmark, flavoured with dill and coriander, the best match bar none for gravadlax
Vodka
Good, well chilled Polish vodka works a treat.
You may also find this post 20 Christmas wine pairings to learn by heart useful.
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