Tagliatelle of raw cuttlefish and passerina

Having spent most of our week in Abruzzo inland we seized the opportunity to have a meal at La Barcaccia a fish restaurant on the seafront at Pescara before flying back and this clever dish of cuttlefish ‘tagliatelle’ was one of the crudi (raw dishes) on the menu.

It was served with little finely sliced sweet onion then simply dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and garnished with fresh green chillies which gave it quite a kick (The abruzzesi like their chillies though they’re usually dried)

We opted for an inexpensive white passerina which worked brilliantly with the dish and also with the very gorgeous pasta dish of scampi, clams and bottarga we had afterwards. Passerina is one of the local grape varieties, the others being pecorino and trebbiano though this particular bottle from Pasetti is not available in the UK.

Cured trout with verdita and vinho verde

Raw fish seems to be really popular right now but I had a fascinating variation the other day at Root restaurant in Bristol in the form of some raw Chalk Stream trout, cured in mezcal and dressed with verdita, a Mexican drink which is generally made from lime and pineapple juice, jalapeno pepper, coriander and mint and drunk as a chaser for tequila

Chef Rob Howell’s version was made with apple and cucumber and the fish topped with sliced jalapeño peppers, cherry tomatoes and baby rocket leaves. Absolutely delicious but not the easiest dish to pair with wine

I suppose we could have partnered it with a margarita had we known about the verdita but in fact the wine we’d chosen to go with what we’d ordered (practically everything on the menu) - a 2021 Vinho Verde called Chin Chin - worked perfectly being fresh, dry and at 11.5% relatively low in alcohol.

You’ll find it on quite a lot of restaurant lists - the label as you can see is really striking - or buy it online from around £9-11 from the Four Walls Wine Co (which sells it for £9.25) and other indies.

Something maybe to try for the Cinco de Mayo celebrations next week.

Sashimi and koshu

Given that koshu is Japan's signature grape variety it’s perhaps not surprising that it’s a successful pairing with sashimi but two interesting things emerged from a recent tasting which was hosted by Sarah Abbott on behalf of Wines of Japan.

The first was the variety of styles there now are - much greater than when I last had an opportunity to compare them - from the original clean, precise unoaked koshus to wines with oak influence and skin contact.

The second that it was not so much the sashimi that was the influence on the pairing or even the accompanying wasabi and pickled ginger but a delicious vivid green, sesame-laced hiyashi seaweed salad, a powerful hit of umami that diminished the difference between the wines.

I liked it best with the first wine a very clean, precise unoaked 2019 Koshu Hikari from Chateau Lumière and with the rather more international style of the 2019 Iwasaki Koshu which had echoing notes of a sauvignon blanc with which it apparently has compounds in common. You can buy the latter from All About Wine for £16.29 though unfortunately only by the case.

It also went with a sparkling koshu, the Manns Wines Kobo No Awa Koshu Sparkling Brut, but that doesn’t seem to be stocked in the UK.

It would be good to see koshu more widely available. Maybe after this initiative it will be.

I attended the online tasting as a guest of Wines of Japan

Seabass crudo, Felsina olive oil and Meriggio sauvignon blanc

Given that I’m not a massive sauvignon fan it might surprise you that it features as my match of the week for the second successive week but it’s a question of quality. With the right dish good sauvignon is a joy.

In this case it was a starter of raw sea bass which was drizzled with Chianti producer Felsina’s 2016 olive oil and seasoned with marjoram, lemon and sea salt. And it will probably surprise you less that it was served at The River Café as part of an amazing olive oil tasting and lunch hosted by David Gleave of Liberty Wines.

Although the sea bass, herbs and salt played their part it was really the gorgeous grassy olive oil that showed off the wine, echoing its own herbal notes but bringing out its elegant citrus character as well.

These Tuscan producers only make their oils in very small quantities so you need to reserve them just as you would an in-demand wine. In the UK The Oil Merchant is a reliable source but good Italian delis, department store food halls and larger, posher supermarkets such as Waitrose should stock them in due course too. (Just make sure it's the 2016 vintage you're buying). They won't be cheap but they raise humble ingredients such as tomatoes, good bread and pasta to spectacular heights.

The best price I can find online for the Meriggio which is made by Fontodi, is £16.50 at winedirect.co.uk. Which is roughly the price you'd pay for a good Sancerre.

I attended the tasting and lunch as a guest of Liberty Wines.