Sole Dover

Dover sole is the most prized of the flatfish — firm, sweet, and extraordinarily delicate white flesh, classically served meunière (pan-fried in butter with lemon and parsley) or grilled on the bone with nothing more than butter. The preparation is always simple because the fish is the point. The butter adds a gentle fat layer, the lemon provides acid, and the parsley brightens. Oak is eliminated. The wine must be delicate enough to let the fish speak, with enough body to carry the butter and enough acidity to cut it.

Pairs Perfectly

Puligny-Montrachet, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France — the classic answer for Dover sole meunière and one of the most celebrated pairings in French cuisine. Lean but weighty, mineral and precise, lightly oaked at most. The mineral precision matches the delicacy of the sole, the hazelnut note engages the beurre noisette element of meunière, and the weight carries the butter without the wine disappearing into it.

Pairs Well

Chablis Premier Cru, Chablis, Burgundy, France — more weight than village Chablis, still lean and mineral, unoaked. For the grilled preparation where the butter is less dominant, the leaner minerality of a Premier Cru suits the unadorned fish more precisely than the fuller Puligny weight.

Dry Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, South Africa — waxy texture, quince and citrus, high acid, bone-dry. The waxy texture carries the butter fat and the mineral-citrus character engages the delicate sole flesh — the New World answer at the same structural logic as a white Burgundy.

Avoid

Any oaked wine — Dover sole is too delicate for new oak of any weight. Tannic reds are entirely out of place.

Failing That

A Viré-Clessé, Maconnais, Burgundy, France.

If All Else Fails

A Soave Classico, Veneto, Italy.

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