RAISE A GLASS
Balancing the salad and spice
By Brian Geiser
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Most wines enhance food. Like a squeeze of lemon on fish, or ketchup on a hot dog, wine's acidity will amplify flavors in a dish. When looking for that magic marriage between food and wine, the most important factors are a dish's sauce and spices.
When a food-and-wine match works, a component of the dish is heightened and an aspect of the wine is enhanced. That's the magic moment we look for at Chef Mavro restaurant when about 25 of our staff and invited food professionals select wines for each new seasonal menu.
Everyone samples each new menu item with tastings of six to eight wines. These wines offer many flavor profiles, representing several grape varieties, from regions throughout the world. On their ballot, each person simply trusts their taste and notes which wine and food pairing is the most delicious (not necessarily the best wine). The pairings with the most votes are the ones our guests enjoy for the following three months. Here are the stories behind three of the winning food-and-wine pairings from our new winter menu:
The components of the fried eggplant with the olive relish (capers, lemon, tomatoes) and watercress bent the wine choice to a crisp, fairly light wine to balance the salad effect. Without hot spice flavors, the wine doesn't need to be slightly sweet. A pinot noir didn't have enough acid to work. A dry riesling from Alsace was best.
Our choice: Domaine Ostertag, 2004 Riesling Vignoble d'E, Alsace, France.
The sweet-sour contrast of melon kanten and ume needs a wine with some residual sugar so the wine doesn't seem too dry and acidic. Red wine didn't work. What we needed was a sweet element to provide the required contrast to the foie gras' fatty richness.
Our choice: D¬onnhoff, 2003 Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Sp¬atlese, Germany.
The flavorful garnish and earthy sauce call for a wine with some structure, fruit and low tannins. The bordeaux was too lean. The California syrah was too big. We opted for a wine that balances power, fruit and earthiness.
Our choice: Antinori, 2000 Chianti Classico Marchese Antinori, Italy.
Brian Geiser is the sommelier at Chef Mavro restaurant (www.chefmavro.com). This column is a weekly lesson in wine pairing, written by a panel of wine professionals.
