Wine Pairing: Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc and Tuna-Artichoke Salad

Wine Pairing: Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc and Tuna-Artichoke Salad

We at WhisperKOOL welcome you to our blog and our latest wine and food pairing. In these posts, you’ll find a recipe for a delicious meal (soups, salads, casseroles, and sometimes even burgers and steaks!) and our recommendation for a good wine to pair it with. This week, since it’s spring and we’re rolling toward summer, we thought we’d try a lighter dish than usual: artichoke and tuna salad. We’ve selected a Dog Point sauvignon blanc to accompany this salad, and we think you’ll find the combination delicious. Read, try, and enjoy!

 

THE RECIPE:

Tuna-artichoke salad is a nutritious and guilt-free dish for lunch or dinner. It’s quick and simple to prepare (the recipe is only two steps!), and it requires no expensive or hard-to-find ingredients. And if you’ve never tried artichoke hearts before, rest assured that you’re missing out on one of the healthiest and most delicious snacks in existence. Here’s the recipe we’ve tracked down for tuna-artichoke salad:

Ingredients

• 1 6-ounce jar of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup fresh spinach (chopped)
• 1 5-ounce can of tuna (drained)
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)

Instructions

1. In a large salad bowl, mix the artichoke hearts, dill, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and black pepper.
2. Add the spinach, tuna, and bell pepper. Toss and serve.

THE WINE:

So what’s the best wine to serve with a light salad (which also includes fish)?

Sauvignon blanc, like many other white wines, is a primarily fruity wine. Its primary flavors are peach, passion fruit, green apple, and lime. But what makes sauvignon blanc different from other whites (according to Wine Folly) are its herbal notes. Connoisseurs have noted flavors of grass and gooseberry in sauvignon blanc and even bolder notes like bell pepper and jalapeño. These flavors come from sauvignon blanc’s secret ingredient: aromatic compounds known as pyrazines.

Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc comes to us from the Marlborough wine-growing region of New Zealand. Dog Point Vineyard lies in the fertile Wairau Valley. All of Dog Point’s wines are certified organic and can be enjoyed immediately or cellared to perfection. To make its lauded sauvignon blanc, Dog Point winemakers make sure that the grapes are “whole bunch” pressed, aged for 2-3 months in steel tanks, and bottled without fining. Without any fining or oaking, the natural flavors of the sauvignon blanc grape shine through in Dog Point wines: citrus, flint, and smoke, with fruity overtones and balanced acidity.

 

WHY THIS WINE PAIRS WITH THIS RECIPE:

Sauvignon blanc’s natural herbaceousness lends itself well to pairing with green salads. In addition, salads that have high-acidity ingredients, such as citrus-like the lemon juice in our tuna-artichoke salad—are equally well suited to sauvignon blanc, as it has just the right mix of fruitiness and acidity to both round out and complement citric acid. According to Wine Folly, however, the greener your salad is—if it includes parsley, cilantro, mint, dill, or other strongly flavored green herbs—then sauvignon blanc, with its herbaceous character, is perfect. This recipe includes both dill and the green vegetable spinach, so we believe Dog Point’s measured acidity and complex herbal nose and undertones will accentuate the salad’s flavors wonderfully.

We believe Dog Point sauvignon blanc is ideal for pairing with this recipe also because its producers recommend pairing it with seafood. A light, flaky fish like tuna is perfect for a wine like sauvignon blanc. The light oiliness of the fish will allow the acidity of the sauvignon blanc to shine through.

But don’t take our word for it. Acquire a bottle of Dog Point, pair it with a freshly made tuna-artichoke salad, and then tell us what you think in the comments section. If you liked our latest wine-food pairing, be sure to investigate some of the others we’ve done, especially merlot wine blend and meatloaf. You should also be sure to check out our latest helpful wine cooling posts on our blog. And don’t forget to visit our brand-new website for innovative cooling solutions. Thanks for reading!