FOOD & DRINK
White wine styles & food pairing
C
ONBOARD’s wine master Brad Mitton looks at the simple steps to pairing a variety of white wine styles to your favourite dishes, and reminds us that it doesn’t need to be that complicated
hoosing wines to serve and to marry with your food dishes can sometimes be quite intimidating
and so here I try to simplify the main white grape varietals as a cheat-sheet for you to better understand the different styles and the food-marrying process as wine is of course the perfect partner to food.
We’re going from light to heavy mouthfeel in this list, so generally that would mean light to heavy foods for pairing.
RIESLING (Germany, South Australia) Scents: floral, fragrant, perfumed, citrus Flavours: green apple, pear, lemon, lime
Riesling is at its best when young
however it ages beautifully and fits very well with Asian and spicy dishes. This is a cool climate grape varietal and so the acid retention in the grapes is high, thus offering a balance on the palate that marries with spicy food and a wonderful structure and backbone that lets the wine age and develop beautifully in the bottle. Aromatic and herbaceous Asian dishes are a match in heaven for this style of wine.
CHARDONNAY (Burgundy) Scents: cucumber, apple, grapefruit, nectarine, peach Flavours: fig, cashew, peach, honey melon
Chardonnay is an amazing grape
and massively diverse. You can produce unoaked styles like Chablis or heavily oaked, buttery styles like Montrachet. Basically, if you want your Chardonnay fresh, young and clean, go for a simple Chablis (unoaked) style that is not too expensive and great with oysters and fresh seafood and then upgrade to lightly-oaked for your more complex dishes.
Then take a more expensive, aged and barrel-fermented style for your rich and creamy dishes. Chardonnay is the white grape used in all Burgundian wines.
VIOGNIER (Condrieu, France / Australia) Scents: lolly, boiled sweets, dried fruit, apricots Flavours: apricot, melon, peach, cream
Viognier is the busty blonde of the white wine family, offering a curvaceous and almost full-figured character on the pallet, it has everything - fruit, acid and body. Mainly produced in Condrieu and often expensive, Viognier is a beautiful food wine and is often used as a blender with Shiraz. Lovely and smooth, marry with barbecued fish and lightly caramelised meat dishes.
SAUVIGNON BLANC (Sancerre and Bordeaux, France / New Zealand) Scents: vegetal, green apple, asparagus, capsicum Flavours: grassy, lemongrass, gooseberry, passionfruit
Sauvignon Blancs (origins from Sancerre / Bordeaux) are quite different regionally and the style of the wine varies from grassy, linear and dry to aromatic and full of tropical fruits. Always drink them young, they don’t generally keep and lose their freshness - although there are some winemakers using secondary oak fermentation these days that helps with ageing potential or in Sauternes, they blend with Semillon for ageing; but the freshest and purest styles are the best for simple food pairing. Sauvignon Blanc fits very well with any Asian dishes, vegetable dishes, salads and fresh fish.
With over 25 years of professional experience in the wine industry, Brad Mitton imports selected international wines for leading sommeliers in Central Europe. He is based in the South of France and travels throughout Europe marketing his company and running gourmet events with Club Vivanova.
Brad Mitton is the founder and owner of Mitton International Wines (www.
mittonwines.com) based in Berlin and Club Vivanova (
www.clubvivanova.com) based in Monte Carlo. Bradley recently launched the start-up Brad’s Wine Subscription (
www.brads-wine.com) after demand for monthly wine deliveries from his clients.
ONBOARD | SPRING 2021 | 91
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