Liquid Love Letter: Unusual Food & Wine Pairings
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Earlier this week I joined a fun and rambunctious group in Boston for a blind wine tasting, where each guest brought a bottle or two to share. We took turns guessing at each wine’s origin and style and vintage – which were all over the map, let me tell you – while we ate from an array of very good Chinese food on the table.
There were a wide variety of wines, and an equally wide variety of foods to mix and match. A new friend sitting next to me commented that a particular wine from Burgundy tasted different each time, depending on the bite of food he’d eaten along with it. It was an interesting (and accurate) observation, particularly if you slow down enough to pay attention to the experience bite by bite and sip by sip.
Here's the thing: Not once during the whole evening did anyone at the table comment on a terrible-tasting combination of food and wine. This wasn’t out of politeness; it was a vocal and lively crowd, unshy of expressing their opinions. It occurred to me that maybe there simply wasn’t a “bad” combination of food and wine. If you like the food, and if you like the wine, then liking them together should be the next logical thing.
Right?
That defies generations of commentators and “authorities” who have articulated in excruciating detail not only what-food-goes-with-what-wine but also why-this-works-while-that-doesn’t. The most basic guideline has always been white wine goes with fish or chicken while red wine goes with red meat. But even that simple guideline gets murky very quickly when sauces, seasonings and side dishes come into play, opening up a literal world of flavors and variations.
With a near-infinite range of options, you could say that food and wine pairings are a bit of a moving target, on the part of both the food and wine.
Here’s another example, this time from Poole’s, Ashley Christensen’s diner in Raleigh, North Carolina. I ordered the chicken liver pâté, with two mustards and house pickles, as an appetizer and asked the server for her recommendation of a wine pairing by the glass. She heartily suggested the 2021 Blandine Le Blanc from Château du Cédre in France’s Gascogne region, which is a blend of two white grapes (Colombard and Ugni Blanc) even though many wine pairings with chicken liver pâté that I’ve seen have usually veered toward lighter reds like Gamay or Cabernet Franc. I followed the server’s lead, however, and the white wine pairing with the pâté was completely lovely.
If the pairing was terrible, I would have said so, just like my vocal and opinionated friends in Boston. But they didn’t say so, and neither did I. Which leaves me to turn to Matthew who, as a sommelier, has fielded the food and wine pairing question hundreds if not thousands of times.
Courtesy of Unsplash | Photo by Benoit Gauzere
I've always loved to push boundaries. It's in my DNA. Thanks mom & dad.
So when the insane world of food & wine became my playground, I knew it was my duty to try anything and everything at least once, to find the brilliance or the parity. Good is subjective, but if something leaves an emotional impression on you...that is the magic we are after.
When it comes to food I am very adventurous. I've tried cow hooves that marinate in vinegar with white onion (thanks, Oaxaca), conch liver, both cow and lamb brains, cow eyeballs, chicken and cow heart (I prefer cow), mountain oysters (you know what they are), and a few other offal offerings that a lot of people don't have the stomach for...
My most surprising pairings include:
Chapulines Oaxaqueños (Oaxacan style grasshoppers) paired with White Rioja - the kiss of oak from the aging of Viura plays nicely with the crunch you get from the grasshoppers and their vinegar + chili seasoning. A more traditional pairing would be to have chapulines with mezcal, and don't worry I do that as well ;)
Grilled Cow Heart paired with Malbec - HAVE A HEART! Truly one of the greatest pairings I've ever had. The irony and meatiness of the heart brings out a cheat code in the Malbec, unlocking its earthiness and showcasing the fruit component more as a backseat driver than a leading lady. Chef's kiss.
Lamb brains paired with Aussie Grenache from old vines. God bless Chester Osborn and R.I.P. d'Arry Osborn. The lads at d'Arenberg in McLaren Vale, Australia are complete legends in winemaking, but the hidden secret is how blood good their restaurants are! Before opening The Cube, you'd dine at the main restaurant and there were always a few surprises in store. Lamb brains being one of them. That paired with an old busy vine Grenache (named The Custodian) really opened my eyes.
So get out there and be adventurous. Try the obvious pairings, but be open enough to push the boundaries and try something your younger self would never put in their mouth. Who knows, you may like it.
