Following up on Monday’s mini-post. The question came up last week as I was choosing a couple of bottles of wine to take to a dinner party. I knew the menu – more or less – and I knew what I wanted to spend. I knew what kind of wine I wanted – a Cabernet, preferably from California. Maybe a Merlot to back it up, since there might be someone who preferred the softer style of Merlot to the elegance of a Cabernet. This is why I talk to wine people who know what they’re talking about, and fortunately we have a lot of them.
So here we are, trying to find a California Cab that fit into my parameters. Finally, after a significant number of suggestions from Brad Lewis and Shayne Hebert (and including a phone call to another wine supervisor who’d tasted some reds that Shayne hadn’t), we – I – made up my mind. A primarily Cabernet Bordeaux with a decent Robert Parker rating – that covered the “classics” base – and, in what turned out to be the hit of the evening, a Malbec from Argentina. It was a really, really good wine, and turned out to be a great accompaniment to the traditional dinner.
Which is what got me thinking: does roast require Cabernet? Obviously not, or at least not for me (the truly important thing to remember – drink what YOU like!). What about other “classic” pairings: Champagne and caviar, for example. I called Atanas Nechkov, our Orlando-area wine supervisor, for an alternative to Champagne.
“Vodka.”
Okay, so caviar is sticking with the Champagne (he explained that it’s the bubbles and acidity in Champagne that make it match with just about anything – one reason it’s the perfect wine for entertaining). What about Chianti with pasta and red sauce? Here we have more options. Atanas rattles off several choices, primarily from France’s Rhone region, but also Garnacha (Grenache) from Spain.
“It’s the acidity level of the wine, which matches with the acidity of the tomatoes, so most reds with high acidity will work,” he tells me. And that’s the crux of the matter. Old/new, classic/alternative – does the wine match the food?
“The classics are classics because they work. Wine pairs best with the food of the same area.”
Shayne Hebert explained it to me once – that over the centuries, the people of an area were making wine to complement their food, because they were the ones drinking it. Exporting wine (except Port, perhaps) is a relatively new thing. But if you’re not eating kangaroo (a pairing suggestion I saw recently for an Australian Shiraz), does that mean you shouldn’t drink Aussie wines with your dinner? Of course not. Although you might give the kangaroo a try.
To be continued …