There’s nothing better than enjoying juicy grilled shrimp in pil-pil sauce outside on a warm summer night with a crisp Chilean wine to match.
My husband and I spent our honeymoon traveling around Chile. We spent the first three days of our honeymoon touring it’s most famous wine valleys – Colchagua, Casablanca and Maipo – sipping wine and enjoying really incredible food.
So when I started planning a recipe to pair with wine, I knew I wanted to recreate one of the dishes we enjoyed on the trip. I immediately thought of an incredible meal we had in Santiago where we split woodfire oven baked goat cheese, spicy Chilean mashed potatoes and a giant clay bowl of tender hake cheeks in pil-pil (garlic) sauce. Instead of using hake cheeks (I don’t think they sell that at Whole Foods), I swapped local shrimp, since shellfish is a natural pairing with sauvignon blanc.
And wouldn’t you know, when I looked back at my travel journal from the trip, as it turns out, we actually had a bottle of Chilean wine that night! How crazy is that? Restaurants all over Chile were running a special promotion that week, offering a bottle to take home with every bottle you ordered. Umm, can we get something like that back in the States? One thing we learned is that Chilean wines offer great quality for the dollar – something with taxes makes wines from Chile less expensive to buy Chilean wines in the States, so now Chilean wine is most of what we purchase!
This meal is the perfect way to celebrate with a hot grill, smoky grill and al fresca dining. There’s nothing better than enjoying fresh, juicy shrimp outside, especially since they can get kinda messy! A crisp sauvignon blanc is a great choice for outdoor drinking. It’s crisp, fresh, and not overly sweet, oaky or tart. It pairs well with lighter summer fare, but has enough complexity to stand up to the smoky char brought out by grilling.
For more grilling inspiration, check out this grilled Chilean chicken and pebre sauce.