wine with chicken?

[Randy Caparoso]

As pointed out, chicken in itself is a wine-flexible dish; but the key to this particular match is the crabmeat, which has faintly sweet/minerally/saline taste. Higher alcohol white wines -- such as Viognier and Napa or Sonoma Chardonnays -- tend to be exacerbated by dishes with crab; the wines ending up tasting hot and/or harsh, and the food puny. Therefore, easier matches would be lighter, crisper, dry or off-dry whites.

Dry style Riesling is indeed ideal; particular "Halbtrocken" styles from Germany, certain dependable California brands (Trefethen and Bonny Doon, for starters), and some from Down Under (Leeuwin Estate from Australia, and Villa Maria from N.Z.). Lighter style Chardonnays from France are also ideal -- authentic Chablis, Macon-Villages, and even Pouilly-Fuisse, which all have the easy structure plus minerally taste the match easily with the crab.

I also dig the Albarino suggestion. My favorite brands are the Morgadio and Lusco, which are very fine and zesty.

If you like American style Chardonnays, all is not lost. Wineries like Waterbrook from Washington St., for instance, make lovely, medium weight, minerally nuanced styles; and from Santa Barbara, there are a number of good, solid brands which make a style of Chardonnay that are much crisper and intrinsically well balanced than that of the North Coast of California.

[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 03-22-2000).]