(Not Your Usual) Food and Wine Pairings

When it comes to wine and food pairing, one often thinks back to that old maxim "Red Wine with Meat, White Wine with Fish." But of course, like a lot of old sayings, one questions the degree of truth contained in this old chestnut. What kind of red wine are we talking about here, and for that matter, what kind of meat? Will any old white wine go with any old fish? (Blue Nun and salmon? Yummers!) And what if I'm having a garden salad, darn it?-- am I relegated to iced tea, or is that when rose comes in?

Food and drink pairing is a far more complicated affair than such a simplified adage would have us believe; while it is true that a Riesling is never going to be a grilled T-bone's best friend, it can be mighty fine indeed with Schezuan Beef! The culinary world is so full of methods and means (and sauces!) as to render a judgment based solely on the primary ingredient preposterous. And that is the fun of it all!

Wine and food are so intrinsically linked that if "red w/ meat, white w/ fish" was true, we would not have the embarrassment of riches we see in the wine world today, and all we'd have to sell on our little website would be "Generic White 2006" and "Only-Show-in-Town Red 2004." But fortunately that is not the case, so I get to keep my job. Let's get down to the nitty gritty and discuss some less intuitive but more useful food pairings.

Gewurztaminer w/ Spicy Asian Fare

Next time you visit your favorite local Thai or Vietnamese joint, scan the wine list and see if you can find a red Bordeaux-- betcha can't! Hopefully what you will find are a healthy number of eastern French and German Rieslings and Gewurztaminers. While "red w/ meat, white w/ fish" might be the conventional wisdom, the white wines of Alsace and Germany have become somewhat of a classic pair with the flavors of the east, dating as far back as the French Colonization of Vietnam in the mid-19th Century. Gewurztaminer in particular-- with its unusual spicy nose, full, almost sparkling texture, and relatively high acidity-- I find to be an excellent foil to the weight and spice of Asian stir fry. From General Tsao's Chicken to Pad Thai, this wine is a safe bet and quite often a real winner.

Especially try some of these favorites:

Trimbach Gewurztaminer 2004
Domain Jean-Luc Mader Gewurztraminer 2005
Fitz-Ritter Gewurztraminer 2005

Light, Round Reds w/ Sushi Rolls

Here's one that flies right in the face of conventional wisdom, but I think it works quite well. While "sushi rolls" as a food category covers a wide range of possibilities, I feel its pretty safe to say that most end up dipped in a combination of wasabi and soy sauce-- and as sushi lovers will attest, those two can pack quite a tangy wallop. Many white wines would find themselves overpowered by the saltiness of the soy, and a tannic wine would clash with the wasabi and overpower the fish. A light, fruity and relatively low acid red will pick up the the inherent sweet qualities in such fish as eel or tuna, and it's lack of astringency will not clash with the 'umami' (more on that later) of the soy.

Try out these three with a slight chill:

Francois Mikulski Bourgogne Passetoutgrain 2006
Graystone Pinot Noir 2004
Emmanuel De Soos Les Vendanges du Domaine Rougie 18-09-2005 Cincault 2005

Dry Rose w/ Lamb and Feta

This combo I discovered recently when grilling in my back yard. While a meat as dark and gamey as lamb might seem impervious to the charms of a lighter wine, the high evident acidity of a cold rose cuts through the weight of this high-fat meat and beautifully amplifies the sweetness of the dish. And while feta can often overpower a white wine, the slight tannic presence of the right rose is enough to keep the two in balance. When eating Greek, drink Greek: try this combo with the Kir-Yianni Akakies Rose 2006.
I yelled "opa!" and smashed a perfectly good dinner plate on the ground, I swear!

Alto Adige Whites w/ Asparagus

Dishes incorporating asparagus are a sommelier's worst nightmare.

Asparagus is great, don't get me wrong: with its fresh grassy aroma and chewy texture, one can dream of thousands of culinary applications and hundreds of wines for accessory. Alas, as you take a a bite of your Asparagus Vinaigrette and sip your pricey white Bordeaux-- blech! Tin foil?! What happened? Asparagus (along with artichoke) is high in a compound called 'cynarin,' which for reasons I am unable to explain makes water taste sweet and wine taste like aluminum siding. Almost universally, should you pair a wine (white, red or pink) with a cynarin rich food, some form of chemical reaction takes place on the tongue and an entire meal is ruined -- and don't try to outspend the devil, as a $100 Montrachet is just as susceptible as a bottle of Yellow Tail.

However, not all hope is lost-- for explanations I will leave up to the chemists, some of the white wines of Italy are relatively immune to this reaction. The whites of Alto Adige at the northern Alpine cusp of Italy's boot seem particularly resistant, and most are absolutely delicious to boot (ha-ha!). Their bone-dry and chalky characters are reminiscent of the wines of Alsace, but they possess a richness and body not often paralleled. Try one of these great whites from Cantina Terlano, one of my favorite producers of elegant whites in all of Italy.

Cantina Terlano Alto Adige Terlaner Classico 2006
Cantina Terlano Alto Adige Gewurztraminer 2005

Cantina Terlano Pinot Grigio 2004

Also, the Orsolani Erballuce di Caluso La Rustia 2005 (from just a bit south of the others) makes an excellent foil to the offending veggie. It has a lovely honeyed/spicy nose and a rich, unctuous texture.

Yamahai Sake w/ Barbecue Chicken or Pork

Alright, I know sake isn't technically a wine, but this is an esoteric pair I couldn't resist. Sake, like wine, is a fermented alcoholic beverage, but the base ingredient in this case is rice. To cut to the chase, yamahai style sake is made using a special, ancient technique that requires the rice to be exposed to the open air far longer than it would be using more modern sake production methods. What results from this extremely labor intensive procedure is a much richer sake higher in amino acids, and therefore much more possessed of the aforementioned 'umami.'

Umami is a Japanese term derived from two words meaning "delicious" and "essence" (sounds good, no?), and is often referred to as the 'fifth taste.' Conventionally speaking, the tongue is able to perceive four distinct flavors: sweetness, acidity, bitterness and saltiness. In the past two decades, however, a substantial case has been established for this fifth sensation, which has been described as "savory," or "gamey." Scientific analysis has found that this perception is derived from the tongue's ability to detect a certain amino acid called 'glutamate,' which is found in abundance in soy sauce, Parmesan cheese, tomato juice, tuna and seaweed.

Many wines carry this particular acid, and having a name for the effect is very convenient (how may times have you come across that wine which has a certain 'something?' That could be umami!). However, certain sakes posses massive amounts of the stuff, among them those made in the yamahai style. Such sakes have food pairing applications not easily found in the wine world, or anywhere else for that matter. Imagine adding to roasted chicken that gamey essence of lamb, or to pork a hint of seaweed, without the undesired salt or fishiness. Next time you find yourself grilling white meat with some of your more adventurous friends, open up a bottle slightly chilled Kasumi Tsuru Yamahai Junmai. I promise you won't regret it!

Perhaps the biggest wine-and-food myth is that you must do what you're told lest you ruin the whole meal: Listen to your sommelier; take the chef's pairing or face the consequence! ALWAYS remember that in the end wine is about food and fun, and that the right match is whatever works best for you-- while I certainly appreciate it if you give me the benefit of the doubt, above all -you must have confidence in your own taste. These are just a few of my favorite pairs-- try them out, if you please, and then do a little experimentation of your own!

Cheers,

Rob Rutledge