My wife and I are doing a dry aged fish omakase tasting menu tomorrow night and we can BYO. I haven’t had dry aged fish before so I’m curious about pairings. Does anyone have recs here based on experience? Is it much different than regular sushi from a flavor or texture standpoint?
I was thinking a '17 Ultramarine Rose and either a '17 Walter Scott X Novo or a '19 JJ Prum WS Kabinett. I am tempted to bring a high acid younger red burg though. I just don’t know if it will work well.
I had never heard of this, but just read an article.
“Chefs and fishermen wax poetic about the results of dry-aging fish, saying there’s more umami, tenderness, and fattiness to the seafood. There’s less fishiness to the taste as well. “It has more of a melt-in-your-mouth texture,” says Cody Requejo, the executive chef at Fiish.”
So in that sense, it should go well with anything you would normally serve with fish.
However, when you say omakase, do you mean you are making sushi dishes out of the fish? In that case, it might depend on what sushi preparations you’re using (sauces, ponzu, vinegar, whatever).
One thing is for sure – in typical WB fashion, a bunch of people are about to reply saying (1) Champagne and/or (2) drink some non-wine thing like sake, Sapporo, tea, or whatever else.
Aged Chenin Blanc (dry). Was at a dinner where a fellow guest recommended Burgundy/Pinot once with sushi/fish. Tried it and had to agree it was a good pairing. I may have tried with scallops or a fatty fish so i would probably recommend Pinot with fatter cut of sushi. With leaner cuts perhaps oregon pinot, chardonnay or other white wine. Drier rieslings seem to blend well with sushi.
I don’t think the fish being dry aged changes the wine pairing vs. fresh sushi. I think it’s more dependent on the style of sushi (is it delicate and simple or bold and saucy or spicy).
I’ve had a dry aged fish dinner at a special event that was somewhat sponsored by Langhe consorzio, so the wine were made available by the producers and might not have been the best pairing in the world (altho I can say I enjoyed the wine themselves and they didn’t clash with any of the courses presented).
The list:
Fontanafredda Contessa Rosà Rosà Brut
Brandini Coccinelle 2018
Borgogno Era Ora 2019
The 2nd and 3rd exceeded my (not very high) expectations.
I won’t disappoint. My favorite wine accompaniment to aged fish is vinuous Champagne. I’ve recently eaten aged fish alongside Egly-Ouriet VP, Marguet Sapience, Collin Pierrieres and Enfers (I preferred Pierrieres), and an aged Krug Grande Cuvee (pre-bottle code). All were great textural and taste compliments to the fish.
I loathe red wine and fish together as I always experience a metallic aftertaste, presumably caused by red grape tannins interacting in some manner with the fish. A great way to ruin two things I love by combining them together!
There’s a Michelin-starred sushi restaurant in San Mateo, Sushi Yoshizumi. It’s strictly edomae style and the chef/owner specializes in aging his fish.
A friend has eaten there well over a 100 times and has done all manner of wine experimentation with the chef. He said the only wines that work well with his cuisine are Champagne and Sake. Once that was established, the wine list was adjusted accordingly. First time I went, I wanted to bring Grand Cru Chablis and my friend quite firmly said no.
Last time I was at Yoshizumi (pre-pandemic), my friend and I brought 00 Pol Roger Winston Churchill, 02 Krug, and 04 Bollinger Rose. It was just the two of us and we drained all three bottles.
I think the OP is spot on with the high acid PN / Burg.
Warning: totally biased comments ahead. My wife is Japanese and makes Pinot noir for a living. So, we have strong opinions and biases about wine and Japanese food…
Our go-to wine for fish with a lot of oil and / or intense umami is low pH Pinot noir. We often do a quick (6 to 18 hours) air drying of fresh mackerel and then roast it. (saba shioyaki). The result is an intense umami that needs a wine that is both bright-sharp (acidity) and has a decent backbone (tannin). We also find that Pinot noir is a good match/balancer for soy-sauce in general, which depending on the chef can make it a good match for sush / sashimi.
FWIW, totally not talking about white fish like cod, sole or heaven-forbid tilapia. High-fat, dark-flesh and intensely flavored fishes have ruined white fish for me.
