North Carolina’s commitment to maintaining fisheries and coastal waters has made it a hub for high-quality fish. Growing up, my parents would take me to the southern Outer Banks where Red Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Mahi-mahi, Tuna and of course, Flounder, were all delicious staples on our table.
In my role at The Wine Feed, I’m often asked how to pair wine with seafood. Whether grilled, poached, steamed, baked, sautéed, broiled or fried, freshly caught fish deserve a light, bright wine partner that will make your palate dance.
Lin Peterson of Locals Seafood, who sources fresh seafood from N.C. fishermen, recently gave me some pointers on which species are available during the long summer days of July and August.
While the first rule in a wine and fish pairing guide is to match the weight of the wine with the weight of the food, a sauce or seasoning will play a large role in which type of wine you choose.
However, the pairings below focus primarily on the type of fish rather than the sauce, but if the sauce or seasoning is simple, or roughly equivalent to the fish in terms of intensity or weight, these pairings will still be a delicious success.
With all due respect to red wine, I absolutely love grilled Swordfish with a refreshing dry rosé. Rosés can be more full-bodied than some white wines, and are typically lighter than the vast majority of red wines. The weight, acidity, and tannin level of rosé is incredibly versatile at the table.
Recommended wine: Badenhorst ‘Secateurs’ Rosé from Swartland, South Africa
Recommended wine: De Morgenzon Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch, South Africa
Recommended wine: Domaine de la Garreliere ‘Cendrillon’ from Touraine, France
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Phillip Zucchino, born and raised in North Carolina, has three years of wine production experience throughout France and is the co-owner of TheWineFeed.com, an online wine retailer with a focus on helping consumers identify their personal taste through interactive wine events. Feel free to contact Phillip at phillipzucchino@thewinefeed.com.
To commemorate our 90th anniversary, we’ve compiled a time line that highlights the stories, contributors, and themes that have shaped this magazine — and your view of the Old North State — using nine decades of our own words.
From its northernmost point in Corolla to its southern terminus on Cedar Island, this scenic byway — bound between sound and sea — links the islands and communities of the Outer Banks.
Us? An icon? Well, after 90 years and more than 2,000 issues celebrating North Carolina from mountains to coast, we hope you’ll agree that we’ve earned the title.
After nearly a century — or just a couple of years — these seafood restaurants have become coastal icons, the places we know, love, and return to again and again.
