Pairings: A brilliant blend of 3 white grapes

Our Wine of the Week, Four Mile Creek 2013 North Coast White Wine ($14) is a beautifully made and easy quaffer. On first sip, it is a tad amorphous, with flavors slowly coalescing, like a storm gathering on the horizon and slowly moving toward you. Swirls of floral notes and suggestions of fruit resolve into a core of delicious citrus, especially lime and white grapefruit. The wine’s texture unfolds in a similar manner, with an initial broad plushness relaxing into a bright acidic finish.

The blending of three varietals - viognier, pinot gris and sauvignon blanc - you don’t typically see together in the same bottle is, in a word, brilliant.

As I sipped the wine, one thing thing kept popping into mind: Ceviche. That’s this wine’s love match, a flawless pairing. The ceviche served at Mateo’s Cucina Latina would be one of those love-at-first-sight meetings. But almost any well-made ceviche is a great choice with this wine.

Thinly shaved radishes, cucumbers, green papaya, lemon verbena, green peppercorns, Romanesco zucchini, Padron and Shishito chiles, poblanos and avocado work beautifully here. Raw oysters work well with this wine, too, and a squeeze of lime juice will further the match.

Ceviche tostadas, tostadas with baby shrimp, halibut and scallop carpaccio and all manner of summer salads are good choices, as well.

I think you get the idea: This wine is at its best with bright, clean-tasting, acidic foods. For today’s recipe, I’m reviving a longtime favorite and adapting it to the season, with plenty of inspiration from Mateo Granados’ ceviche.

Halibut Ceviche Tostada

Serves 4

1 pound California halibut fillet, cut into very thin diagonal slices

- Kosher salt or Maldon Salt flakes

- Juice of 2 limes (see Note below)

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 serrano pepper, very thinly sliced

4 corn tortillas, preferably handmade-style, fried or baked until crisp

1 to 2 firm-ripe avocado, cut into very thin, lengthwise slices

¾ cup quartered Sungold cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

- Generous handful of small arugula or microgreens of choice

2 or 3 radishes, trimmed and thinly shaved with a vegetable peeler

¼ Armenian cucumber, quartered and cut in thin wedges

Set the sliced halibut on a plate, season with salt and sprinkle the juice of 1 lime over it. Refrigerate for 1 hour, turning the halibut once during that time.

Put the onion, garlic and serrano into a bowl, season with salt and add the remaining lime juice. Refrigerate.

To finish, set the tortillas on individual plates and arrange the avocado on top, using as little as one avocado and as much as two. Season lightly with salt.

Spoon the onion mixture over the avocado and top with halibut.

Scatter the tomatoes on top, drizzle with a little olive oil and add the cilantro and greens. Finish with shaved radishes and cucumber, season with a bit more salt and serve immediately.

Note: You should get 2 tablespoons of juice from each lime, but the current crop doesn’t seem to be consistently yielding that much. Use another lime or two if necessary to achieve the proper flavor.