The Island Wine Company
This fantastic and rustic dish had me scratching my head to find the perfect wine to balance the simple but diverse ingredients. Traditionally cream sauces work wonderfully with rich Chardonnays, but shellfish can jar with oaky wines. The dish is full of strong flavours; from the meaty, earthy mussels to the salty cured bacon and the rich cream, so more traditional seafood wines would be blown away. To balance the richness of the dish I selected an unusual unoaked Australian wine. The Willunga 100 Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris has plenty of weight, texture and juicy citrus fruit, but its cool climate origins help it to retain the racy acidity required to cut through the creamy sauce. A wonderful match for the mussels. I still felt that the right Chardonnay could work beautifully and I plumped for a white Burgundy: Saint Veran Les Pierre Blanches, Cave de Prissé from the generous 2009 vintage. Although it is unoaked, this wine has complexity and structure and is a perfect foil for the dish.
Selected wines:
Willunga 100 Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris 2009 - £9.99
Saint Veran Les Pierres Blanches Cave de Prissé 2009 - £11.50 For wine advice and food and wine matching tips contact matt@theislandwinecompany.co.uk
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