Berry Bros & Rudd to match red wine with fish

Written by Carol Emmas   
Wednesday, 25 August 2010 11:44

Berry Bros & Rudd is using science in an attempt to prove that red wine does go with fish after all.


A tasting, Fine Wine & Fish, will test out research by Takayuki Tamura at the Mercian Corporation in Kanagawa, Japan and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.


In the research 38 red wines and 26 whites were tasted with scallops.


Wines with high amounts of iron generate more intensely fishy aftertaste, it was found.

 

But the unpleasant sensation was not as obvious when a substance which binds up iron was added.


Nick Page, food and wine specialist at Berrys who is hosting the tasting on September 6, said iron is the key factor.

 

"But we have no idea of actual iron content in wines, so we will be experimenting by comparing wines that are grown in iron rich soil such as Pommard to those which aren't, for example Chambolle-Musigny. It will be good fun and I hope it works."


Peter McCombie MW said: "My experience is that fish seems to make the tannins more metallic. I have previously had wines matched with fish that have very ripe tannins or are aged with soft tannins and there doesn't seem to be a problem."


Doug Wregg, Les Caves de Pyrène's director of marketing and sales, agreed the problem was tannins rather than iron. "So this is new to me. I'd happily drink red wines with a more fatty fish such as salmon, but I'd never dream of drinking red wines with scallops. There is a lot made of food and wine matching, but it's not a precise thing, I'm quite happy drinking whatever whenever I like."

 

Comments 

 
#1 Anthony Stockbridge 2010-08-26 08:53
Doug Wregg hits the nail squarly on the head. The french choose Beaujolais (slightly chilled) to accompany Grilled Salmon or pan fried mackerel demonstrating the 'low tannin/oily fish'principle.
 

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