Cod Cream

White · Medium · Dry

The most-planted white grape and the most chameleon-like. Crisp and steely from Chablis; rich, oaky, and tropical from California. Read the label, then match the style to the dish.

Works with Cod Cream · Pan-seared Cod Creamy Fennel Ragoût

Sparkling · Light · Dry

Méthode champenoise from the most chalk-rich corner of France — fine bubbles, brioche, lemon zest, and a finish that goes on for half a minute. The wine for anything fried, salty, or special.

Provence rosé at its most classic — pale, dry, Mediterranean, with strawberry, citrus, and a saline finish. The wine of Provençal lunches.

Burgundy's everyday white — clean, lemony, unoaked Chardonnay built for weeknight drinking. Mâcon-Villages bottlings step up the seriousness.

White · Light · Dry

Italy's everyday white — light, lemony, neutral by design. Pleasant with anything; profound with very little. The best Friuli bottles are quietly excellent.

White · Light · Dry

Citrus, cut grass, and a wire of acid. Marlborough makes it loudest; Sancerre makes it most refined. Either way, it cuts cleanly through goat cheese, herbs, and anything with shellfish.

Alsace's quietly delicious supporting grape — light, lemony, faintly herbal, with the structure to handle fish and lighter pork dishes.