BY BILL ST. JOHN
Significant numbers of people enjoy red wine with fish, beyond the impending pairing of Rosh Hashanah’s gefilte fish with Manischewitz. Red wines carry more tannin than do whites, an element that scours fish oil from the palate. White wine’s more assertive acidity can do the same, although often less successfully. 

BY BILL ST. JOHN
The key element in the recommended wines (see below) is moderate or low alcohol. Alcohol in wine-and-food combos is like push technology: it slams whatever is in a food right smack in your face. Food has a lot of salt? High-alcohol wines cause it to taste even saltier. A bit of chili heat (as here)? Alcohol takes the hot off the chart. Wines with lower alcohol don’t mishandle those elements in food, letting the ingredients’ true flavors show through. Here we’ve got a white, a sparkling white, and a low-intensity red that all marry terrifically with this multi-layered dish.

BY BILL ST. JOHN
My mother poached fish in an unholy amount of dry white wine. I've adapted her recipe to this one, both to save on the amount of wine, and also, because it is a simple recipe, as an inspiration for family peeps to cook for Mom on her annual day. You won't believe how tender these salmon filets turn out; they become fish pudding.