White wines to go with trout

ONE of my earliest food memories is being served trout, gently fried in butter by my mother. It was delicious, sweet and earthy. The fish had been plucked from the local beck by my brother who was then honing his now not inconsiderable skills as an angler.

Then, for some reason, I cannot recall eating trout again, until a visit to Germany some ten years ago. I was served smoked trout there, with a suitable wine accompaniment of course, and it awoke my taste buds.

I make a beeline for trout now; it’s relatively cheap and very tasty. But you always need a good white wine to go with it, so here are three of my suggestions.

I’m not saying that Luis Felipe Edwards Sauvignon Blanc 2012, from Chile’s Central Valley, is the most complex wine you will ever drink but I defy you to find a wine for £4.50 that delivers more. It is very gluggable, fresh, grassy and lively, with tropical fruit flavours.

From the Wine Society’s extensive and award-winning Portuguese range, there is the very affordable Quinta da Espiga Branco, Vinho Regional Lisboa, 2011. A blend of mostly indigenous grape varieties, predominantly fernão pires, arinto and moscatel, with some sauvignon too. It is fragrant, fresh and dry, suggesting citrus, minerals and white pepper on the palate.

Well worth trying and on offer at Waitrose is Morgenhof Estate Chenin Blanc 2011, from the Simonsberg-Stellenbosch area of South Africa. This is quite a complex wine, it is partially oak-aged and there is a yeasty lees complexity too. None of this stops the chenin blanc’s characteristic lemon fruit flavour shining through however; there are notes of peach too and minerals with a lightly creamy mouth feel.

• Luis Felipe Edwards Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Central Valley, £4.50 at Asda 16/20

• Quinta da Espiga Branco 2011, Vinho Regional Lisboa, £6.50 from the Wine Society 18/20

• Morgenhof Estate Chenin Blanc 2011, Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, £8.99 (until March 12) at Waitrose 18/20