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Liquid Refreshment

22

Aug

Red Wine Red Fish

Sean Sellers  in Red Wines, Pinot Noir , , ,

In a recent edition of ‘Blow the Bank’, InterWined.com relayed the popular, and mostly accurate, professional dictum that red wine and fish &mash: well, red wine and white fish — go together about as well as red wine and Coca Cola.

So what about red wine and red fish? Is there a difference? In a word, yes. Think about a white fish (cod or haddock, for instance); then, think about a red fish (a salmon or tuna).
The one glaring flaw to the above bit of professional advice is that it glosses over at best and ignores at worse the differences in textures and flavours within fish — something that would never take place with meat or poultry.

Case in point: Summer in the United States, as in many other parts of the world, means outdoor barbecues. At a recent evening barbecue held in honour of InterWined’s journey to the US, the host prepared salmon steaks with a lemon and pepper rub. Since other guests were eating burgers instead of salmon, InterWined opted for a red wine that would compliment both the firmness and flavour of the salmon steak and the juiciness of the burgers.

Enter the 2006 Cloudline Pinot Noir from the Williamette Valley in Oregon. In recent years, Oregon and the Williamette Valley have grown in fame for the quality of their Pinot Noir, and the 2006 Cloudline is very good example. It’s deep-red with a forest gateaux cherry kind of flavour. Left open to breathe for 20 minutes, it softened nicely and paired better than expected with the salmon, helping to highlight the meatiness of the Pacific salmon served at the barbecue.

As its press will attest, Cloudline’s debut vintage was 2002. And, it already sells in some restaurants for $10 a glass — something of an indication of the league of wines with which its makers see it competing. Retailing at just over $20 a bottle, InterWined says save your money and, as is common in the US, buy in bulk, bottle over glass: 8.7.

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