Fennel, flavouring profile

Fennel, flavouring profile

Fennel tastes of aniseed, and a white wine with a green herb or fennel note of its own meets it far better than a fruity one.

The compounds that matter. Anethole, the aniseed compound also found in star anise, sweet and cooling, which sits best beside wines that carry herb and green notes rather than ripe fruit. Limonene and other citrus compounds in the fronds, which open the door to citrus toned whites. When fennel is roasted or braised its sugars come forward and the aniseed softens, so the plate asks for more body.

What it demands of a wine. Freshness and a herbal, green or citrus register to mirror the aniseed. Raw fennel, usually dressed with lemon, needs high acidity. Braised or roasted fennel wants a little more texture. Oak and tannin both work against it.

Seek. Xarel-lo from Penedès, whose own fennel and green apple note is the closest mirror in wine. Grüner Veltliner in its light, dry Weinviertel style, peppery and green. Pale Provence rosé, from a coast where fennel grows wild, for braised fennel or fennel with fish. Arneis from Piedmont, gently floral, for roasted fennel. Falanghina from Campania for raw fennel with citrus.

Avoid

Heavily oaked wines of either colour, whose vanilla smothers the aniseed. Tannic reds, which turn bitter against the green edge of raw fennel. Very ripe, sweet fruited whites, which make the aniseed taste sickly.

Three to reach for. Xarel-lo, Penedès, Spain. Dry Grüner Veltliner, Weinviertel, Austria. Pale Provence rosé, France.