White wine with fish, red wine with meat, simple as that. Or is it? Think of it as a helping hand and not a hard-and-fast rule, and it makes perfect sense. This pearl was most likely handed down along with tablets of stone in halcyon pre-Delia days when white wine meant sancerre or muscadet and red bordeaux or beaujolais. Fortunately for us all, there are many more exciting vinous fish in the sea, which is just as well, because what a good cook can do with fish, viz. Mark Hix’ recipes, is so much more imaginative and eclectic today. France has its jurançon, roussillon and Alsace and beyond, there’s crisp fresh Spanish albariño pinot bianco and a host of native Italian whites (more of which next week), Austrian grüner veltliner and the new-wave drier styles of German riesling. There are the assertive sauvignons of New Zealand, New World graves-style blends with semillon and Cape chenin blanc, not to mention dry Aussie rieslings.

Fish Frenzy

The succulence of shellfish’s sweet, delicate meat begs for an accompanying white wine to provide the perfect complementary level of dryness, balancing subtlety and a refreshing acidity that can slice like a Japanese blade through any potentially cloying features. Everything is relative and varying levels of sweetness and richness require similar variations in a wine. For fresh oysters, moules marinières or even a traditional, grilled Dover sole, you want a wine that’s dry and crisp, so go for the traditional French option but, thinking laterally, consider a light Australian Hunter semillon, vinho verde from Portugal, or Greek assyrtiko. Buttery, creamy textures that ramp up the richness might need a premier cru chablis or a meursault, or, with your lateral hat on, albariño, grüner veltliner, Clare Valley riesling or a semillon sauvignon blend. More exotic pairings like Mark’s black pudding spices require more imaginative solutions.

The textures Mark’s ingredients bring to baked clams are offset to an extent by the inbuilt lemony zest. Here, a lean, crisp alternative to muscadet, such as the 2008 La Grille Cool-Fermented Loire Chenin Blanc, £5.99, or buy two = £4.99 until March 30, Majestic, or the blackcurrant-leaf-scented, intensely flavoured 2007 Pouilly-Fumé, L’Antique, Jean Paul Mollet, £10.99, down from £14.99, Sainsbury’s, will slice through any residual richness. Equally, classic chablis in the mould of the bone dry, delicately steely 2007 Domaine Servin Chablis, £9.99, Majestic, or smoky, mouthwateringly citrusy 2006 Domaine Pierre de Préhy Chablis, £10.99, Marks & Spencer, will fit the bill nicely. With the scallops broth and the risotto, I’d incline to a marginally fuller dry white without overtly assertive flavours such as the graves-style blend, lemon-grassy fresh 2008 Knock On Wood Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, £8.99, Marks & Spencer 2008, or the ultra-stylish, complex 2007 Cullen Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, around £15.99, Philglas & Swiggot, Whole Foods Market, Villeneuve Wines.

Competing layers of oily richness in the deep fried sprats with wild garlic aioli require a wine made to handle richness with ease. A prime candidate is the bracingly refreshing 2008 Quinta de Azevedo Vinho Verde from Portugal’s Atlantic, £6.24, or buy 2 = £4.99, until March 30, at Majestic, whose appley tang will bite back, or a crisp, sea-breezy, sea-salty 2007 Lagar de Fornelos Asda Extra Special Albariño, £6.80, from slightly further north in Rías Baixas. Or be bold and try the richer, fuller and wilder 2007 Hatzidakis Assyrtiko, £9.99, Waitrose, an intense minerally volcanic Santorini white whose subtle flavours and purity betray its volcanic origins. Dry riesling too chimes well, the lime zestiness of the Clare Valley’s 2007 Leasingham Magnus Riesling, around £7.99, Sainsbury’s, Thresher, Somerfield, or Knappstein’s 2007 Asda Extra Special Clare Valley Riesling £8.12, the perfect foil. As for squid and black pudding, strike out with a red, a fragrant pinot noir like the aromatically satisfying and juicy cherryish 2006 Villa Wolf Pinot Noir, £9.99, Oddbins, or this week’s sexy under a tenner Aussie red. Next week: Italian whites. And visit me on www.anthonyrosewine.com.

Something For the Weekend 21 March

Under a Fiver

2008 Hardy’s Anniversary Shiraz, Australia

I’m not convinced it was ever worth quite the £7.99 asking price, but at under a fiver, this youthful, liquorice spicy Aussie shiraz, with a juicy ripe blackberry fruit quality and tongue-twisting hit of tannin cries out for spicy sausages or a classic spagbol. £4.99, Waitrose, until Tuesday.

Under a Tenner

2007 De Bortoli Gulf Station, Yarra Valley, Australia

This is a resonantly fragrant Aussie pinot noir from Victoria’s Yarra Valley, whose juicy, raspberryish fruitiness and cleancut spicy oak is a fine example of what the Aussies, in this instance the brilliant de Bortoli family, can achieve at under £10. £9.99, Sainsbury’s.

Splash Out

2008 Blind River Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand

This Kiwi sauvignon blanc from Marlborough is typically pungent with a mass of passion fruit and elderflower scents, a delicious tropical fruit ripeness on the palate that’s all about passion fruit and gooseberry, with zesty acidity bringing a lively zip and freshness to the enterprise. £11.99, Oddbins.