What wine goes with seafood rice? A surprise guest and a special edition.

A producer, not a winemaker

After the planned guest cancelled, Klaas stepped in. He is a farmer's son and a film producer who has made children's films, romantic comedies and action movies, and he discovered wine around the age of 30, thanks to a girlfriend's father. The idea for WineMasters came on a terrace in Ibiza while filming a romantic comedy, and the success of Chef's Table showed how wine could be filmed: without a host, close to the people. The series began in France with the origins of the great international grapes.

Since then he has filmed in around 28 wine regions across Europe, with a tiny crew, often operating the camera himself. He feels close to winemakers as fellow creators who depend on nature, build a product and find their own fans.

Being so close to the work in the winery, he says, the camera sees things even wine professionals rarely see.

Arroz de marisco, Andreas's way

The dish is Portuguese seafood rice. Andreas cleans a lobster and uses the shells for a rich broth, cooks clams with shallots and white wine, and uses Spanish round rice, Calasparra in his view the best, cooked loose so you eat it with a spoon. Instead of mixing everything in the pot, he grills the lobster and small scallops called zamburiñas separately on a Japanese grill and brushes them with Klaas's coriander oil of chili, garlic and lime zest.

Andreas notes that tangy coriander, chili and lime are what set Portuguese cooking apart from Spanish, and lime goes into the finished rice for acidity.

For Andreas the dish is a contrast with the guest's wine region: the Wachau makes some of the most elegant wines in the world, but its cuisine is rich in pork, sausage, dumplings and cream. Here the food is healthy Atlantic seafood.

Riesling versus Bandol rosé

The dish was planned for the Riesling, a wine from the Hirtzberger family in the Wachau, where Klaas spent twelve days filming. Andreas used to sell it on his wine lists long before Austria became fashionable. Riesling has the power and concentration to cut through the richness and handle lime and coriander, and Andreas calls it a killer with the rice.

Then Klaas opens a 2020 Bandol rosé from Domaine Tempier, a style the winemaker told him should ideally age for seven years. Andreas explains that Bandol made serious, structured rosé long before the rosé boom. With its touch of tannin and salinity, it works in a completely different way and may even beat the Riesling with the grilled lobster. See which one each of them prefers.

A blind red and pepper-crusted duck

The secret bottle shows real maturity: mushrooms, truffle, dark cherry, balsamic spice, sage, bay leaf, tobacco and blackcurrant. Andreas cooks a quick duck au poivre: duck breast rendered slowly, crusted with freshly roasted black pepper, and served with a sauce of shallots, cherries, cognac and a few drops of aged balsamic, plus sage fried in duck fat. Klaas makes a soft Pecorino polenta finished with butter and truffle.

Mirroring flavors is the idea: cherry and balsamic echo the wine's sweet, ripe fruit without making the dish sweet. Watch to see how close Andreas comes to the wine and the vintage, and why it holds a special memory for Klaas.

While the duck renders, the two talk spices. Klaas, who is a quarter Indonesian, shares Andreas's obsession with whole spices rather than ground ones, and they tackle a hard question: Italy or France? Klaas picks Italy; Andreas leans toward France.

What this episode teaches

Seafood rice is a forgiving dish that can take a powerful dry white or a structured rosé. Duck is Andreas's favorite match for full-bodied, mature reds, especially with roasted pepper, crisp skin and a little fruit in the sauce. Above all, the episode is a reminder that food and wine pairing is not exact science.