Guest blogger Daniel Eddy is the Wine Consultant at the Newberry Road ABC in Gainesville, Florida.

So it might seem contrary to the laws of seasonality to blog about a Pinot Grigio in the dead of winter while so much of the country is under layers of ice and snow, but we live in Florida. If I’m making a creamy fish dish, I’m going to pair it with a crisp and refreshing Italian Pinot Grigio, like the Angelo Bufani 2009 from the Veneto. This is a wine we featured at our weekly ABC wine sampling, and it garnered many accolades from our regular weekend customers, even though it is classically Italian with a good amount of food-friendly acidity. It wasn’t quite right for the Moscato d’Asti crowd, but that clean and tart fruitiness really gave it a broad appeal to most everyone else who sampled it.

 On the first whiff I smelled crisp citrus, yet with hints of so much more. This is one of those white wines that I almost enjoy more on the nose than on the palate, since there was so much to smell, from fruit acid to mineral richness. As I tasted it, I went from general citrus flavors to a clear grapefruit character, with that customary tart pithiness, and then a real rocky mid-palate, with notes of wet stone and slate. The finish is a little light, but that is often the case with Pinot Grigio. What it didn’t have was that overripe character and strange sweetness that some reasonably priced Cali Pinot Grigios tend to have. Since I tend to drink with food, I want some real acidity. The 2009 vintage is perfect right now and will be my “go to” wine as we approach next summer, but if you happen to have some fresh fish, prepared either in a cream sauce, or just breaded with some Italian breadcrumbs and grated parmesan, this is a perfect wine to pair. At under $10 per bottle, it’s great for any budget.

 I liked the wine enough to create a meal around it, purchasing some fresh tilapia and creating a simple cream sauce using low fat sour cream and a lot of fresh dill, to play off the mineral components of the wine.  Dill is always great with fish, and it’s an herb that has its own mineral character to harmonize with the rocky elements inherent in wines from Northeastern Italy. Venice is famous for its fresh Adriatic seafood, so I’m using one of the simple and easy wine pairing rules: choose a menu similar to the region where the wine is sourced (always a good pairing axiom). I served the fish with some lime-buttered broccoli and an easy rice pilaf smattered with almonds, to round out the meal and pick up on the obvious citrus notes in the wine.  Even with a cream sauce, this was a low calorie meal with loads of flavors and this crisp and refreshing wine was the perfect match.

Cheers!

 Daniel Eddy, Wine Consultant, Gainesville, Florida

Dan also writes about wine for the Gainesville Examiner (online) -- you can read more of his wine pairing thoughts at http://www.examiner.com/wine-pairing-in-gainesville/daniel-eddy