Wine Wednesday: A Fun and Affordable Fruity White
Pinot Gris, Pfaffenheim I love a challenge. Give me a dish and I’ll try to find a wine that works. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes, as you know, I get it wrong.
But, finding a wine to match with a dish when I have the entire LCBO or SAQ or even my own cellar at my disposal, makes it easier. In those catalogues, I usually have a large enough choice that I can find a couple of options that I think will work. If I have made the dish and know what flavours I want to enhance or tone down, the task is easier still.
My parents don’t drink much wine (shocking, I know). So, when I wanted to match a wine to Sunday night’s shrimp stir fry with rice, I knew I was facing a challenge. In the country, the SAQ closes early and the in-house stock was bound to be limited. Furthermore, I did not make the meal so I was unsure what to highlight or tone down. I did know that there was seafood and that it was a creamy spicy sauce. If I wanted a wine to work with the dish, I was probably looking for a Riesling or a Gewürztraminer.
Spicy shrimp with a fruity Pinot Gris, Pfaffenheims
Heading down to the basement fridge, I was faced with a choice of two white wines: a Chardonnay and a Pinot Gris. When you see Alsace on a Pinot Gris, you can expect a certain profile: it is likely to be fruity, floral and what I would call “sweet.” It is very different in character from the Italian “Pinot Grigio,” even though they are the same variety of grape. I would not have chosen a Pinot Grigio as it would probably have been too dry. But, I was willing to take a chance on the Pfaffenheim from Alsace.
The wine is a yellow straw colour, clear with the aroma of honey and lily of the valley (that may have been the nice weather talking). In flavour, it reminded me of lighter honeys, and cooked apples.
I am not a fan of sweeter table whites and would not drink this on its own. But I think it could work well with a number of summer dishes, including spicy sauces and perhaps apple desserts.
This wine was a good match, made even better by the fact that I didn’t have an entire SAQ at my disposal. At $15 a bottle, it also fit into my “Reasonably priced nice wines” theme for Wine Wednesday.
Straw coloured wine
