Wine, Water, and the Best Conversation I've Had This Summer
I just wrapped up a conversation with Peggy Fiandaca of LDV Winery for her podcast "Wine Time with Peggy," and I'm still thinking about it — which, if you know me, means it was a good one.
Here's the thing about pairing wine with seafood: everybody wants a cheat sheet. Chardonnay with fish, done, go home. But Peggy and I got into something more interesting — the idea of merroir. You know terroir, right, the way a wine tastes like the dirt and sun and slope it came from? Merroir is the same idea, except it's the ocean's fingerprint on the fish. Cold, clean Alaska water. Wild fish that actually swam and ate what nature intended instead of a feed pellet. That flavor is real, and it deserves a wine that's paying attention, not shouting over it.
We talked shop on the practical stuff too — because I'm a fifth-generation fish family, not a sommelier, so I appreciated Peggy breaking it down in plain English:
Match the weight. Delicate fish wants a delicate wine. Meatier fish like our sockeye or king salmon can hold its own against something fuller-bodied, even a light red.
Mirror the cooking method. Grill it and char it, and you want a wine with some backbone — oaked Chardonnay, orange wine, something with texture. Serve it raw or barely touched, and you want crisp and mineral, not a wine wearing a leather jacket.
Let the sauce lead. Butter and cream want rich whites. Tomato wants a medium red or a good dry rosé. Citrus and herbs want something aromatic like Riesling.
For our salmon specifically, Peggy's go-tos are Pinot Noir, Grenache, dry rosé, Chablis, or Beaujolais — and honestly, that tracks. Salmon has enough richness and character to stand next to a light red without either one backing down.
And then we got to the part of the conversation that always gets people fired up: freezing. I said it on the podcast and I'll say it here again for the people in the back — properly frozen seafood can be fresher than "fresh" fish at the counter. We flash-freeze at the peak of the catch, at sea, within hours. That "fresh" fillet at the store has likely been sitting around longer than you'd like to think about. Frozen isn't a compromise. Done right, it's a preservation of a perfect moment.
We also swapped stories about running family businesses — Peggy with her vineyard, me with Sena Sea — and about what it's like being women building something in industries that used to be, let's say, a little short on our particular perspective. Turns out grit looks the same whether you're managing a vineyard in the Arizona high desert or a wild salmon operation on the Alaska coast.
If you want to hear the whole thing, it's up on Big Blend Radio's "Wine Time with Peggy." Grab a glass of whatever Peggy's pouring, pull a fillet out of your freezer, and give it a listen. And then let's talk about what's actually in your glass next time you make salmon for dinner — I have opinions, obviously. Listen here
— Sena
