It happens to everyone. You’re invited to dinner, feel obliged to bring something, but you don’t know what’s on the menu – how do you pick a wine? For Stuart Knox, owner of Sydney wine bar and restaurant Fix Wine, the answer is acidity.
“Acidity in wines really works well when you’re having a meal,” Knox says. “You’re generally looking for a reason for that wine to cut through any food.”
Cool-climate regions such as the Yarra Valley are perfect for this, producing wines of good acidity without the overpowering fruit characters of some warmer regions.
Broadsheet asked Knox for his tips on what wines to take when arriving blind at a buddy’s dinner party. Tuck any of the following under your arm and you’ll have just about anything covered.
Semillon
Semillon is bright, lean and generally well-known for its seafood-friendly characteristics. But find one with a little more going on – like the Levantine Hill Estate semillon – and you’ll have a versatile wine that can match up with a wide variety of foods, from oysters to big hearty winter meat dishes.
“That mid-palate depth really will fill everything through to a big roast chook or a pork dish,” Knox says.
Yarra Valley semillon is perfect, but even leaner Hunter Valley examples (especially with a bit of age) will work well too.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is a perennial favourite locally but don’t go too old-school here if you’re looking for versatility at the dinner table.
“The modern Australian chardonnay style is not that big, overly buttery, fat style – they’re a much finer wine,” Knox says. “They do carry that nice fresh acidity in there as well.
“You’ll get a lot more complexity and detail in it, a lot more weight to it. But that acidity means you can have it to start, and that weight means it will stand up to even red-meat dishes.”
Think vegetarian meals, cooked and richer types of seafood such as prawns and lobster, and subtly spiced Asian dishes. A good chardonnay will also match with slow-roasted red meats such as lamb shoulder, where the cooking process has broken down the protein.
Pinot noir
A supremely versatile wine, packing a pinot will cover you for just about any food scenario.
“It’s sort of the red version of chardonnay in that it carries acidity as well, so it will work nicely with seafood dishes,” Knox says.
Chilling it down is also a great way to match it to lighter starters such as terrine and charcuterie, but don’t go much colder than 10 degrees or you’ll overdo it. Regardless, it’s just as well suited to the bigger main courses.
“All those slow-cooked meat dishes we were talking about before with chardonnay – pinot will do just as well there,” Knox says. “And then pinot will go [well with] a lamb and pork roast too, [though] not necessarily all the way to a steak.”
Syrah
Syrah is what the rest of the world calls shiraz, but in Australia it denotes a cool-climate, more delicate alternative to the classic big-boy South Australian shiraz that has traditionally dominated the local market.
Once again, cooler climate regions such as the Yarra Valley produce a wine with a brighter acidity and a more savoury flavour profile, which gives it great versatility when it comes to food.
“It will happily go with a pork terrine or some duck spring rolls, once again those Asian, aromatic spices,” Knox says. “A big old beef roast or some nice steaks on the barbeque absolutely will also work with it.”
Just keep an eye on that temperature. “We sell a lot of our wines too warm in Australia, and if you take that syrah down to sort of 14 or 15 degrees, once again it is more versatile in what it can match up to.”
This story is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Levantine Hill Estate. Explore the full range of Levantine Hills wines.
