Fish Dish: Baked Salmon

There are a few dinners that are just better with wine. The dishes almost beg for a pairing, and the sipping helps savor the dish. Pizza and a nice medium-bodied red wine - our go-to is Zinfandel. Tacos and Pinot Noir. Fish baked or grilled with a well balanced (fruit and acid) white wine. Maybe it’s the acidity that helps cut the fat in the food, the combination embodies mouth-wateringly savory. Maybe it’s because we’re in wine country and it just makes sense. Maybe it makes the evening feel more celebratory and less like a Tuesday.

Either way, we enjoyed a nice piece of salmon, flavored with cilantro (substituted for the dill in the following recipe) from our garden, lemon, garlic and butter. And served it with roasted red potatoes, and fresh green beans with a little butter, salt and lemon. Back-deck kinda eating. It was good. And so, we share the following recipe inspiration for baked salmon and say a socially-distant cheers!

We used this recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch. She offers lots of good tips, and three flavor options. We went with the Lemon & Dill and substituted cilantro for dill.

The Wine. The Dinner

Note - this post was originally published 04.23.2015

Sauvignon Blanc is the latest grape gaining respect here in Napa Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is still king and commands the highest price. Many of the top or cult wineries in the valley have added a stand out SB to their portfolio.

What I like about this change is the opportunity to taste site-specific SB's that due to selective vineyard sites show unique traits and elegance beyond the crisp, refreshing wine we enjoy. I hinted at this in our post about Rudd's Mt. Veeder Sauvignon Blanc. I also recommend checking out this article published in The Wall Street journal last year about serious SB's.

This leads to me to the SB we enjoyed this week with dinner.

The wine: SR Tonella Cellars Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc 2014. This wine is unique in that the grapes were sourced from the west bench in Rutherford and that the wine was aged in a combination of neutral French Oak, Acacia, and Stainless steel - resulting in a lovely SB with light aromatics, a round, lush palate, with minerality and acidity on the finish that won't tire your palate.

The dinner: Vegetable curry served with fresh cheese, lime wedges, and tortilla chips.

Salut!