To me, salmon has always been a special fish, let's say it's the king of fish. Wine food pairing with salmon is a delight due to it's sheer delicacy. As a winemaker I would aim to make a wine with flavours that would be ideally suited to the gentle subtlety of the meat without overpowering it. This means that the wine would have to be clean, young and fresh tasting with enough natural acidity, as well as having an attractive, aromatic body. We certainly do not want a full bodied, heavy wine here.
In the past I have made numerous styles of wine, both red and white, and have always had certain foods in mind when making the wines. This made the whole job of winemaking much more challenging. After all, many people could make a wine, but fewer could craft the fermented grape juice into an aging nectar to be enjoyed with a meal. This is a skillful art with some science thrown in.
Of course, nothing is better than fresh wild caught salmon from the cold waters of the North Atlantic. I remember the bright colour of the meat and the rich, meaty taste of the fresh salmon fillets, but, alas, you can only eat so much before the rest has to be smoked or frozen. The salmon was still wonderful, but not quite the same.
The fish, unfortunately, is usually farm raised not wild caught. I say unfortunately, but really the farm raised fish is very good, just not quite the same. I know that the colour of the salmon meat is enhanced by the food the fish are fed and that they live in a comparably small environment and not the big blue ocean. Perhaps that is just a romantic thought!
I recently decided to try out an old favorite salmon recipe. I found a wonderful salmon fillet with the skin still on, I think it adds a bit more flavour that way, and placed this in an oven proof dish. I mixed together a combination of mayonaise, wasabi powder and fresh dill from the garden and lightly buttered this onto the fillet. The salmon was then covered with foil and placed into a 425 degree preheated oven to cook. I reckon about 10 to 15 minutes per pound, but I always keep checking. Salmon should never be over cooked, if anything, serve it a bit medium rare and you will be delighted by the buttery texture. It will melt in your mouth.
While the salmon is doing its magic in the oven I prepare fresh broccoli to be steamed, and some new potatoes to be boiled. It only takes a few moments for the broccoli to steam to a bright green, still crunchy state. I put some butter on the potatoes, and onto the broccoli I drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil, and then salt and pepper to taste. The salmon comes out of the oven and is garnished with thinly sliced cucumbers and sprigs of fresh dill. It looks as great as it tastes!
Now is the time to pop the cork on your wine. Pairing salmon with a wine has always been easy for me. I love an aromatic, zingy wine such as a Gewurtztraminer from Germany, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand or even the undiscovered Bacchus grape from England with my salmon, because they all just seem to bring out the best in each other. A super meal and just the right wine.
This is wine food pairing the way it should be! CHEERS!
Rob Hemphill has been a Consultant Winemaker for over 20 years.
Denise Clarke has been passionate about wine food pairing for many years... follow her blog and sign up for a for FREE e-book at: http://www.winefoodpairing.blogspot.com or go to her website at: http://www.wine-food-pairing.com
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