grilled tuna

[winemermaid]

I need a wine to serve with grilled tuna (not sure what kind -- depends what the market has). We're marinating it in olive oil, garlic, and oregano, and serving it with crispy rosemary potatoes and simple grilled asparagus. any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Innkeeper]

A lot depends on the kind of tuna. If it is dark meat tuna e.g. Bonita/Aku go with a lighter Chianti. There would be other red Italian options were it not for the asparagus.

If you have a light meat tuna Yellow Fin/Ahi or Albacore it gets harder. Maybe a full bodied Vermentino such as the one from Antinori ($18). Next choice would be a Cotes Du Rhone Blanc, or for additional scratch, a white Rhone containing Roussane.

[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 04-16-2002).]

[wondersofwine]

We had a discussion previously as to wines that go with asparagus and sauvignon blanc (New Zealand perhaps or California) was one choice. I don't know how that would do with the tuna. We had a pinot grigio with tuna tartare at one gourmet dinner I attended and I didn't think it was that good a pairing. The tuna tartare had citrus juices in in and might have gone better with a white wine with lime or lemon accents (some Chardonnays and Rieslings have citrus accents). Maybe the chianti is the savest bet all things considered. IK knows his stuff.

[winemermaid]

Thanks, folks... I'll see what the market has and go from there... I appreciate the input...

[vinman]

Another suggestion that we have enjoyed with fresh grilled albacore, or even some yellow fin. Seems like modest amounts of garlic, frying peppers, fresh thyme, black olives,sea salt and parsley work up well with the grilled flavors, and so maybe an Oregon Pinot Gris, slightly fuller than the Italian counterparts would pair well. We enjoyed this combo last month at a popular street food/wine bar in Mpls, but maybe it was just too much wine!

[Bucko]

My wife and I were stationed in Hawaii for two years. We ate a lot of grilled Ahi and red or white wines worked well. We drank Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Tavel Rose with the fish -- a perfect match IMHO.

[Innkeeper]

When we were stationed in Hawaii I went fishing (maybe I've told this story before) with seven pals. The rules were that the catch would be split evenly amongst the eight. We didn't catch anything all day until just before we got back to the mouth of Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the big outrigger with the heaviest pole and reel and sang out. The fellow who was "on" that pole at the time had never caught anything bigger than a crappie in his life. He bravely settled into the fighting chair, and an hour later we gaffed a 300 lb Ahi. By the time we got it all cut up we each had 25 - 30 lbs of two inch think boneless quarter steaks. This is big time meat, not like the little tuna fillets you see at the fish monger. The first one we tried to grill was just too tough, so we ground it up for fish cakes. Next time we cured it in brine first. Then we smoked it. Tasted just like the finest ham. Did the same with all remaining steaks, each of which fed our family of six. What did we drink with it? Beer of course. Olympia I think.

[jock]

You have lots of choices with the tuna but there is only one wine that I have discovered that works with asparagus. In fact, in the trade, if you want to really dig someone on their wine just tell them it would be perfect with asparagus [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img] The wine that actually works pretty well is Gruner Veltliner from Austria. It also does well with artichokes and other wine-killer veggies. Besides that, it is a wonderful minerally dry wine that works with lots of foods and is a great change of pace from the oceans of same-o chards and SBs.

[This message has been edited by jock (edited 04-18-2002).]

[winemermaid]

Thanks to all for the input. I went with an Oregon pinot gris which worked well... grilling the asparagus seemed to take some of the nastiness out of it, so it didn't fight the wine so much...