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- Bucksh00t - 09-01-1999
What wine(s) would go with the following menu:
Appitizer: Baked Oysters
Entree: Baked Fish Steak with Capers
Dessert: Meringue Napoleans with Macedione of dried fruits
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
[This message has been edited by Bucksh00t (edited 09-02-99).]
- Jason - 09-02-1999
Arti's and caper are always tough with wine, but what kind of steak fish?
- Jerry D Mead - 09-02-1999
Change appetizer or forget the wine...artichokes and wine is a near impossible match. The chokes make wine taste metallic.
- Bucksh00t - 09-02-1999
I'm going to use Tuna Steaks, and I got rid of the chokes
- Thomas - 09-02-1999
I assume by baked oysters you mean breaded oysters. Try a Sauvignon Blanc, crisp Chardonnay or even a dry Riesling.
With the tune perhaps Pinot Noir.
My preference is to refrain from serving wine with sweet desserts. End the dinner with a dessert wine served with nuts or cheese.
- Randy Caparoso - 09-02-1999
Shame on you, Curm. Zillions of people drink wine with artichokes without a thought that the two may not go together. The French, Canadians, and Italians, for instance, buy Monterey grown artichokes (they prefer the smaller sizes) by the shipload, or happily consume whatever they produce themselves. David Rosengarten and Joshua Wesson have proposed that artichokes go swimmingly with dry, fruity roses -- the cynar element in the vegetable has a tendency to make food taste a little sweet, thus making a dry rose taste even fruitier and softer. The trick is to select any wine that is elementally dry, but wants to taste fruity. Moderate acid French and Italian whites and pinks do the trick. For instance, in our younger days -- before we knew the "rules" of food/wine matching -- my wife and I happily guzzled down tons of cheap Soave or Pinot Grigio with artichokes. Delicious!
As for your oysters, it would be helpful to know what seasonings or other flavors (crabmeat? bacon?) you would be using to tuck in your little bivalves before sending them to holy hell. But if you are using standard bread crumb seasonings, I would think that a soft, fruity, yet dry style California Sauvignon Blanc (or Fume Blanc) would be nice, as well as a good Italian Pinot Grigio. Ask your local wine merchant for a recommendation.
But if you're going with just one wine for all the non-dessert courses, the most versatile choice would be a barely off-dry German Riesling, which are bottled as "Halbtrocken" (or "half-dry"), since these wines have the lightness, zesty fruitiness, yet just the touch of sweetness needed to balance the salty taste of the capers. Again, consult your wine merchant. If the choices of this are not good, however, you can always go with a demi-sec Vouvray from France -- slightly fuller than a Riesling, but zesty and fruity enough, with that touch of sugar to buoy the capers.
Finally your napoleon with dried fruits: the best choice in the world would have to be either a Vin Santo from Tuscany, a Recioto di Soave from Veneto, or a Moscato Passito from Calabria, Sicily, or the little island of Passito. If these are not available, my second choice would be a Moscato de Setubal from Portugal; and my third, a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise from France's Rhone Valley. The idea behind all these dessert wine choices is that they all have slightly exotic, naturally dried fruit taste, yet are surprising light and airy to the touch.
You might have to go an extra mile to find such "ideal" choices, but in the end your palate, and guests, will thank you profusely.