Recently I found myself entering a gravad lax-making contest. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. While I was quietly confident with the version I had been producing for years, my Piscean opponent, who happened to be newly returned from Norway, wanted to bring the date of the contest forward. This meant my lunch host and his young, inexperienced salmon, having met in the Norwegian fjords, would go first. This felt like an unfair contest, but as I am known for my dependability to provide suitable wines, at least I had a role to perform.
It turned out to be not such an easy brief. Oily fish, yet uncooked. Chunky in texture, subtle in flavour, soft and slippery. Then there is the accompanying sauce - the herby dill and sweet mustard concoction. White wine, yes, but with sufficient acidity to cut through the oiliness. A buttery or oaky Chardonnay would overpower the delicate flavour of the salmon. My host is an avowed Sauvignon-Blanc-Hater, so that was out. A wine with a suggestion of sweetness, maybe, but then one so often ends up with half a bottle that doesn’t go with the rest of the meal, and to demolish a bottle with each course, is risky. This was lunch, after all, and I’m not good at battling my way through hordes of commuters for the tube at the best of times. I settled for a Chenin Blanc from its viticultural home in the Loire Valley. But not just any old Chenin. Coulée de Serrant, from Savennières, is an iconic bottle, produced by the godfather of biodynamic viticulture, Nicolas Joly, and beloved of the cognoscenti.
Coulée de Serrant has its own AOC, an unusual achievement in itself for a single vineyard. What is also unusual is its quite extraordinary complexity. Slightly oxidative on the nose, it developed aromas of pears, fennel and herbs. With an extraordinary finish, it was grippy, almost tannic in the mouth.
Then, the glistening fillet of fish arrived, full of northern promise. The bottle of Coulée de Serrant, with its moderate streak of acidity (too much acidity and its effect on the raw fish would be to ‘cook’ it when they met on the palate), its intense mouthfeel, and the dense, rich heady notes of scrubland and herbs, complemented perfectly the thick-textured fish. With an abv of 15 per cent, the Sensible Me exercised some restraint, recognising that judicious measures were called for.
A successful food and wine pairing is a beautiful thing and a reminder that when the composition of the wine is fully understood, and matches the accompanying food, the greater the pleasure derived. As for the gravad lax - it wasn’t bad.
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