learn How to pair Wine & seafood with a Master SOmmelier
“The flavor of any great fish reflects the diet and the habitat – you know, the chemistry and temperature of the water,” said the great fish chef Ed Brown when I worked with him at The Sea Grill in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, in my first-ever sommelier job.
It was the holiday season, and with the famous, towering tree glittering and the ice rink aswirl with skaters, our eatery was packed from 11:30am to midnight every day, with lines out the door. I served and paired literally hundreds of the signature crispy-skin salmon with Dijon butter sauce and crispy shallots per day – our top-selling dish.
And boy, did I learn! Chef Brown is a wine lover as well, and thus versed in an important concept of the sommelier’s turf – terroir. It’s a French term with no direct translation in any language (you pronounce it tair-WAHR), and it refers to the expression of the place where the grapes are grown in wine. Importantly the place means not just the vineyard soil, but the climate and weather, and the grape-growing traditions and philosophies of the people doing the farming.
And it’s for real. If you have ever seen a sommelier in a “blind” tasting identifying the grape, origin and quality of a wine just by its appearance, scent and taste in the glass—that’s not a parlor trick or lucky guessing. A wine from a distinctive terroir has what’s called “typicity” – hallmark scents, tastes and textures that telegraph its identity. Of course, learning to identify those traits takes practice (it’s a tough job, but…jk!).
It is also those very traits that guide every sommelier’s approach to wine pairing. How? That’s where “merroir,” the ingenious term from Kvaroy Arctic that captures the expression of the fish’s diet and ocean home in its flavor and texture.
So, by choosing wines with terroir attributes that complement or contrast the salmon’s merroir traits, I can create pairings in which both the wine and the fish elevate each other – the hallmark of any great pairing.
With that in mind, for me there was a natural place to start with wine terroir – seabed soils. That’s because calcium-rich soils formed from Jurassic-era marine sediments (tiny shells and skeletons) yield wines with these key fish-friendly traits:
Lively, Mouthwatering Acidity
I’ve never met a fish whose flavor doesn’t shine brighter with a slake of acidity – lemon, mignonette or wine of course! For example, the Kimmeridgian clay of Chablis, the chalk of Champagne, and the terres blanches (white stones) of the Loire Valley’s Sancerre region, are all soils that bring to the pairing party palate-revving acidity, and much greater complexity than a simple squeeze of lemon.Subtlety
The complexity I’m referring to doesn’t mean heft. These wines’ flavor layers dance elegantly on the palate bringing interest without overpowering, thus ensuring the fish’s flavor layers shine too.Texture
This is often forgotten, yet so important! Ocean treasures – whether seaweed, bivalves or salmon, are texture treasures when well-sourced and prepared.
In fact, it’s the salmon’s texture – crispy skin, medium-rich body and tactile tenderness ranging from gossamer to velvety depending on the degree of doneness – that makes it a sommelier’s pairing dream. Why? Because there’s so much to play with!
I can contrast crackling, intensely flavored skin with the palate-cleansing bubbles and acidity of Champagne. The bright mineral-driven citrus notes of Chablis or Sancerre will slake the satiny richness of gravlax, letting the ocean-purity of the fish sing out better than any lemon wedge or caper could ever do.
And what about red wine?
Enter Pinot Noir, whose home base region of Burgundy is among the best-known terroirs in the world, based on calcium rich clay-limestone derived once again from sediments left when the land was covered by ocean. Its satin texture is a love letter to the tender succulence of a warm-roasted, seared, cedar-planked or grilled fillet. Sauce or accompany it with earthy elements such as Chef Ed’s crispy shallots and grainy mustard butter, and you get the entire formula for a perfect pairing:
Textures that complement – satin with satin
Flavors that complement – ocean-derived earth (terroir) with ocean-derived savoriness (merroir)
Structures that contrast – lively acidity in the wine, with creamy richness in the fish.
So there’s your homework assignment – seabed soil-based wine with salmon pairings. “Catch” a few easy and fun ones in my videos here (link), and you’ll be well on your way to earning your junior Master Sommelier in pairing.
I’m still studying too. What’s next? I’m thinking my next pairing experiments will be volcanic soil terroirs with smoked salmon merroir.
You in? Thought so. Cheers!
To learn more wine intel from Andrea, check out https://andreawine.com/
