Herb Crusted Salmon, Israeli Cous Cous, Salad, a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.

Baked Salmon recipe Paired with Chardonnay or Pinot Noir?

December 20, 2013 Posted by Robin Renken CA, Grapes and Varietal's, Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County, Santa Maria, Santa Rita Hills, Vineyard's and Winery's, Wine and Food Pairings, Wine Tasting No Comments

Herb crusted Salmon

Salmon is a glorious fish that can pair with either red or white wine. So tonight we did a taste test and pulled out 2 stunning bottles of wine from Santa Barbara County.

This was also another incredibly quick meal to make! I did an Israeli Cous Cous, an herb green salad and then baked a big fillet of salmon. I searched the web for how to best cook my salmon and found a basic method that I got to add the finishing touches to. First…take your salmon out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before you plan to prepare it, so that it gets closer to room temperature. Next, preheat the oven to 475. Get your baking dish set with a couple tablespoons of butter and a little olive oil and stick it in the oven to preheat. Meanwhile get your herbs ready. I had thyme, lemon thyme and parsley that I coated the salmon with on the non-skin side. Once the butter has melted and the pan is hot, pull it out of the oven and put the fish in skin side up (so herbed side down) and stick it in the oven for about 5 minutes. Then pull it out and peel the skin off. The skin should come off easily, if it doesn’t stick it back in for a minute or two. Once the skin is off, season with salt and pepper and flip it over. Then season your herbed side also and throw it back in for another 3 or 4 minutes. I admit, I saved the skin and toasted it up the rest of the way later and it accompanied the rest of the salmon for lunch today.

Here’s what it looked like right out of the oven.

Now for the wines. I pulled out two wines that I have been wanting to get into. The Chardonnay is a 2010 from Hilliard Bruce. We had the great pleasure to visit them on our last trip to Santa Barbara. This Chardonnay is stunning. It is crisp with great acid, but still has that wonderful yeast on the nose. You get a bit of oakiness in the mouth, but the acid beautifully balances it out. It is aged in 100% French Oak, 30% of which is new and Christine does barrel fermentation with Montrachet yeast with full malolactic fermentation. It is aged on the lees for 16 months.

Hilliard Bruce 2010 Chardonnay

The second wine, our Pinot Noir comes to us from Carhartt Vineyards another of our favorite places in Santa Barbara County. The Carhartt 2012 Pinot Noir is from Riverbench Vineyards in Santa Maria Valley. This is a young bold Pinot Noir and it was suggested to go with grilled planked salmon. Lots of smoke and baking spice on the nose and very savory with lots of depth.

Carhartt 2012 Pinot Noir

So, which paired better? Both were good, but the Chardonnay really knocked it out of the park.. Keep in mind, Carhartt suggested a grilled planked salmon which would have had lots of smoke flavor. Had we prepared the salmon that way I think it would have been the winner. But, as it was the herbs paired beautifully with the Chardonnay, the acid cut through the fat in the salmon and it was amazing bite after bite.