Generally when matching wine to seafood you have lots of options. You can choose a Chablis, a Picpoul de Pinet from Languedoc, a nice Italian Verdicchio or an Albarino from Rais Baixas in Northern Spain. With lighter dishes, you could also reach for a Sauvignon Blanc or a Pinot Grigio.
When you go for a richer seafood dish such as scallops or lobster, you need to match the richness in the dish with a more luxurious wine in your glass. For me, this means a white Burgundy or a really good New World Chardonnay.
We recently saw James Martin at the Armadillo making (amongst other things) lobster mac and cheese. He used a fair amount of butter and cream in the recipe, making this about as rich a seafood dish as you can possibly imagine.
So, you really need to find a good Meursault from Burgundy, and preferably one that won’t mean you need to remortgage the house as you still have to pay for the lobster. This is a great time to shop around for deluxe wines as the wine merchants and supermarkets are stocking up in preparation for Christmas. You’ll occasionally see deals or introductory prices that can be very tempting. The real temptation, of course, is not glugging everything before the intended event.
Vincent Girardin Le Limozin Meursault 2015 (Waitrose, £37.99). The is a classic Meursault from a great negotiant. In Burgundy, negotiants are vineyard owners and winemakers who also buy in grapes from other growers and wine from other winemakers to allow them enough volume to make a commercial release. This doesn’t decrease the quality of the final wine, as the good negotiants control every aspect of production, often working closely with their growers over a number of years to ensure everything meets their standards.
If you’d prefer the New World (anywhere outside of Central Europe), a great option is the Bogle Vineyards Phantom Chardonnay (Inverarity One to One, £21.99, limited availability). This luscious offering comes from Clarksburg, California and is the ideal bottle to grace the table beside James’ lobster mac and cheese. It also works very well with turkey and all the trimmings over the festive season. Cheers!
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