Wine Pairing Dinner - Valentine's Day

Okay, so I know that is has been a while since I have written. I will be able to explain soon, but for now, let’s just say I have been pretty busy on a big project.

Kumomotos on the half shell

Last weekend was Valentine’s Day, and like most of you, that involves flowers, chocolate, cards and a nice dinner. I find that most restaurants book up well in advance, and it is usually very crowded. This year, our group of friends decided we could do a very nice, gourmet dinner that hit all the key points of decadence, aphrodisiacs and fine wine. What follows is a 4-course meal and the wines I chose to pair with those courses.

Bacon wrapped dates

Our first course was an appetizer course of stuffed dates, wrapped in bacon. My “go to” for bacon is sparkling wine. I like how the bubbles cut the fat and grease, cleansing the palate. The dates add sweetness to the bacon, but I didn’t want to start our meal with a sweet wine. Instead, I went with a Blanc de Noir (made from more fruit forward red grapes). The wine of choice was from Schramsberg, in Napa Valley.

Oysters Rockefeller

Our second course was also an appetizer. We had oysters two ways: on the half shell and Oysters Rockefeller. Oysters are basically just little salt water exchangers, with a minerally taste to them. There are a number of classic pairings for oysters, but my "go to" is from the Loire region of France. In the coastal region of Nantes, the wines produced from the Muscadet grape mirror the brine and mineral of the oysters, but add the sharp acidity that is similar to a squeeze of lemon. The wine for this pairing was Chateau du Jaunay Muscadet Sevre et Maine.

Beef Wellington with Roasted Garlic Potatoes

Our main course was a traditional Beef Wellington. This classic English dish involves coating a tenderloin with pâté and finely chopped mushrooms, then wrapping everything in puff pastry. Since the English were (are) such big fans of French Bordeaux, the classic pairing would be a right bank Bordeaux (St. Emilion or Pomerol). These wines are mostly Merlot based. But, to complicate things, our side dishes consisted of roasted asparagus with garlic and Parmesan, as well as roasted garlic potatoes. First, asparagus makes wine taste sweeter, and garlic clashes with heavily oaked wines (think of how well garlic goes with vanilla or coconut – some of the notes that oak adds). For the wine choices, I did stick with a traditional pairing, with a bottle of 2005 Chateau Fonroque St. Emilion Grand Cru. I also had a bottle of 2012 DomaineSerene Pinot Noir Evenstad Reserve. I find that the Oregon wines are not as fruit forward as some of the California Pinot Noirs, and not as earthy as the French Burgundies. Of the two wines, I felt the Domaine Serene was the better pairing. Our hosts also opened a bottle of Calcareous Pinot Noir…heck two bottles with the main course just isn’t enough for eight people!

For our final course, we ended the evening with a Chocolate Ganache Cake. With sweet desserts, you always want your wine to be sweeter than the dessert. Despite popular belief, chocolate and wine are not natural pairings, but there are some that work well. If you are using milk chocolate, there is only one wine that I find works, and that is Brachetto d’Aqui from Italy. This is a semi-sparkling wine, with aromas of raspberries… a magical pairing with sweeter chocolate. In this case, I did not know if the cake was made sweet, or used bitter sweet chocolate, so I hedged my bets. I brought a bottle of Rinaldi Brachetto d’Aqui, along with a bottle Domaine de Paulilles Banyuls Rimage. This wine from the southern part of France, has aromas of cherries, raspberries and chocolate. It is a fortified wine, similar to Port, but with a bit lower alcohol level. As it turned out, the cake was made using a bittersweet chocolate, so the Banyuls was the best pairing.

The night progressed, and our hosts opened up a few more bottles of dessert wines that they had acquired on recent trips to Paso Robles.

As always, I hope these pairings will inspire you to try creating a fun meal on your own. You don’t need to wait for Valentine’s Day to entertain friends. Take these ideas, mix and match, and have fun!

Some Basics of Bordeaux

When I first started learning about wine, I knew I liked the red wines from Bordeaux. The only problem I had, back then, was that I really didn’t know what it was. There were so many different names and price points. How could anyone figure out what was good, and what tasted the best?

