Wine recommendation?!
Wine recommendation?
I will be grilling Red Snapper tonight. My vegetable will be Asparagus and I will also be having Redskin Potatoes. What I do not have is an excellent wine to go with the dinner. Any ideas?
Answers:
I wouldn't go with anything too heavy. Sauvignon blanc would be my first choice, followed by chenin blanc, or a pinot gris/grigio. Skip chardonnay though, with this barrel aging they've been doing it's too buttery and heavy for me.
Port wine would go great with that meal. Chateau De Blanc might also work very nicely. :)
Depending where you are from, check with your local wineries. I live in Ohio, and there are several great wineries in my county and they all know what wine would go great with whatever you are cooking. Good luck and have a glass of wine for me!
Ohio wineries taste so much better than the national wines that every store sells
Try a savignon blanc. Something a little more interesting, and a little meatier would be a rose from provence, they're also cheap, which is nice. Lastly, I like alsatian reislings and gerverstimeners (sp????) with fish.
While Sauvignon Blanc seems like it might be the best idea, I would opt for an un-oaked Chardonnay, ie. Sebastiani, Macon Lugny, or even the fuller-bodied Pouilly-Fuisse.
It may seem like an old-school choice but with the butter that will be used on the potatoes and presumably the asparagus, the flavor of these wines will be more of a complimentary than the grassy Sauvignon Blanc.
I would suggest a fruiter/buttery chardonay, Coppolla makes a fantastic one. It has great fruit on the finish. Kendall-Jackson makes a chardonay that is very popular, but has a good amount of oak to it.Pinot Grigio is also a good choice, perhaps an Estancia (if you can find it). Pinot is a bit heavier than a Saviougon Blanc (which tends to be your lightest bodied wine). Vermonte is a good Saviougon Blanc, but snapper and asparagus are strong flavors and I would be afraid the subtleness of the wine would be overpowered.
Since you are cooking asparagus, I would steer away from anything with a sweet finish to it like a Reisling or Gwertzaminer. The tartness/bitterness of these will enhance the sweetness and the wine will present too sweet. This counts out any White Zin's or White Merlots.
And depending on how you perpare your fish, a nice red wine isn't unthinkable. Most folks tend to think that red wine with fish is incorrect, but not always. If you are grilling your fish a nice Cabernet (again Coppolla makes a great one) would bring out the grilled flavors. However, a merlot (Blackstone is a nice medium bodied wine) would accent a butter or tomato topping on your snapper, should you choose one.
Hope this helps. If your town, has a wine shoppe, check it out. You may pay a few dollars more for your bottle, but you should get some specialized help. Generally, most wine shops will let you sample several types of wine and you can get a better idea of what you are taking home.
I know White is usually recommended with fish, but Snapper is a bit meatier and with the potatoes and asparagus I would suggest a nice fruit forward Burgundy.