Burns Night Riesling

There was a salmon course during the Burns night dinner that begins with the post below this one. Few things are as Scottish as salmon but this one had an unusual twist in that it was full of southeast Asian spices.

The wine was a fully mature 2005 Spreitzer Oestricher Lenchen Kabinett from Germany's Rheingau region, a wine I have had on several occasions.

The wine has evolved into a beautiful light gold color and after an initial burst of kerosene it smelled of peaches, pears, apples and citrus.  Sweet on the front of the tongue the wine added some lychee to the flavor profile of the other fruits. The finish was sweet, but tart, and left a wonderful mineral taste on the back of the tongue. 

The coho salmon was roughly chopped and combined with some lemon juice, chopped red and yellow sweet peppers, chopped red onion, soy sauce, black pepper, cayenne, Sambol Oleck, brown sugar, cilantro and just enough fresh bread crumbs to hold the mixture together in small cakes.    Just prior to hitting a medium hot skillet the cakes were coated with panko bread crumbs.  They were sauteed on each side just until the crusts were crisp and the salmon was lightly cooked.  The sauce was a puree' of mayonnaise, lime juice, grated fresh ginger and pickled ginger.  A small slice of the pickled ginger garnished the top of each cake.

There was some heat in the salmon and that matched well with the residual sugar in the wine while the acidity in the wine paired with the richness of the salmon.  The ginger flavors were an added bonus as they seemed born to be with this wine.  Great recipe and a great match with a wonderful wine.

8.5% alcohol and $22.