What's Going On in the World of French Wines

I had originally thought I would try to make a salmon dish to pair with this week’s Wine of the Week tonight. But then at the grocery store today I discovered that they had a special on haddock, which is my son’s favorite type of fish and not one that I can find all that frequently here in North Carolina. So I decided to wait a few days on my salmon pairing and serve the haddock for dinner instead.

I considered keeping my original plan to serve the Marsannay rosé with the haddock, but then I had a thought. Why not do something completely different? I’ve mentioned a few times here on the blog that it is entirely possible to pair red wines with fish dishes, but I have to be honest – up until recently I haven’t had that much experience with fish, it just hasn’t been a favorite. So the number of times I’ve actually attempted the red wine/fish pairing (outside of Salmon with Pinot Noir) are few and far between. But since we have been making more of an effort to eat fish lately and I have been experimenting with various fish recipes, I now have more impetus to try my hand at testing the limits of the red wine/fish pairing. So tonight seemed like the perfect time to put my money where my mouth is and pair fish with red wine.

A week or so ago I purchased a box of 10 wines, each wine from a different Beaujolais cru. I decided that the wine from Régnié, the Domaine Dupré Regnié “Haut Ronze” 2007 ($16.99), would be the perfect wine to try out with my haddock dish. Régnié became a cru in 1988, so it is the most recent of the 10 crus. But since its claim to fame is that it was one of two spots in Beaujolais where the Romans supposedly first planted vines, it is a terroir that has been noted for quality grape-growing for quite some time. With relatively sandy soils over a pink granite subsoil dominating the vineyards, Gamay is able to produce wines of good structure in Régnié. Wines from this cru have been variously described as being on the lighter side with aromas of raspberries, cherries and blackberries.

So what was the verdict? Well, the Domaine Dupré Regnié was delicious and more importantly, it was actually a pretty good match with the haddock. I used this recipe and while not my favorite fish recipe, it was easy and pretty tasty. The fish was not overwhelmed by the red wine and since the tannins were very soft and supple, they didn’t make the wine taste fishy or metallic. So definitely a pairing I would do again.

And it turns out that I am not alone in my red wine and fish experiments. After doing a search online, I discovered this article from the UK wine trade publication Harpers.

I’ll look to do the salmon pairing in another day or two, but in the meantime I’d love to know if anyone else out there has been playing with some unusual wine and food pairings. Drop me a line – I’d love to hear from you!