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This is part of a series of posts offered in explanation of the pairings we put together for the Marx Foods ecookbook. The series is intended to give insight into how wine nerds like us think about pairing food and wine. You can find the recipe on pg 19 of the cookbook.

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Ok, so how often do you get to pair wine with kangaroo?! To be honest, most of the pairings we deal with in our lives as sommeliers are, relatively speaking, fairly straightforward. Though most chefs aren’t thinking about whether or not their latest creation will work with wine, a good sommelier should be able to come up with a serviceable pairing for pretty much anything that’s thrown at them. That said, even when working in restaurants that feature the most innovative cuisines, you don’t often get dealt the kangaroo card!

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This pairing isn’t really all that difficult so much as it is uncommon. The easy choice would be to throw a high-quality Aussie Shiraz at ‘er and call it good, but we thought that’d be a little clichéd. The first thing I address when considering a dish is the main component. Kangaroo meat, particularly when grilled, gives a smokey-sweet, beefy flavor. It is fairly sinewy, slightly gamey, and protein-dense. That protein richness calls out for a wine that is relatively high in tannin, which helps break down the protein. This is a little gross, but I’ll mention it anyway: tannin, when combined with saliva, actually begins the digestive process in your mouth! Ahem, moving forward:
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The marinade on this dish is an additional concern, though it shouldn’t change our minds about a tannin-rich wine. The garlic and oregano will impart flavor, though by the time the meat comes off the grill, that flavor will not be dominant. The juniper berries will add a hint of piney herbaceous-ness, though, again, this is a secondary element. And, of course, there is that slaw to consider; for the most part, we want to be certain that the wine has enough acidity to not be run off the table by the vinegar.
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Syrah makes sense because it has plenty of tannin (good for the protein), often shows notes of game and smoked meat (compliments the smoky gaminess of the kangaroo), and can have decent acidity (won’t get killed by the vinegary slaw). French syrah would work as well, though we went domestic here because the fruit tends to be richer in Cali and WA, which we thought would be appropriate to the slightly sweet meatiness that kangaroo shows. We chose Loire Valley Cabernet Franc for it’s tannin structure, it’s vibrant acidity, and for it’s trade-mark tobacco-leaf character, which compliments the pine note from the juniper berries.

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This is the first in a series of posts offered in explanation of the pairings we put together for the Marx Foods ecookbook. The series is intended to give insight into how wine nerds like us think about pairing food and wine.

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Porcini Mushrooms ala Plancha with Aged Champagne. Hell yes. pg 4

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Aged Champagne is a pleasure all too rarely endulged. Most of us have had occasion to slurp down some young bubbles — and lord knows that can be entirely fulfilling, but well-made Champagne with a little age on it can turn into a magical beverage. The texture can be enthralling, and the wines take on delicious savory notes that play beautifully against the background of still-vibrant citrus and tree fruit.

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The most prominent savory note in aged champagne tends to be mushrooms, which is what led us directly to this pairing. Champagne offers excellent acidity, which is necessary to cut through the richness of the preparation (butter!). And then there’s that dose of sweet that does wonders for the fleur de sel sprinkled on top of the porcinis:

Most Champagne is topped up with a dosage of still wine and sugar before being corked. The amount of sugar in the dosage constitutes it’s stylistic designation. The majority of Champagne is made in the Brut style, which by law can contain no more than 15 grams per liter of sugar in the dosage. A good producer will keep the dosage below 10 g/l; he harvests ripe fruit, and so doesn’t need much additional sugar to cover up the sharp bitterness that unripe fruit will develop with time.

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I’d recommend a Vintage champagne with 10 or more years of age. The following vintages would rock with this pairing: 1999, 1996, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1988.

If you can find it, Vintage Champagne that has been recently disgorged (”RD”) would be extra fabulous. Wines with this designation have been aged on their lees for longer than typical. Vintage champagnes are required by law to be aged on their lees for at least three years (most are aged for longer), and recently disgorged wines are aged sur lie for even longer. The lees impart additional complexity to the wine and also offer it “food” to keep growing. Sur lie aging promotes long-life and great flavor development.

