Soupy fish and shellfish rice
Trepat's natural high acidity and saline tension slice cleanly through the rich sofrito and oily fish lipids, creating an invigorating counterpoint to seafood sweetness.
- Trepat style
- Trepat Rosé or Young Red
- Temperature
- 11 - 13 °C
Soupy fish and shellfish rice is a broth dish, not a dry paella. Onion, tomato and oil, the fish stock and the fat of a prawn or a clam leave the mouth coated. The next sip has to cut that layer without covering the seafood.
Trepat does this because it is a light red. DO Conca de Barberà describes the grape as giving light, fruity wines, with good acidity and medium alcohol; as a rosé, fresh. Thin skins give a pale colour and soft tannin, and acidity stays high because the grape ripens late. Red fruit — strawberry, sour cherry — sits with the sweetness of the shellfish and the tomato. The wine's white pepper repeats the spice in the pot without adding a new one. A rough red, with dry tannin, would dry the fish and leave a metallic edge. Here the tannin is silk.
The style that fits is rosé, or a young red served cool. Rosé answers with fruit and a saline edge. A young red, at 12–14°C, adds pepper without dry tannin. Do not serve it at room temperature: the alcohol would rise and the broth would feel heavier. Do not decant the rosé. If the rice carries a little meat, the same acidity holds a surf-and-turf, as long as the wine stays light.
Tip: a white-wine tulip, or a Burgundy glass that is not too wide, and the bottle in a bucket until the first pour, around 12°C.
