Jacky: Do some fish, other than tuna, go with some red wines ?

Olivier_Poussier: Yes. It can be said that almost all fish can go with red wines. However, the red wine – fish match requires some thinking about the way of preparing the fish, the identity of the sauce, and the level of the accompaniment. With fish, it’s the entire dish that makes the red wine match possible, and not just the fish.

For example: a fish served with a beurre blanc would be hard to serve with a red wine. The same fish served with a meat sauce or matelote style, prepared with red wine, changes the entire issue. So, it’s important to take all the elements going into the dish into account, in order to successfully match red wine and fish.

The red wine – fish match primarily works with young red wines, that are still fresh and  on the fruit, rather than with highly evolved wines. Here too one would tend to prefer light to semi-powerful red wines rather than heavy robust reds, so as to enhance the delicate flesh of the fish. 

Beaufort: What wine would you suggest with sea urchins or the violet shellfish ?

Olivier_Poussier: Wine matches with the sea urchin and the violet, which have significant iodine persistency, absolutely require mineral, pointed white wines. This would mean a super Muscadet of the Joseph Landron or Guy Bossard type. You could also match sea urchins with a mineral Riesling, or a Geisberg de Kientzler grand cru, or a Frédéric Emile de Trimbach vintage. A Savennière, or Chenin blanc wines, white wines with strong mineral character … 

St-estefan: What about for a truffle dish, such as potatoes, risotto, truffle omelette – what wine would go best ?

Olivier_Poussier: Be careful with truffles – if the risotto is made with white truffles, you need a white wine match. In Italy, they often mistakenly serve red wines from the Piedmont with white truffle risottos. White truffles demand an incisive, mineral white. The match focuses on persistency. Personally, with a creamy white truffle risotto, I like to match a Rhone valley white, a Hermitage or a Saint-Joseph, between five and six years old. As for black truffles… black truffles release much more autumnal notes, more “mushroom” and "humus". With black truffles I prefer to match a red which has already evolved and developed, to  go along with the “tertiary” sense of the dish.
zago: What would be the best red wine to serve with Ostrich Rossini ?

Olivier_Poussier: I’ll give two matches for that – ostrich is a very tasty meat, and could go with an exotic match: a beautiful Syrah, a wine like Armagh by Jim Barry, and the other – a Côte-Rôtie by Jean-Paul Jamet.

vivelebonvin: What wines should one choose to go with game ?

Olivier_Poussier: Again, it depends how the game is prepared. I tend to think that for simmered game, in sauce, which has been marinated, the match requires a powerful, but young wine. I have seen that a powerful red wine, that is young, on the fruit, refreshes a stewed, gamy meat. You bring in freshness to a dish that is already very animal and gutsy on its own. I emphasize the power match, but seek to enhance the contribution that a young wine can make – the gourmandise that it brings to offset the long-simmered meat. This contrast results in a great complementarity between the young wine which stimulates the powerful dish. It is also important that the temperature of the wine not be too high. I find matches between 16 and 18 degrees with game are highly satisfactory.

Alain: A few years ago, I treated myself to two bottles of Château-Margaux 1988. What winter season dish would you advise to drink them with ? And is this wine at its peak ?

Olivier_Poussier: 1988 is a classic year for Bordeaux, that is, it was a year of well-controlled generosity. The wines from 1988 still express themselves with a great deal of youth. Their tannic texture still remains clear.