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Here’s a short list of Champagne producers that we dig:

Pierre Peters

Pierre Gimmonet

Vilmart

Jose Michel

Pol Roger

This year we decided to avoid the travel lunacy by combining Thanksgiving and Christmas into one visit in between the two holidays to Lauren’s (my finacee) parents who live in Sacramento, CA.  Lauren’s father, Monsieur Guy as we like to call him, has taken an increasing interest in the maturation of wine and asked me to put together a vertical for our celebratory visit. After much deliberation I decided on the Bordeaux estate of Cos d’Estournel, a favorite of mine that is a second growth in St. Estephe on the left bank of the Gironde river. The estate is right next to Pauillac’s Chateau Lafite Rothschild, seperated by the La Jalle de Breuil - a stream the delineates the two AOCs. St. Estephe wines in general are thought to be more “rustic” in style but Cos d’Estournel drinks more like Pauillac due to it’s close proximity.  “Cos” translates to a “hill of pebbles” and this is one of the defining terroir characteristics of the estate. The 91 hectares around the beautiful chateau sit roughly 65 feet above the Gironde providing excellent drainage so the vines have to dig deep for a drink. Vines produce better, more concentrated fruit when they have to work hard for their water and nutrients - just like humans do - c’mon, we have all known a trust fund baby or two! The deeper the vines go the more trace minerals they pick up and the more terroir defined the wine becomes. Another factor of quality is vine age and the average here is 35 years The vineyard is planted with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot and the final blend varies depending on the vintage condtions.

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We tasted the 1982, 1986, 1990, and the 2005. We decanted them 3 hours before tasting.

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2005 - Intense ruby and magenta color with heavy staining of the tears. Blackberry, plum and cassis fruits with baking spice, vanilla, graphite and intense coffee on the nose. In the mouth it was surprisingly drinkable for being an infant.  The wood was very apparent but the tannins were fairly soft, a result of wine making style or vintage? After tasting the others it was clear that it has a long way to go.

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1990 - Concentrated garnet color with slight staining, the highest intensity of color in the flight. Ceder, sage, saddle leather, nail polish remover, manure, sweet tobacco with dried strawberry, cassis, and fig. The list goes on….a very complex wine. Overall the impression was of organic aromas with sweet fruit that bordered on being overripe.

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1986 - Garnet core that fades to orange with moderate intensity. Powerful smells eminate, not exactly lovely though. My favorite note was from Guy who described this wine as “a brand new out of the box plastic air mattress” smell. For me it was definetly plasticy with glue, burnt toast, charcoal and chemical pickles.  Ummm…..what?  Weird I know. On the palate it was much more typical with green tobacco, peat, black currants and toast but still a disappointment. The last place finisher without a doubt.

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1982 - Color of garnet fading to orange with strong rim variation. Lovely and elegant nose of cassis, toasted marshmellow, balsa wood, licorice, cocoa and roasted meat. Extremely well balanced with silky tannins, sweet black and red fruits with a curious blood orange lingering on the finish. The standout of the the tasting. The perfect example of maturity - balance!

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A big thank you to Joyce and Guy!  What an experience.

Hunter Valley Semillon is a new pleasure for me.  One of my favorite instructors waxed poetic about these wines, how they age so gracefully and gain mind boggling complexity, and somehow it took me another year to try one, due partly to the fact that I couldn’t find any locally and partly because I have the memory of a goat.  On a trip to Sacramento to visit MOBFOB (my finacee’s parents) they took me to a local grocery institution that has been around for 40 years, Corti Brothers, that has an incredible wine selection.  Darrell Corti selects the wines and I think that if he and I were to get together, I’d wake up in a haze with several empty bottles around me trying to figure out how I got there. The man has taste and has been buying wines for years which has created a selection with vintage depth.  The perfect place to find me some aged Hunter Valley Semillon!  The gem I decided to splurge for was the 1995 vintage of Tyrell’s HVD bottling. Tyrell’s is located in the small town of Pokolbin in the Lower Hunter. The Hunter Valley is a GI or Geographic Indication within the state of New South Wales, about a 2 hour drive from Sydney. Tyrell’s was founded in 1858 by Edward Tyrell, an English immigrant. Four generations later Bruce Tyrell is continuing the legacy and has vastly expanded the winery’s holdings. They now make wine from McLaren Vale, Limestone Coast, and Heathcote as well as Hunter Valley.  The HVD is from the Hunter Valley Distillery vineyard that was planted in 1908.  Yields are naturally low here due to old vines and 1995 was a drought year ( I guess what year isn’t in Oz) further reducing yields.  Most of this vineyards fruit goes into the Vat 1 bottling but they do bottle small amounts as a single vineyard feature when “all conditions are right”. Since 1995 they have not made this in ‘96, ‘00, ‘01 and ‘02.  The wine is vinified in stainless steel and does not see any oak.  I recommend decanting this one, it really needs time and air, plus the color will blow people away –  the rich buttery gold that someone recently described to me as what their pee looked like after a long night of drinking - TMI buddy.  On the nose it seduces you with lemon curd, butter toasted brioche, filberts, and a smoky stone core.  On the palate it transforms from the rich nose to a savory mineral laden and mouth watering explosion of porcini, roast white meat and clear acidity.  We had it with some seared foie gras on brioche with sherry vinegar roasted shallots — I want more……seek this out.

