Monkfish wrapped in Proscuitto

Rod Stevens sent in a recipe for Monkfish wrapped in Proscuitto. He said the dish is made with a basil and sun-dried tomato paste and is served on a bed of mash, topped off with rocket with a drizzle of balsamic. He says he has served it with a Viognier or Gewuztraminer which seemed to work but wondering what our suggestions would be.

Our wine suggestions:

Because it isn't the main ingredient that provides the dominant flavour here you need to consider the proscuitto, basil and tomato paste foremost. Nonetheless this isn't very heavy weight food because it is, after all, a fish dish and so you're not looking for a heavyweight wine, just a very flavoursome wine that will stand up to the strong-flavoured ingredients. This points to a light- to medium-bodied red.

Next the flavours. These are obviously very Italian and so one immediately starts to think about Italian wines because over many years they have evolved to match their local cuisine. Parma ham, the famed sibling of all proscuitto, comes from the Emilia-Romagna region which lies just north of Tuscany and south west of the Veneto, so it would be worth considering any light reds from these regions. The Sangiovese grape, the mainstay of Tuscan red wine production, works extremely well with tomatoes as it has high acidity (as do tomatoes) and ripe cherry flavours; these characteristics will balance any olive oil in the dish (I am assuming there is some) and also complement the extra rich tomato flavour. The variety can be tannic in cool years, so select a wine from a ripe year - you need to avoid tannins because they clash with salt, and proscuitto is salty.

Other reds to consider would be Bardolino and Valpolicella, two well-known reds from Emilia-Romagna. Both are a blend of three grapes: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, and both work extremely well with the rich tomato dishes of the region (think Bolognese sauce!). Bardolino  has less Corvina in its blend and as it is this grape that gives the body and structure to these wines it means that Bardolinos generally are lighter than Valpolicellas and consequently are a better weight match for this dish - that is not to say Valpolicella wouldn't work, but I think it would work less well.

Looking outside Italy, other lighter fruity reds that you could try would include New World Pinot Noirs (New Zealand, Oregon) or Gamays (Beaujolais). Both these types of wine will have rich fruit flavours, lowish tannins and a light-to-medium-weight.

There aren't any whites that would match the dish as well as a red wine would, but if you would like to serve a white wine then look to balance the dish rather than match it. With all those robust rich flavours I would look to refresh the palate with neutral crisp wines. Italian whites are renowned for these characteristics, and Chablis is similar. For Italian whites I would look at the Lazio region, which is where Rome is, just below Emilia-Romagna. The best-known white wines are Frascati, Est Est Est! and Orvieto.

An actual wine recommendation would be 2006 Morellino di Scansano from the producer Poggio Nibbiale. This is an excellent Tuscan Sangiovese with a refreshing purity, black cherry flavours and cherry stone minerality. It's from a very good vintage, so I hope the flavour isn't too ripe for this dish, but it does mean the tannins will be ripe and not harsh.

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