th_duck wrote:

> Wow, an extremely hard to find $100 bottle of Beaucastel to match up
> with fish soup! I think might suggest something a bit more afordable
> than that. As far as roses go I don't think you have neccesarilly go
> with a Bandol...though they are very good. Bouillibasse seems to be a
> soup popular all along the seaboard and I've had it with a Costieres
> de Nimes, a Coteaux de Languedoc, a Faugeres, a Tavel... well, you get
> the idea...basically a dry pink southern French wine is what is really
> great with this soup.

Michel, calling bouillabaise "fish soup" also does injustice to one of the world's great
culinary treats. Granted, I have had the pleasure of having The Real Deal™ (in a howling
Mistral) courtesy of Slow Food Provence -- but the point that I was making is that this is
a dish that invites using a very fine white wine of a certain sort. Power and aromatics
are desirable to match with the complexity and richness of the dish itself. However, now
that the OP has revealed that the broth will have a significant component of tomatoes, I
retract my original suggestions aside from the rosé or a nice white wine from Cassis or
the Languedoc if he can find it.

Mark Lipton