Wine and Sushi

Filed in archive Food and Wine on August 30, 2007

Last week, Kathleen who blogs at Wine and Stories from the Vineyard had asked me about what wines I might pair up with sushi. I admit that I am pretty boring here and either go for a sake or a sparkling wine. If only The dallas morning news had been quicker to press with their article about pairing wine and sushi:

Here's what the panel learned from this tasting.

•Most of our winning wines were dry, crisp, clean and refreshing; this style cuts through the rich, fatty fish and matches with a wide variety of sushi, including vegetarian rolls.

•Two wines with an oily texture and richness also fared well, matching nicely with the fatty fish and extending the flavors in the mouth. These wines also went well with barbecued-eel sushi.

•Winners were characterized by aggressive fruit but no residual sugar. Wines with ripe fruit worked well when balanced with acidity.

•Some great wines with subtle or delicate fruit failed. Although beautiful alone, they were stripped of flavor when paired with sushi, soy sauce and wasabi.

•Red wines proved tricky. Although not versatile enough for a wide array of sushi, a fruit-forward, complex, full-bodied merlot is worth seeking out for barbecued eel, mackerel and fatty tuna (toro) sushi.

Click over to the article for their reccomendations. All are under $20 and I'm looking forward to seeing if I agree!