Sparkling, white wines, chilled wines... fish wine!

A beautiful event that took place in the Marche region for several years was called "Vini da Pesce": it was an international event that summarized and gathered all the wines that have the characteristics to accompany the products of the sea in their various cooking or raw versions. Fresh, fruity wines, mainly served chilled, if we want to taste them in the summer season. It is no coincidence that the event was held in the Marche. There, among the lands overlooking the Adriatic and those more hidden in the interior of Matelica, one of the greatest Italian white wines, Verdicchio, was born. A product that has all the ideal characteristics to pair excellently with fish. But it’s not the only one!

The extraordinary Italian selection of fish wine

Italy offers an extraordinary selection of fish wines, from north to south, from the Alps to Etna. But what are the characteristics that a wine should have to appropriately accompany fish served raw, baked, grilled, or marinated? Is sparkling wine or still wine better? Is white or red better? Given that there are no rules that cannot be overturned in gastronomic matters, certainly white grapes or red grapes vinified white are the best or most easily paired with fish in general.

What characteristics should a good fish wine have?

First of all, we should look for freshness and therefore acidity in a wine, its aromatic complexity and its pleasantness in aromas, intriguing with flowers or fruit, or with citrus and soft tropical nuances. Another fundamental element is saltiness which for some white wines becomes even saline, as in the case of Ligurian Pigato or some Vermentini from Sardinia or Inzolia from the Alcamo Riviera.

Fish and sparkling wines

Sparkling wines, whether from the Martinotti or Champenoise (Classic Method) origins, are ideal in fish cuisine because they enhance the pleasure of the marine elements of the fish and complement the fattiness of raw meats, especially in the case of oysters, scampi, and shrimp, particularly with the red shrimp from the southern seas. Prosecco and Classic Method are sparkling wines ideal if they have drinkability and fruity freshness. Even better if the bubbles are elegant and never aggressive.

Fish and still white wine

There are emotions that some ancestral sparkling wines provide which have few equals with fried fish or perhaps with a nice fresh paranza in the middle of the morning. Wines such as Soave, Lugana, Arneis, Custoza, Fiano, Falanghina, Greco, Viognier, or Tuscan Trebbiano, aromatic wines from Alto Adige and Veneto Pinot Grigio, the classic Friulian wines from Collio and Carso, the fresh and savory prestigious white wines from Etna.

And then? All the small and unusual white grape varieties that traverse Italy represent the natural book of the most important and complex ampelography existing in the world. Try the magic of a Falanghina from Sannio with a Pacchero di Gragnano wrapped in the sauce of a Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP tomato sautéed with red shrimp from Mazara del Vallo.

Pair a Pinot Bianco from Alto Adige with a Ligurian guazzetto; a Roero Arneis with a pasta of sardines and wild fennel; a Lugana with a grilled sole; a very fresh Custoza with a salad of small octopus; a Soave with a plate of spaghetti with clams from the Adriatic.

Let’s do a "daring" test by pairing Belon, Fin de Claire, or Quiberon Oysters with excellent Lessini Durello sparkling wine and let’s smile about it. Yes, because our Italian wines are the true magic for seafood! In many of them, the sea hides! In almost all, the beauty of an Italian land rich in surprises and new emotions.

Bernardo Pasquali