This week, I am going to delve into Bordeaux. This will, in no way, be an extensive discussion of Bordeaux, but only the basics to get you started on your journey. Heck, novels have been written about this special wine region, and there is no way I could possibly fit all that information into a short wine blog.

To begin, Bordeaux is a wine growing region, located in the southwest of France, in particular, along the west coast, and along the Gigonde Estuary.  It was originally planted by the Romans. The geographical location was ideal for trading with the Dutch and English. It was eventually the Dutch who were able to drain the marsh land, expand the wine growing region The English connection was strengthened when King Henry II married Aliénor d‘Aquitaine, giving England control over the entire region. This English connection would weigh heavy on the style of wines created in Bordeaux, and develop a lucrative export market for the region.

First, the Dutch influence. Prior to the Dutch, most of the vineyards were located an area known as Graves, Entre-Deux-Mers and the original growing regions of the Romans, on the right bank (more on that later). The Dutch had developed techniques for draining marshland, and making it usable. They helped drain the marshland along the Gigonde River, exposing large mounds of gravel that had piled up over the millennium. Little did they know that this would soon become some of the finest wine growing acreage in the world. 

By the mid 1800’s the “Château concept” had been developed. This concept may well be the first wine branding, based on the wine producers identity, rather than the soils the grapes were grown in. By the time of the Paris World’s Fair, in 1855, certain Château had gained recognition, and were classified (or divided) into categories that basically reflected the selling prices of the region’s wines, over the past 100 years. The thought was that the best wines would demand the highest prices.  Among dry red wines, 4 were classified as Premiers Crus (1st Growth), 16 as Deuxièmes Crus (2nd Growth), and the balance were granted 3rd, 4th, and 5^th growth status.  One sweet wine Château was given status of Premier Cru Supérieur: Château d‘Yquem. Since the official 1855 classification, there has only been one change. In 1973, Château Mouton-Rothschild was promoted from 2nd growth to 1st growth status. The Medoc wines that are in the 1855 Classification are known as "Crus Classés", or Classed Growths.

The challenge with the 1855 classification, has to do with the “Château concept” itself. While these may have been the best wines in 1855, the land each owns has possibly expanded, owners may have changed, and even the style of wine may have changed. In other words, the brand name remains the same, but the product, and the source of the product may be different. Some that were rated as 5^th Growth, may now be performing as good as or better than 1^st Growth. Is this a reliable way to determine whether a wine is worth the high price? Maybe, maybe not. I will spend more time on the classification system of Bordeaux, in a follow up article.

As I mentioned, Bordeaux is located on the Atlantic coast. This, along with the Gironde Estuary (created by the merger of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers), moderate the regions’ temperatures.  The region is somewhat sheltered from the ocean breezes, by the Landes forest. The summers are long and mild, while the winters a cool and wet. The humidity, and cool maritime storms are the biggest challenge to growing in the Bordeaux region. The uncertain growing conditions meant that not all grape varieties would ripen at the same time, or even ripen at all. For this reason, many grape varieties are grown in Bordeaux, and the typical wines produced are blends of those grapes. The multiple varieties should be looked at as an “insurance policy”, to make sure there would be something at harvest to produce. Early budding and early ripening varieties (such as Merlot) are combined with later-budding and later-ripening varieties (such as Cabernet Sauvignon).

The rivers provide important geographical boundaries, and understanding their locations is important in understanding the various districts which comprise the region. If you have ever heard the term “right bank” or “left bank” for Bordeaux wines, this refers to a specific growing region. If you were floating down stream in on one of the rivers, the “right bank” would be on your right. Picture a large river, and if are going down stream,  as the river bends, all the heavy material (rocks, twigs, etc.) is being pushed to the left side. On the right side, there is more limestone and clay. You now have an idea of the differences in soil type on the left and right banks of Bordeaux. Additionally, the right bank has less protection from the maritime climate, since it is more exposed. As you can imagine, this has an effect on the types of grape varieties that can be grown in each area. 

On the right bank, we find mainly Merlot and Cabernet Franc Vineyards. On the left bank, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates, and is supplemented with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. White grapes are also grown, but are mainly found in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. Here we find Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. Some of the finest dessert wines in the world are found in Sauternes.

