Before I start this one, I have to apologize. I have been off line for a couple of weeks because my site was hacked. So, I had to get that taken care of, then add an extra layer of security. Now, everything seems back to normal. As to the blog, today I will talk about pairing wine with a common meal in restaurants here in Upstate New York, the Friday Fish Fry. I don’t know if it’s a common “special” or regular menu item in your area, but it is here. Perhaps it’s because we have a relatively high population of Roman Catholics? Anyway, for us it tends to be Cod or Haddock, which also happens to be the fish most commonly used for “Fish & Chips”. So, what pairs best with this food? It depends on how it’s prepared.
At a high end restaurant, like Nola’s in Clinton, it will be a full meal served with vegetables and a starch (not fish & chips in a rolled up newspaper, served with salt and vinegar – English “street food” style). The standard go to wine would be a Sauvignon Blanc, preferably a New Zealand Marlborough. But in this case, I would recommend an unoaked Chardonnay, if they have one. I will explain why below. Now, if you are having it in the more traditional fish & chips style, especially with tartar sauce, then I would go Sauv. Blanc or maybe try an Albarino (Spanish from Rias Baixas), if they have one. Many French Chardonnays, like Joseph Drouhin, are unoaked and a high end restaurant will most likely have a New Zealand Sauv. Blanc, like Kim Crawford (the Spanish Albarino is a maybe).
Why these wines with this meal? If your fish fry is “high end”, the batter will not be thick and the “treatment” will be towards flavor, with the vegetables, starch, and spices. Here, high acid or crisp citrus is not needed, so a low acid/ high body Chardonnay would be the best choice, just NO butter (oaked). If, however, your fish fry is the more traditional thick batter style (more casual), then you will want the Sauv. Blanc or Albarino to offset the fatty batter. If you are not sure which way to go and don’t want to ask “what they would recommend”, then choose the Sauv. Blanc. It is the wine of choice for most standard fish fry’s.
That should do it for this one. Next time will be the Wine of the Month for October and hopefully it will not take me two weeks to post it. Be sure to come back and see what I choose. Cheers!