Drinks advice · Wine and food

Grilled sardines with Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto Vinho Verde

Whole sardines from the grill, with coarse salt, lemon and parsley. An alvarinho from the north of Portugal is the wine drunk alongside this fish in that same stretch of coast.

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Bottle of Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto Vinho Verde, wine

From the shelf

The bottle

Anselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto Vinho Verde comes from Portugal, from the Vinho Verde region, and is made from alvarinho. The wine is at 13 percent by volume. The aroma is floral and fine, with clear citrus notes. On the palate it is dry, with a mineral edge that gives the wine length.

Order in the online shopAnselmo Mendes Alvarinho Contacto Vinho Verde

The combination

Why this works together

Sardines are an oily fish, and from the grill they pick up a roasted, slightly bitter skin. The acidity of the alvarinho cuts straight through that fat. The citrus notes in the wine do the same work as the lemon you squeeze over the fish, only from the inside. The salt on the fish also makes the wine seem fuller than it is on its own.

At the table

The dish

  • Before 4 people
  • Ready in 30 minutes
  • Type main course

What you need

  • 12 whole sardines, cleaned
  • 3 tablespoons coarse sea salt
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 lemons
  • 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red chilli
  • 800 grams of baby potatoes
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • freshly ground black pepper

How to make it

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Halve the baby potatoes, mix them with two tablespoons of olive oil, the rosemary, salt and pepper and roast them in thirty minutes until cooked and golden brown.
  2. Pat the sardines dry with kitchen paper. That is the most important step: wet fish sticks to the grill.
  3. Rub the fish all over with the coarse sea salt and leave them for ten minutes.
  4. Meanwhile heat a grill pan or the barbecue until it is very hot. Wipe the grates with a little oil.
  5. Finely chop the parsley. Cut the garlic into wafer-thin slices and the red pepper into seedless rings. Mix them with the rest of the olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.
  6. Wipe the excess salt off the sardines. Lay them on the hot grill and cook them for three minutes per side, without moving them in between.
  7. Place the fish on a dish, spoon the oil with garlic and pepper over it and sprinkle the parsley over it.
  8. Serve immediately, with the baby potatoes and lemon wedges.

In the glass

Serving

Serve the wine at 10 to 12 degrees in a white wine glass. This alvarinho has a bit more body than an ordinary vinho verde and comes across better at that temperature than ice cold. It does not need to be left open.

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