Hopefully the left bank versus right bank makes more sense now. To complicate things further, within each region, there are districts, which can be further broken down into communes. The analogy I have used in the past, is the Russian nesting egg. You have a large egg, and inside is a smaller egg, an inside that is another small egg, etc. Each time you get to a smaller egg, you are getting more refined. The same is true for the wines of Bordeaux. The larger districts on the left bank (from west to east, or downstream to upstream) are:  Médoc, Haut-Médoc, and Graves.  On the right bank, they are: Cotes de Blaye, Canon Fronsac, Pomerol , and St. Emillion. Between the rivers is Entre-Deux-Mers.

The most specific designations within Bordeaux are the communes. These have the strictest regulations concerning winemaking, and grape growing. These are typically the finest wines of Bordeaux. Some of the best known on the left bank are St. Estephe, Pauillac,, St. Julien, Margaux, Pessac-Leognan and Sauternes. There are too many differences between these communes, to spend any reasonable time discussing in this article. I see an opportunity for a few future articles!

As stated at the beginning of this article, there is a lot of information required to understand Bordeaux. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what there is to know about the region, but the best way to learn is to taste, and see for yourself what the differences are.

Next week, I will spend some time on the different classifications within Bordeaux. First up: The 1959 Graves Classification.

Two out of Five

This week, the Arrowhead Wine Enthusiasts met for a tasting of five wines. There was no particular theme, except for what I felt like purchasing. I always try to provide some standard wines, to get the non-adventurous comfortable, but also throw in some grapes that are less familiar.

This night, I provided five wines:

Val Do Sosego Albarino Rias Baixas, Spain 2010

Louis Jadot Pouilly Fuisse, France, 2010

Cardwell Hill Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Oregon, 2009

L.A. Cetto Nebbiolo Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico 2008

Apex Merlot Yakima Valley, Washington 2009

Most everyone was familiar with the Pouilly Fuisse. This white wine (100% Chardonnay) from the Maconnais district of Burgundy, in France, is fairly well known among wine drinkers.  Louis Jadot is my “go to” for wines from the region, particularly in the “around $20” range, as there are plenty of choices, but no guarantees of quality. I haven’t had a bad bottle from Louis Jadot.

The Cardwell Hill Pinot Noir was the “best buy” of the night, and the obvious favorite, as we ran out of this wine early on. A very nice Pinot Noir. Light in color, with a lot of finesse. Good fruit, but also some of that earthy quality that makes Pinot Noir such a great wine.  And, at $22, you just can’t beat the price.

The Apex Merlot was another crowd pleaser. Very smooth tannins, but with good body and fruit. I think people are warming back up to Merlot, since the movie Sideways devastated sale.

Where things got interesting was with the two other wines. First, the Val Do Sosego Albarino was a new grape to many of the members in attendance. I have served Albarino before, but it still remained “new” to many. For those not familiar with the grape, it is a white variety,  mainly found in the northwest corner of Spain, in Galicia, as well as in northern Portugal, where it is known as Alvarinho. We are also seeing some show up in Central California. The wine is generally high in acid, making it a wonderful  wine for seafood. This night, it paired well with asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, as well as the pizza with white sauce and caramelized onion. The wine has nice peach, apple blossom, and citrus notes, and a bit of minerality.

The other unusual find of the night was from Mexico. First, the shock of finding a Mexican wine in California (even though they are just across the border, we don’t see too many up here). Secondly, that the grape was Nebbiolo. Those that have tried Barolo or Barbaresco, should be familiar with this grape, and the powerful wines that are produced in Italy. So, how does Mexico do with Italian grapes? Pretty well based on the groups’ response. As it happens, Senior Cetto was originally from Italy, and brought this red grape with him. At first glance, you’d think you were about to drink a Pinot Noir, based on the semi-transparent red wine in the glass. Then, the earthy cherry, and leather, with a bit of tannins hits you, and you know you are trying something different. Old world in style, but made in the New World (yes, Mexico is considered a new world wine country). At $17, this was another best buy for the night.

As I have suggested many times before, venture out and try new wines. The one thing about wine tasting is there are literally thousands of wines and grape varieties to try. All of them are different, and with each new vintage, you get to start all over again.