Halibut

Halibut

Assuming a halibut fillet pan roasted and served with butter or a beurre blanc.

Halibut is firm, meaty and mild, and it is usually served with butter, so the wine needs more weight than most fish wines while staying entirely unoaked. Fish and oak together taste metallic. Acidity to cut the butter matters more than fruit.

Pairs Perfectly. Chablis, France. Unoaked Chardonnay from cold limestone, taut and chalky, and a Premier Cru has the extra weight to match the dense flesh. It cuts a butter sauce cleanly and adds nothing that fights the fish, and a village Chablis is the everyday version of the same idea.

Pairs Well. Dry Riesling Smaragd, Wachau, Austria. The fullest dry style of Wachau Riesling, with stone fruit and firm acidity and the body for a meaty fish in butter.

Pairs Well. Greco di Tufo, Campania, Italy. Mineral, weighty and faintly bitter at the finish, which keeps a rich sauce in check.

Worth Seeking Out

Pošip from Korčula, Croatia. An island white with almond and white peach over a salty finish, and the texture to sit with a firm fish.

Avoid

Oaked whites and red wine. Oak and white fish together taste metallic, and tannin does the same.

Failing That

A dry Riesling from the Rheingau, Germany.

If All Else Fails

Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough.

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