Which Wine to Drink With Scallops?

With its delicate, iodised flavour, nutty aroma and unique texture, whether firm or melt-in-the-mouth, scallops are a delight to the palate. With its strong umami flavour, it enhances the flavours of the dish, including the accompanying wine.

So make sure you add it to your menu at just the right moment: as an aperitif or at the start of a meal, when your taste buds are not distracted by other flavours that could mask the nuances of the scallops.

Similarly, it is important to respect the order in which the wines are served, avoiding serving a strong aperitif with too much alcohol or too much sugar, or a wine that is tannic or too sweet, before the scallops. The palate must remain neutral to savour all the delicacy of the pairing.

Scallops can be cooked with a wide variety of ingredients and in many different ways. Some dishes, such as tartares, will highlight the marine notes of the scallop, while others will explore rounder flavours with a mushroom sauce to play on the cooking juices.

One thing's for sure, cooking this delicacy requires an elaborate kitchen to create refined dishes that showcase its delicacy. The wine to accompany it should be just as subtle and refined.

A pan, a casserole dish and it's ready in five minutes! Perfect for special occasions, the recipe for scallops on leek fondue is a gourmet dish that's so easy to prepare, we love making it. We'd be remiss if we didn't tell you which wines to choose to make your menu a success!

Chablis wines are undoubtedly the partners of choice when it comes to seafood, shellfish or fish. Chablis wines owe their legendary freshness and minerality to their unique terroir. Made from the Chardonnay grape variety, Chablis has a delicate, buttery mouthfeel and is therefore perfectly suited to cooking with butter and leek fondue. Some vintages have a lingering finish, which allows the flavours of the dish to express themselves and slowly diffuse in harmony.

To keep to the register of white wines with brioche aromas and a lingering finish, certain appellations in the Rhône Valley are excellent candidates. AOCs such as Crozes-Hermitage and Châteauneuf-du-Pape suggest sublime white wines with strong aromatic potential. With a prestigious dish, a prestigious wine!

For a scallop risotto, dry white wines from Bordeaux are ideal. Red wines are absolutely not recommended, since not only do their tannins irritate the iodine side of the scallops, but in a recipe like risotto containing several fats, a full bodied red wine makes the whole thing sickening. To break up the fat of the dish and achieve a balance with the wine, a crisp dry white wine with controlled acidity is required.

With their aromatic bouquet reminiscent of lemon, grapefruit and exotic fruits, Bordeaux AOCs such as Graves, Pessac-Léognan and Entre-Deux-Mers will enhance the scallop risotto.

Alsace wines are complex and aromatic, with rich, varied flavours ranging from exotic fruits to white flowers. As monovarietal wines, they fully express the minerality of the terroir. With their fine acidity, they are ideal for fresh dishes. With their fine structure, these wines have the body to complement the tender or juicy texture of scallops. In short, Alsace wines have more than one trump card up their sleeve!

Whether in tartar, carpaccio, sushi or ceviche, how can we honour the raw scallop? An Alsatian Riesling is a very tempting option! Coming from a northern France, Alsatian Rieslings have everything you need in terms of freshness and vivacity.

With their frank and chiselled attack, they are the allies of all fine and raw fish. The Riesling Grands Crus, with their aromas of white flowers and citrus fruits, cut through the density of the scallop meat in total respect of the product.