Check out this salad, which we prepared for our recent pairing demonstration at the annual Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival in Port Angeles. Read our post on pairing wine with this dish and try the exercise at home!

Dungeness crab salad with preserved lemon vinaigrette
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1# picked Dungeness crab meat
½ bunch parsley – leaves picked and left whole
2 shallots – minced
¼ bunch thyme – leaves picked and left whole
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for the vinaigrette
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½  of a preserved lemon – free of seeds but otherwise intact
1 tblsp Dijon mustard
½ shallot
½ C champagne vinegar
1 ½ C olive oil
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In a food processor add the lemon, mustard, shallot and vinegar. puree until smooth, about a minute. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil to emulsify, tasting along the way. the vinaigrette should be tangy, depending on your preserved lemon you might need to adjust the amount of oil. Season with salt and pepper.
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This salad is very simple and it’s focus is to highlight the sweet and briny crab meat while adding some contrasting fresh herbaceous flavors. The preserved lemon vinaigrette provides some savory zing and complexity.

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To  serve: mix the crab, herbs and shallots in a bowl and season with the vinaigrette. You can also add some delicate lettuces such as mâche or micro greens to make your crab crawl further.

We had the great pleasure recently of participating in the Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival in Port Angeles. I gave a presentation on pairing wine with Dungeness crab, which, I have to admit, was a lot more fun than I had initially anticipated. Frankly, I was a little nervous about pulling it off — not the pairing, but the actual mechanics of distributing dixie cups of wine and crab salad to a crowd perched on fold-up rental chairs while engaging the audience with my schpeal. Alas, with the help of Sarah Baxter-Cronauer and her husband, Paul, owners of Wine on the Waterfront, a killer wine bar right on the water in downtown Port Angeles, I pulled it off.

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Chris prepared a delicious crab salad (here’s the recipe) and some tasty mini crab cakes, and we came up with two good pairings and two not-so-good pairings. The point of the sucky pairings was to illustrate how food can ruin  perfectly good wine and vise versa. For the white pairings, we chose a beautiful riesling from the Nahe region of Germany and a Chardonnay from Carneros, an area that straddles Napa and Sonoma County. The riesling won this battle due to it’s bracing acidity. The Chardonnay, though well made, got lost in the crab salad, while the racy Riesling cut through the richness of the crab, contributing notes of yellow plum and candied lemon, both of which worked really nicely with the preserved lemon in the salad.

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The reds were trickier because tannin typically does not mix well with shellfish. Tannins tend to make shellfish taste metallic (don’t think of biting down on tin foil. Aww, you did, didn’t you?). The preparation of the crab in this instance ( the crab cakes were pan fried in oil) actually helped the pairing; frying the crab changes it’s chemical structure, makes it less . . . well, crabby. We chose two fruit-forward wines, one low in tannin (Beaujolais) and reletively high in acid, and one high in tannin (Auzie Shiraz) without much acid. Beaujolais wins!

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The other point of the pairings was to show off the quality of two wines that are still suffering their unsavory reputations in the American market. Though there is a Riesling renaissance in effect, particularly in New York State, Washington State and Oregon, too many Americans still associate German riesling with the nasty stuff that comes in a blue bottle. Americans prefer easy-to-read labels, and German labels typically ain’t easy to read (see below). For riesling fans like Chris and me, that’s not a problem; due to the lack of demand, we can still afford to drink some of the world’s greatest white wines.

