Which Wine to Drink With Smoked Salmon?
Smoked salmon is a very fine dish that needs to be matched with a wine that will reveal its full aromatic potential. To do this, follow our advice and welcome your guests with peace of mind!
Sancerre white wines
Smoked Salmon and Wine: Looking For a Light Pairing!
A light wine for a fatty fish
The undisputed star of the party table, smoked salmon is present from the aperitif onwards, as well as on the plates of cold starters on the Christmas and New Year's Eve menus. It's so popular that it's eaten all year round, in summer salads, poke bowls and sushi.
Tasty and unctuous, smoked salmon is a dish whose taste characteristics determine the choice of wine, not only because of its texture, but also because of its smoky flavour. It's a fatty fish and you shouldn't choose a wine that's too full-bodied. It will have no affinity with a wine that is too smoky. In short, the fat and smokiness of the fish should be toned down to complement each other.
Dry, Young and Aromatic White Wines!
Faced with the fatty texture of smoked salmon, the choice of a fresh, acidic, lively and crisp wine is the best option available to you! A young white wine with saline notes and a nice minerality refreshes the mouth and accompanies the smoked fish while ensuring a nice roundness.
However, be careful not to choose a wine that is too rustic or too fat. Too much fat may cause a heavy effect, as would a wine that is too mineral. For a perfect match, enjoy smoked salmon with a dry white wine from the Chenin or Sauvignon grape varieties.
A Sancerre for its vivacity
In the Loire Valley, the Sancerre vineyards have given rise to a famous appellation whose white wines are renowned for accompanying seafood: Sancerre AOC. With a racy edge, white Sancerre wines know how to assert themselves with the pronounced smoky flavour of salmon, while at the same time being light. Its minerality adds freshness, but to avoid a wine with too much character, choose a young Sancerre with a tender style, 1 to 2 years old.
A Pouilly-Fumé for its fruitiness
For a daring match with the characteristic flavours of the dish, try a wine with a smoky flavour, as long as it's not too strong. Head for the Loire Valley , where Sauvignon, also known as 'smoky white', covers almost the entire vineyard, producing dry white wines with remarkable fruitiness. On limestone and flint soils, the grape variety soaks up the terroir to reveal a palate of subtle aromas. With its minerality and freshness, Pouilly-Fumé has an absolutely unique, slightly smoky, flinty bouquet, complemented by floral and fruity nuances. For more complex, fragrant aromas, choose a Pouilly-Fumé that has been ageing for a few years. The palate will then have citrus fruit aromas (lemon, grapefruit and orange) that nuance the minerality of the cuvée. These wines can be aged for up to 5 years.
The Lemony Notes of a Bourgogne Aligoté
The Aligoté grape variety is steeped in its terroir, so the limestone soils give it a mineral profile and great freshness to the wines from which it is made. Lightness is the order of the day.
A Bourgogne Aligoté AOC with its light style and notes of citrus fruit and green apple is a very judicious choice! It will work wonders if the salmon is cooked with other ingredients, such as crudités in a salad. Here, we're banking on the freshness of a young dry white wine that also has character. It goes well with the crunchiness of the vegetables, with a lovely acidity that comes through on the finish.
The Bourgogne Aligoté wines stimulate the taste buds, the palate full-bodied and elegant, revealing a fine balance with perfectly balanced full-bodiedness and liveliness. At Pernand, the wines from this appellation are more supple and fruity, and would be best served with smoked salmon.
Champagne Blanc de Blancs Best Discounts
Champagne, For a Festive Meal!
Are you a fine bubbles lover? Don't ask any more questions: accompany your smoked salmon bites with Champagne!
Not only is this an ideal pairing from a gustatory point of view, the marriage of smoked salmon and Champagne is part of the logic of a successful meal. It is quite common for smoked salmon bites to be served as an aperitif, just like Champagne! Such a noble dish calls for a wine of the same calibre, and Champagne knows how to answer the call.
The fine bubbles of Blanc de Blancs, in particular, combine delicately with smoked fish, revealing all its aromatic potential. A Blanc de Noirs or a rosé Champagne will surprise your guests with its fruity side, which goes superbly with smoked salmon.
Pairings to Avoid With Smoked Salmon
- Red wines: for red wine lovers, this pairing is not at all recommended. Although very aromatic, smoked salmon is a delicate dish and the tannins in the red wine may overwhelm the delicacy. The tannins will clash with the flesh of the fish, leaving an unpleasant taste in the mouth. A red wine with very little tannin and lots of fruit could be an alternative. Give priority to a Pinot Noir from Alsace. The combination of smoked salmon and red wine should be avoided.
- Round and fruity rosés: with a rosé that is too fruity, an effect similar to that of red wine is likely to occur. Rosés lack the liveliness to cope with the fatty flesh of smoked salmon. Prioritise rosés with more acidity.
- Woody whites: it is not advisable to pair white wines that have been aged in oak barrels. The toasty, vanilla aromas left by a period in an oak barrel are likely to be superimposed on the smoky aromas without blending. The whole is thus unbalanced. However, this pairing is not impossible, it depends on the mastery of the maturation process. Taste the wine before serving it.
- Semi-dry and sweet wines: the strong sweetness present in semi-dry and sweet wines does not go well with the smoky flavours of fish. Not only do these wines weigh down the food, creating an unpleasant mouthfeel, the wine's flavours completely overwhelm those of the salmon.
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