Food pairing for a white châteauneuf-du-Pape?

[arlenemae]

I have a bottle of Les Cailloux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2006 that I recieved as a present. I've never had white châteauneuf-du-Pape before so I have no idea what to have with it. Any ideas?

[carswell]

My favourite match is striped bass or sea bass. Grilled, with Pernod-doused dried thyme or fennel stalks flamed under the fish just before it's removed from the grill. Or place the fish on parchment paper, stuff with fresh thyme and bay, drizzle with olive oil, surround with halved small tomatoes, seal, roast and serve with a loose pesto. Or stuff it with fennel stewed in olive oil, surround with whole garlic cloves, drizzle with oil, top with lemon slices, seal and roast. Or leave the scales on, stuff it with bay and thyme, lay it on a bed of coarse salt in a baking dish, cover with more salt and roast. And so on.

Stud a monkfish with garlic slivers, place on dried fennel stalks, top with lemon slices, roast, flame with Pernod just before serving.

A sauté of shellfish (scallops, clams, mussels) with white wine, garlic and thyme.

It can also accompany brandade (puréed salt cod, garlic and potatoes) or even aioli, though neither will do the wine great favours.

Picodon cheese. Reblochon can work too.

[Brad Ballinger]

It's hard to top carswell's recommendations. Upon just reading the title of the thread on the main Wine page, my first thought ran to assertively-seasoned fish dishes. Seems to be where carswell is going.

[arlenemae]

Thank you both for your suggestions and tips! I wound up having it with some seared scallops (it did have a pretty "assertively-seasoned" sauce), wilted spinach, and parmesan risotto, and it went great! I put in a picture below. :-)

We had a bit of leftover wine after dinner so had that with some cheese. I couldn't find the Picodon so just had it with some Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor and that was good too.

I'm normally more of a red wine person and I love red wines with rhone varietals, but I enjoyed this bottle a lot and will probably try some other rhone white wines in the future.

[dinwiddie]

Oh yes, there is nothing like a good white CNdP or a white burgundy to open the eyes of a "red wine drinker."