Bouillabaisse was originally a simple seafood stew cooked by fishermen out of whatever they brought up in their nets. It's a speciality of France - Marseilles to be precise. The seafood broth is flavoured with vegetables, fennel and saffron. The perfect wine with bouillabaisse needs fruit richness to handle the many types of flavourful seafood succulence, and needs to preserve and highlight the varied textures of the different seafood. Too much tannin will destroy the fish; too little glycerol will render the wine flat.
Vidal Soler Syrah 2004, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
A red is probably not what you have in mind when pairing wine with seafood. Hawkes Bay is producing more and more excellent reds, but in such small quantity that thirsty New Zealanders monopolise them. This is a stunning, fragrant syrah, with a nose of violets and black pepper. The wine is soft and velvety, the oak gentle and supporting. The fruit in this wine really shines. It's a perfect match with bouillabaisse, especially delicious if it's served with the traditional toast spread with garlic mayonnaise. The wine is soft enough not to interfere with the seafood texture and its lovely perfume suggests more than a hint of the Mediterranean. Serve the wine cool to the touch.
Available for HK$124 from Wine'n'Things (tel: 2873 5733)
Heartland Viognier-Pinot Gris 2006, Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Ben Glaetzer comes from a family of blue-blooded winemakers in Australia: his uncle and his father are award winners. This is a silky and affordable wine from two grape varieties that aren't usually part of the Langhorne Creek scene. The wine is fragrant and moderately heady, with plenty of creamy texture to massage the seafood and richness of the broth. The wine's subtle richness gives the seafood a tasty platform.