ZEST FOR WINE

Although many wines have citrus flavours, dishes containing high levels of citric acid tend to pose a problem for wine. That’s why I don’t squeeze lemon juice on fish and chips, for example, rather letting a crisp white wine cut through the stodge and fat.

So what wine to recommend in an issue devoted to citrus? Pondering this at the recent Hermanus FynArts festival, I decided to get some suggestions from local food and wine consultant Paul du Toit, who owns Wine Village, said to be the biggest collection of South African wines under one roof (028 316 3988, www.winevillage.co.za).

“It depends whether you’re talking about the astringency of the juice or the oiliness of the skin,” he said. “Sugar also plays an important role.”

He poured a tasting glass of Bon Courage White Muscadel 2012 and popped in a tiny piece of lemon. “Taste how the juice cuts through the sugar while the oiliness lifts out the flavour.”

He was spot on: the raisin essence of the intensely sweet fortified wine combined beautifully with the tang of the lemon. “Citric acid clashes with the high acidity of chenin blanc or sauvignon blanc, but wines like gewürztraminer and viognier can hold it better.”

Back home, I put a bottle of Simonsig Gewürztraminer 2012 to the test, finding its rose petal scent very appealing but its litchi and grape flavours a little too sweet (residual sugar is 31.1g/l). A tiny sliver of lemon worked like a dream, lifting out the wine’s lime and spice notes.

At R65 ex-cellar, the wine comes recommended with a green Thai or Kashmiri curry, but for me the perfect match was a wedge of Klein River Smoked Stanford cheese. Send queries and recommendations to food@sundaytimes.co.za with WINE as the subject.