WINE+FOOD MATCH

THE DISH

Tuna Niçoise

Visit mindfood.com/tuna-salad-nicoise

THE DROP

I rarely consider a tuna niçoise salad as a main course option when dining out, or at home for that matter. Yet a recent trip to a local surf beach town, along with the combination of a balmy summer’s evening, lingering salty sea air scents and café sidewalk dining called for a fresh flavourful dish. This was the perfect time to revisit an Escoffier classic. The key to a great niçoise salad is the freshness of ingredients, especially the tuna, and the assembly just before service. Our wine is the Elephant Hill Pinot Gris 2019. This dish touches multiple senses with every mouthful, from the saltiness of anchovy and olives, sweetness from the tomatoes, some sourness from lemon and even some umami from the tuna and silky texture from the dressing. This wine is a wonderful palate teaser, so once the flavours of the dish melt together on the palate the wine has to contrast and weave through the textures as well, which this Hawke’s Bay gris does seamlessly. It has a bold, very expressive bouquet, a pure ripe fruit core surrounded by a stony mineral and toasty spice layers. The flavours of white peach and lemon, baked apple and white pepper, sea spray and a touch of oyster shell speak to the fresh crunchy ingredients of the salad, while the satincream texture, warming alcohol and a core of fruit deliver enough weight and intensity to match that of the dressing and tuna flesh. RRP $24.