If you’re not such a big wine buff, it could be intimidating to think of what wines go with seafood. However, fear not, for this article is all about easy wine pairing with seafood. Whether you’re serving fish or shellfish, cooked or fresh, we’ve got you covered.
Wine goes well with seafood and there’s no turning back once you try it. Luckily, there are many kinds of seafood that taste well with different kinds of wine. Think of it this way, for every kind of seafood available, there’s a wine counterpart for it. Here’s a list of wines that go well with seafood depending on the way it was cooked, its characteristics, and even its sides
In the culinary world, it’s a little bit of a given that reds go with meats while whites go with fish. However, that’s not always the case. Don’t worry; it doesn’t get too tricky from here.
1. Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is commonly paired with white fish because of its dry, rigid, and crisp characteristics. They’re perfect to pair with lean fish such as halibut, flounder, and snapper. Not only does this Sauvignon Blanc go with lean fish but it is also perfectly paired with freshly shucked oysters and raw clams. Sauvignon Blanc may also cut through some fatty fish like cod and bass.
2. Champagne
If you’re having fried seafood, it’s a no-brainer that Champagne and other bubbly wines such as Prosecco and other bubblies go perfectly well with it. There’s something about pairing that glass of bubbly with a bit of crab cakes or shrimp tempura. The bubbles were made for the fried goodness of the dish and they marry well together.
3. Chardonnay
They say that Chardonnay is the easiest pairing for anything now, which is why these days, it’s not so popular because it seems “generic”. However, Chardonnay is easily paired and tastes great with seafood for a reason. Chardonnay is great to pair with full-bodied dishes since it is a full-bodied wine. Chardonnay is particularly delicious with crab, fresh oysters, and bass.
4. Riesling
Riesling is a fuller-bodied wine that has some sweetness to it. It is, to be honest, one of the best white wines. It’s perfect to have with Asian seafood dishes because the body matches the oriental flavor notes of the food. It goes particularly well with Thai stir-fried shrimp and Vietnamese seafood.
5. Albarino
Albarino is white wine grown in Spain and Portugal but it is increasingly being grown in California. It has rich fruit flavors, a trace of salinity and nippy tartness. The salinity factor is perfect for freshly shucked raw oysters, clams, and other shellfish. It goes best with scallops and lobster. YUM.
6. Pinot Noir
This is where reds come into the picture of the seafood and wine-pairing world. Reds aren’t all that bad for seafood most especially if you’re pairing it with fatty seafood. A light red such as Pinot Noir is great to pair with fattier fish like salmon, mackerel, and bluefish. It’s also great to pair with seafood cooked in tomato sauce as it brings out the sweetness of the fish in the sauce.
7. Rosé
Rosé is perfect to pair with seafood dishes that are cooked in heavy sauces such as seafood creamy pasta, pink sauce seafood, and any other sauces for seafood that are heavy on dairy. It’s full enough to cut through the heavy sauce but not too heavy to overpower the dish.
