What to Drink with What You Eat

I need to admit that I was really skeptical about Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page's book, What to Drink with What You Eat. (suggested retail price $35; available new from some retailers for under $24) People can make pairing food with wine such a big deal that they become paralyzed figuring out what the "right" wine is to serve with a tuna fish sandwich. "The definitive guide to pairing food with wine, beer, spirits, coffee, tea--even water" seemed like it would take a bad situation and make it even worse. But I was curious because the book got great reviews and a few major awards, so when the publisher asked if I'd like to take a look at a copy, I agreed.

I've now had the book for several months, and it has become one of the most referred to books in my kitchen. Actually, it doesn't stay in the kitchen but lives next to the sofa since I'm always picking it up to get some advice on what foods might go with my latest wine discovery. I highly recommend this book, and think that if you buy it you will find that you use it regularly, too.

I'm now convinced that this book is a good thing. First, it avoids the common food and wine pairing pitfall of over-specificity. I read a lot of food and wine pairing that tells you this hamburger must be eaten with this wine, but never tells you why. This book tells you, and gives you a long enough list of foods to go with your Cabernet Franc that it's actually inspiring to come up with a recipe from your collection that fits the bill. Second, the book is arranged so you can start with the food or the wine. If you start with the food you can go for a specific dish (a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is the suggested wine to go with McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwich, FYI), the dominant spice (cumin goes with Chardonnay), or a major ingredient (try Chablis with avocadoes).

If you start with the wine, you will be pleased to find a wider range of grape varieties than the Big Six. They suggest eight different kinds of food to go with Pinotage, the South African full-bodied red, for instance. This section of the book will be particularly useful if you are getting into more unusual varieties and are wondering what to eat with them when you try them for the first time. When I was finishing out my Wine Century I turned to this book again and again to imagine my way into what the wine would taste like, just from seeing the kinds of food they suggested for pairings.

My favorite part of the book, however, just may be the "desert island" food and wine lists that the authors draw together from a number of famous chefs. It's fun to see what Piero Selvaggio, the chef from the great LA Italian restaurant Valentino would choose. The Barolo and old Amarone I would have imagined, but not the Nero d'Avola (to be had with the little risotto croquettes known as arancini) or the Lambrusco (to have with salumi).

Even if you are a skeptic at first, you may find (as I did ) that this book quickly becomes a regular reference point. If you're looking for a gift for a wine-loving mom or dad in May and June, I'd highly recommend this book. It's thoughtfully laid out, well-written, full of interesting quotes from famous figures in the food and wine world, and provides you with both guidance and freedom to choose the perfect wine for your palate. Still wondering about that tuna fish sandwich? Dornenburg and Page suggest rose. And while you're thinking about books, don't forget to pick up a copy of this month's Book Club selection, Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution and to check out the Winehiker's review of this month's "Spin the Bottle" book, Wine Across America.

Here Comes the Sun: Two Cool Sauvignon Blancs

Temperatures went above 90 degrees this weekend in LA. I know that it may be snowing where you are, but the sun and hot temperatures are coming. When they do, there is no wine that beats the heat more than Sauvignon Blanc. Drinking a chilled Sauvignon Blanc is the gustatory equivalent of laying down in cool morning grass under a lemon tree and being spritzed by a garden hose.

Stores are starting to get in their new Sauvignon Blanc releases, and I have two for you to look out for that are made in similar styles but come from different parts of the world. This means that while both are crisp and cooling, they deliver very different taste profiles. Hopefully one of the two will appeal to you and you'll get some in the house for when the summer weather breaks.

First up is the very good QPR 2006 Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc. ($10.89, Costco; $13-$17 from other merchants) This is a classic Marlborough style Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. The winery is new to me, and I've already had their Pinot Noir recommended to me by a reader, so it may be that this is one of those names to watch out for in the store as a reliable value producer. It has a typically pale, almost translucent color. Aromas of grapefruit, fresh cut grass, and a zing of lemon zest are consistent with the cool, clear appearance of the wine. The flavors are all across the citrus scale, with a decidedly grapefruity aftertaste, along with some herbal and mineral notes. The wine gets its crispness in part from being fermented in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures, which helps maintain freshness.

Here in the US, the 2006 CrauforD Maroon Vineyard Highlander Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley also goes through cool temperature stainless steel fermentation. ($10/375ml, 34 North Wine Merchants; $13.50/750ml from online merchants) As in the case of the Saint Cloud Sauvignon Blanc, this keeps the wine crisp and fresh. But this example from Napa both the colors and the flavors of the wine are richer, despite the fact that there has been no malolactic fermentation or use of oak. The wine has aromas of stone fruit (specifically nectarine), citrus (specifically lemon), and melon. The color is pale straw, just a shade darker than the Saint Cloud. The flavors are more reminiscent of hay and melon, but the aftertaste is still fresh and crisp. Another very good QPR choice for this summer.

Either wine would be excellent with a wide range of summer foods, including salads, chicken grilled with lemon and herbs, or shellfish. Both are perfect for sipping, enjoying with meals, and cooling down in the hot summer evenings to come.

WBW #45: Old World Riesling

I'd hoped to have you a roundup of Wine Blogging Wednesday #44, which was hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV and dedicated to French Cabernet Franc. However, no one is exactly sure if there is even going to be a roundup.

