Pairing:  Homemade Fish Cakes with 2009 Coronica Gran Malvasia Istria Croatia

Food: These fish cakes are from a recipe in The Legal Sea Foods Cookbook. Here is a link to the recipe. For those readers who may not know, Legal Seafoods is a highly regarded Boston institution that started as a fish market in the early 1050’s, then a restaurant in the mid 60’s. There are now dozens of branches all over the Boston area and elsewhere. We encourage you to eat there if you are in the area. They also have a terrific wine list. One of our favorite things to have with the fish cakes (or indeed with any white fish) is pickled beets. My wife puts up several jars of them every summer. Relishes of most any sort are also wonderful with the fish cakes.

Wine: The Istrian Peninsula is located due east across the Mediterranean Sea from Venice. The peninsula is actually part of three countries — Italy (just south of the city of Trieste), Slovenia, and Croatia. The Coronica winery is located in the sparsely populated, beautiful hilly countryside of the Croatian part of Istria near Umag. Many different varieties of the Malvasia grape are grown throughout the Mediterranean from Greece to Portugal. The local clone of Malvasia grown by Coronica is Malvazija Istarska.

Tasting: This is a very special wine. A lovely golden color. Apple blossoms and honeysuckle on the nose. A very delicate sweetness is present, but is still very much a dry white wine. Tastes on the palate are mostly ripe melon notably cantaloupe, with blended tropical fruits on the flavor landscape. And, a touch of pepper and allspice on the finish. A delightful wine from a beautiful part of the world.

Other Wines that Pair Well with This Food: Albarino (Spain), Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner (Austria), Vouvray (Loire, France), Soave (Italy)

Other Food that Pairs Well with this Wine: White Fish, Shellfish, Pasta with Light Cream Sauce

Read About:  http://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/white/malvasia   http://istra.hr/en/regions-and-towns/town-and-cities/ltz-umag

A Source:  www.klwines.com