Smoked Fish

Smoked Fish

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Today we are answering a question from the email asking “What wines will go well with smoked fish?”

Well the question is, what wine will go well with smoked fish and the email did not mention what kind of fish. Smoked salmon is very different from smoked trout for example. It also didn’t mention if the fish was cold smoked or heat smoked.  And I hate to be picky, but the results of the two processes are very different. But for today - let’s just use trout and salmon, assume it is hot smoked and go from there. In the case of the salmon it is an oily fish which seems to be accentuated when it is smoked. So a wine with a higher level of acidity to offset the oily character is a good place to start. If the salmon is wood smoked and say alder is a dominate characteristic then be sure to find a wine that compliments the specific wood, something with a big fruity nose would work. Red wines with heavy tannins do not usually work as the fishy character of the salmon is not complimentary to the tannin. But a crisp slightly chilled Rose’ could be the ticket or nice crisp white, like sauvignon blanc and pinot gris.  In the case of the trout it is a milder fish usually not heavily smoked and not as oily. Very often apple wood is used for smoking trout and I love dry Riesling with it.  Whatever the wine make sure it is fruit forward with good acidity. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.

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