Try These Perfect Wine And Food Matches At SkyCity’s Award-Winning Restaurants During The Summer Of Rosé

Experience perfect pairings at SkyCity’s award-winning restaurants.

Nothing says summer in the city quite like a sumptuous summer dish served with a chilled glass of rosé. SkyCity’s Summer of Rosé is the ideal way to experience this diverse wine varietal, with expert food-and-wine matches recommended by SkyCity’s reputable sommelier Jeremy Ellis. Each of these delectable dishes from SkyCity’s award-winning restaurants have been paired with a local or international rosé to elevate your dining experience.

Orbit 360˚ Dining revolves once an hour, giving diners spectacular views of the city skyline and harbour from the top of the Sky Tower. The Snapper and Crab salad with avocado, mango, dill balsamic and crispy vegetables is Jeremy’s go-to tropical summer dish, best paired with a rosé that has body and extraction. He recommends the Stoneleigh Organic Rosé from Marlborough. This light wine is nonetheless rich in character, making it the ideal complement.

“It’s quite fruit-driven so you get a nice contrast against the mango, a lovely macerated strawberry and white spice that pop through. It highlights the sweetness of the vinegar. And of course, snapper and crab are perfect with rosé.”

Anyone hankering for oysters should venture to Al Brown’s famous street side eatery, Depot, where you’ll find the new, exclusive, and unique Qyster. Available all year round, these extraordinary molluscs are next level, the specific oysters are grown in floating pods enabling the growth of the perfect oyster.

Rosé is a satisfying accompaniment for this particular oyster, as its rich fleshiness is reflected in the wine. Qysters work exceptionally well with clean, dry styles of rosé, such as the Rock Ferry Orchard Vineyard Pinot Rosé, from a organic and biodynamic vineyard in Marlborough.

“The colour is a beautiful salmon, it’s a very light, pale, dry style, it’s crisp and clean, with a tinge of mango pith and orange pith with hints of wild current and raspberry,” Jeremy explains. “It has a lovely citrusy finish moving towards lime and lemon finish for zestiness. The oysters bring out the weight in the wine while the wine brings out the sweetness of the oysters. It’s just magic.”

With its Jewish deli foods and strong flavours such as dill and pickles, Federal Delicatessen’s dishes work well with richer rosés, says Jeremy. His personal favourite is the Deli Fish, with burnt butter, fried capers, preserved lemons and greens.

“It’s quite a complex dish, so what you want is something that will contrast it, something drying, clean and crisp to cut through the richness.”

Jeremy recommends the Black Barn Merlot Rosé. With its clean, dry style, it has a little more tannic weight.

“You get a little strawberry on the nose, then it disappears into an orange with a little bit of brown spice and tinges of cinnamon popping through into your palate. It works beautifully with all those flavours in the fish dish. The drying notes of the wine highlight the sweetness and the burnt butter and preserved lemon the butter itself adding richness. This contrasts against the flint and austerity of the merlot rosé.”

Traditional Italian food may not instantly conjure up images of rosé but Gusto at the Grand offers dishes that suit the blush-coloured varietal impeccably. The restaurant offers four styles of Antipasti — including Jeremy’s favourite, terrina with pork hock, pickled beetroot and black garlic mayonnaise.

These robust flavours pair well with a rosé that exhibits acidity and body, which is what the Stoneleigh Organic Rosé brings.

“It balances the weight, but you have this clean acidity coming through, cutting through the richness of the pork,” says Jeremy. “The sweetness of the mayonnaise brings out the savoury influences of the wine, while the pickled beetroot adds crisp acidity and sweetness to bring out the spiciness of the wine. This is a really great dish to showcase rosé.”

MASU, the modern robata restaurant and bar where Jeremy works as manager, is renowned for its elegant dishes that capture the purity of Japanese cuisine. This allows room for a little more exploration in the wine match. MASU offers a wide range of sashimi, the classic tuna and salmon cuts best paired with a wine that offers weight and complexity, such as the Château Roubine Cotes de Provence France ‘La Vie En Rose’ Rosé. It comes from a region that makes rosé by blending the wines from both white and red grapes, leading to greater layers and complexity.

“It’s beautiful, it’s clean, you get mango and citrus on the palate,” says Jeremy. “You get little tinges of red currents and pops of raspberry and orange peel. And then you get a little herbal white spice with notes of tarragon popping into the nose. When you put complexity with simplicity it brings out the purity of the dish and the complexity of the wine.”

Using this simple-meets-complex food-matching rule of thumb, Jeremy also loves the Glacier 51 Toothfish with chilli & citrus miso, pickled apple. This rare, sustainably managed fish from Antarctica has a sweetness and density yet is also very light. “It’s a very complex dish best accompanied by a simpler rosé, such as the Stoneleigh Organic Rosé,” says Jeremy.

From its glamorous perch near the top of the Sky Tower, the cuisine at The Sugar Club is innovative and in many cases, highly complex. When pairing a wine with the Pork Cheek with charred eggplant, kimchi and gochujang sauce Jeremy has chosen a rosé to bring out the nuance of each bold flavour, while balancing its spice. Hence his recommendation to pair it with the Rock Ferry Orchard Vineyard Pinot Rosé.

“This beautiful wine has an edginess with a peppery finish. It’s quite dry and has a flinty edge, and it brings out the texture and sweetness of the dish, the caramelisation of the charred eggplant. And that makes it quite exciting.”

Discover SkyCity’s Summer of Rosé expert food and wine matches for yourself. Find out more and book at skycity.co.nz/summer. R18. Drink Responsibly