Scampi

Scampi

Assuming breaded, deep fried langoustine tails served with lemon and tartare sauce.

Scampi is sweet shellfish in a crisp, fried crumb, and it wants a sharp, light white or a sparkling wine to cut the fat. The tartare sauce is sharper than it looks, so the wine must have real acidity. Oak turns metallic against shellfish, and tannin does nothing for fried food.

Pairs Perfectly. Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc, France. Lemony, saline and sharp, grown beside the lagoon at Sete where it is drunk with shellfish, it cuts the fried crumb and matches the lemon. Unoaked, light and inexpensive, it is an everyday bottle.

Pairs Well. English sparkling, Sussex, England. Bubbles and high acidity scrub the fat of the crumb, and the chalky green apple meets the lemon.

Pairs Well. Verdejo, Rueda, Spain. Lime and fennel with a faintly bitter finish that cuts through tartare sauce.

Worth Seeking Out

Macabeo from Rioja, Spain, in its fresh, unoaked style. Lemony and faintly herbal with a gentle texture, and a quiet partner to sweet shellfish.

Avoid

Oaked whites and red wine. Oak and shellfish together taste metallic, and neither oak nor tannin helps fried food.

Failing That

A Vinho Verde, Portugal.

If All Else Fails

Muscadet sur lie, Loire.

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