So the host of Wine Blogging Wednesday #45, Tim Elliott of Winecast, decided to forge ahead announce May's theme. It's Old World Riesling, and Tim wants us to find a European Riesling--any style, any price point--and drink it before May 7. Then, post your impressions over at the Wine Blogging Wednesday site or on you own blog (if you have one). Full details are available on Winecast.

Rieslings are affordable, food-friendly wines that are often misunderstood and not fully appreciated. People often say "I don't like sweet wines," and therefore won't try Rieslings, but not all Rieslings are sweet. So go exploring and give them a try.

See you back here on May 7 for what promises to be a terrific WBW. Thanks as ever to Tim at Winecast for hosting the event, and Lenn of Lenndevours for dreaming it up in the first place.

The Art of the Cork

I'm a big fan of Stelvin closures on wine bottles, also known as screw-tops. They preserve a wine's freshness, you never have to have a reserve bottle in case it's corked, and they make it easier to pack a picnic. There's an increasing amount of good science to back up winemakers who feel their wines are best put under these closures.

But they're not very beautiful.

Lately, I've been thinking about the art of the cork. I dumped my latest bowl of corks out on the table the other day, and was struck by how much care went into designing some of them. Can you spot the Twisted Oak in the bowl? Enikidu's Sumerian glyphs? The wolf on Ca' Viola's cork? How about Sineann's Celtic-inspired symbol? The Art Nouveau swirls of Adelsheim? The alchemical symbol from Brooks? Borgo di Colloredo's tower?

I did some sleuthing, and as best as I can tell the reason that wineries first started printing information on their corks was to stop fraudulent brokers from selling sub-standard wine under famous names back in the day when wine was exported and shipped in barrels, then bottled where it was sold. "Bottled at the Chateau" was one way for a buyer to be sure they were really getting the wine that they paid for--not something else that they never expected. Falsifying labels was relatively easy and inexpensive. But printing off fake corks was far more difficult, so corks became the proof positive that the wine you were drinking was genuine. I suspect that's one reason why presenting the corks really got started in fine restaurants--not so you could sniff it, but so you could see that the wine was truly what you had ordered. If there are any sommeliers or WSET diploma students reading this, let me know if this is correct because I'm having a hard time finding proof about this hunch.

Today, corks are the part of a wine experience that consumers tend to hold onto the longest--except for the memory of how the wine tastes. The bottle gets put into the recycling, but most wine drinkers have at least one cork in the house. Sometimes it's a champagne cork from a special celebratory bottle. Often it's a cork from a bottle of wine that you loved and want to remember to buy again--so you stick the cork in the drawer and forget all about it.

But I realized that I keep the corks just because I find them too beautiful to throw away, and because when I tip the bowl onto the counter and watch them roll around they serve as snapshots of a dinner, a great wine, friends, and family. I can remember (once I see the cork) who I drank it with, what I drank it with, and sometimes what the weather was like. Memories accompany each cork, and to sniff them, hold them, and look at them brings those memories flooding back.

Even though I like screw-caps and think wine science is a good thing, I'll be sad to see the day when the art of the cork is no more. Until then, I'll probably continue to treasure my (growing) collection, and marvel at their power to remind me of good times and good wines.

Asparagus and Wine: the Spring Dilemma

Asparagus is synonymous with spring. Stores have appealing bundles of the stalks in the produce section this time of year, tightly banded together with their purplish-green tops curving slightly this way and that like they are bending in the breeze. (picture from edining.ca)

Asparagus is also synonymous with "I'll have water, please" because the vegetable's bitter, vegetal qualities can make it a wine pairing nightmare. It doesn't go with oaked whites, nor does it go with tannic reds. Some people swear by Sauvignon Blanc, but if you get one that's too grassy or tart it can be unpleasant.

I was looking through some traditional recipes from Molise, my destination for Italian wines this month, and saw one for an asparagus pasta and wondered if this wasn't a case where "drink local, eat local" might not prove a winning combination. First, I found a slightly easier version of the recipe from Faith Willinger's great book about Italian vegetables Red, White, and Greens, pasta with lemon asparagus sauce. Then I popped open a bottle of Malvasia Bianca from Molise. This solved my annual spring problem of what wine to drink with one of my favorite vegetables.

The 2004 Borgo di Colloredo Malvasia Bianca was bright gold in color, and at first I was slightly worried that it had oxidized since it was so much darker than most white wines. I checked some reference books, however, and it turns out that this true gold hue is a characteristic of the variety. I could smell beeswax--like expensive candles, or the waxy aroma of a honeycomb--along with apple and lemon. When I sipped the wine, it felt on the heavy side, and was a nice counterpoint to the toothiness of the al dente pasta. Flavors of apples and lemon dominated, and the finish turned a bit waxy, reminding me once again of honeycomb especially as I swallowed the last bit and the wine left a slightly honeyed aftertaste. I also noted that as the wine warmed up in the glass, the wine became more floral, but in no way sweet.

This was interesting wine--more heavy and golden than most whites, yet still dry. I purchased my bottle at Chronicle Wine Cellar for a mere $8.95; if you're not in the LA area, you can find this wine online for about $17. At $8.95, this represented very good QPR, but if you spent $17 you may feel that you paid to much for this unusual, but relatively straightforward and simple, white wine.

Once again I'm astonished by the range of Italian whites, and so far haven't had a single one that I wouldn't buy again. Thank you, Molise, for preserving this perfect track record.