Wine and food pairing ⅩⅩⅩⅦ:sushi

Many thanks to Bruce Gutlove for this useful essay on sushi and wine. It was first published on the Wine Lovers' Discussion Group, and is reprinted here with his permission.

Sushi is a generic category of food, signifying anything placed on sushi rice. As a for instance, there's a certain region of Japan where I often go on business that specializes in horse meat sushi. An appropriate wine for this dish (still searching) would be very different than that which would go with scallop sushi.

In general, some good matches are as follows:

• With lighter-bodied, white-fleshed fish (eg. hirame or sole) I'd choose a light white with both acidity and (slight) sweetness. Examples are: drier (but not "trocken") German wines in Kabinett and Spatlese class, un-oaked Petit Chablis, good Muscadet, and drier Chenin Blanc like Marc Bredif's dry old vines Vouvray.

• With richer/sweeter white-fleshed fish or shellfish (eg. hotate or scallop) I'd opt for something a good bit fuller and grander. Good choices include: good Champagne, Premier Cru or Grand Cru Chablis, or aged Aussie Semillon. Oak tends to clash with some of the elements in sushi, though, so I'd leave the Lafon and almost all Calif Chards at home.

• With real "fishy" stuff (what the Japanese call hikarimono, including mackerel, sardine, etc) I'd go for something herbal and assertive like an SB from NZ or the Loire. A drier, un-oaked Rias Baixas can also work.

• With red-fleshed fish (eg. maguro tuna) I'd go for a lighter red with a bit of acidity but without too much tannin. Choices here include New World Pinot and Cotes de Beaune reds, lighter Gamay and Dolcetto, etc. Stay away from anything too "grapey" or heavy (resist the temptation to bring along that bottle of Chambertin) as the fruit of the wine will overwhelm the fish.

The above is built on the assumption that the sushi will be "properly" prepared, meaning: (1) Sushi rice is neither sweet nor sour. (2) Use of wasabi is kept to a minimum, and fresh-ground root is used. (3) The sushi neta (the topping) is impecably fresh.

If your sushi chef detours from these principles then you might do better with beer or sake.