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Beaujolais’ rep has been maligned by (among other historical occurances such as the Duke of Burgundy proclaiming Gamay noir unfit for human consumption) a party called Beaujolais Nouveau that it’s biggest producer and promoter, Georges Duboeuf, has flung across the planet. Don’t get me wrong, I love a party, and Beaujolais Nouveau is always a hell of a party, but it causes the unfortunate association of all Beaujolais with the simple, sometimes dreadful, stuff you gurgle on the third Thursday of every November. Beaujolais can, in fact, be quite serious, and can be marvelously appropriate at the dinner table; it’s low tannins, high acidity and, in the best cases, fresh, vibrant fruit give it great versatility. In the north of Beaujolais, there are ten vineyards, known as the cru, that sit on granitic soils and produce the best and most serious Gamay Noir. They are typically just slightly more expensive than regular ol’ Beaujolais, and are well worth the extra bucks. Look for these vineyards on the label: St. Amour, Julienas, Chenas, Moulin-a-Vent, Morgon, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Regnie, Brouilly and Cote de Brouilly.

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We are proud to report that most everyone enjoyed the pairings, and a few even appreciated the thumbs-down pairings more than the thumbs-up, which is precisely the point: you chose what works best for you, not us. We merely suggest what works best for us. Feel free to give ‘er a whirl at home — here are the wines and a link to the recipe:

2007 Hexamer Meddersheimer Rheingrafenberg Riesling Quarzit, Nahe, Germany

2007 Saintsbury Chardonnay Carneros, Napa, California

2007 Chateau Thivan Cote de Brouilly, Beajolais, France

2007 Rutherglen Red (Shiraz), Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia

We want to congratulate our co-founder, Chris Tanghe, on a very important recent achievement: Chris was awarded the prestigious Advanced Sommelier designation from the Court of Master Sommeliers in August of 2009!

The Green Pin

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The Advanced exam consists of three sections: blind tasting, service, and theory. It is famous for the difficulty of the questions asked and for the nerve-wracking situations candidates are subjected to; stories abound of many an eager candidate being filleted, grilled, poached, skewered, minced, macerated, and pickled by the Masters during the rigorous service portion of the exam. Oceans of sweat and tears have been shed while staring hopelessly at theory questions or sniffing away at a flight of stubborn, unyielding wines.  Chris managed to escape relatively un-scathed by maintaining his focus throughout all three sections.

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I personally attempted to grill, poach, skewer, etc., Chris in preparation for the exam, and while I have to admit that it was fun to watch him sweat a little, it was far more fulfilling to see him return from Chicago, where the exam was held, with a Green Pin on his lapel.

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Chris will keep the brow furrowed as he readies himself for the ridiculously difficult Master Sommelier exam. In the meantime, we raise our glasses to our freshly minted resident expert!

Lately I have had many a discussion with guests in the restaurant that I work for about searing.  “How in the world is this cooked?” they ask.  To which I reply - “Well duh! It’s pan roasted, can’t you see that golden skin that could only be the result of searing?!?”  I’ve only said this once and it was an outburst of my inner monologue to which my other more rational inner monologue replied – “Not everyone has gone to cooking school or spends hours geeking out about food and wine you jerk!”  It is these techniques that I take for granted from time to time and need to re-visit  and teach to others to really appreciate them again. So here goes….

Today I seared some king salmon for lunch and served it with a warm potato & corn salad that my better half made based on recipes from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” – a highly recommended book for any cook.  We watch his video blogs on the web every week; he’s super entertaining and has a very relaxed approach, but also practices great technique, which I admire.

The keys to a successful sear are few but important.
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1.Heat your oven to 375 or higher, the temperature is irrelevant but higher it is the smaller your margin for error in overcooking, so take it easy at the beginning.
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2. Next, you need a heavy bottomed sauté pan that is large enough to hold whatever protein you are searing.  Do not overcrowd the pan as this will hinder the sear due to excess moisture in the pan. The heavy bottom gives you consistent even heat and prevents hot spots and scorching.
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3. Use a high heat oil such as peanut or grapeseed, I’m a huge fan of peanut because I like the flavor.  Grapeseed will be pretty much flavorless.  Heat your pan over medium-high heat and then add your oil, enough to cover the bottom.  The oil should be smoking after about 10 seconds if your pan is hot enough.
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4. The next step is very important – take a paper towel and dry your protein.  This helps remove a lot of moisture that would prevent a good sear.  After drying make sure to liberally season with salt and/or pepper. Don’t be shy, a lot of it comes off during the cooking process.

5. Place the protein in the pan with the presenting side down, this being skin side down for skin-on fish or chicken, or the best looking side of whatever you are cooking. Be careful because the oil is HOT.  Let it cook on medium high for a minute and then turn it down to medium and let it go for a good 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness. Do not flip it. At this point throw it in the oven until it’s cooked to your liking. When you pull it out flip it and quickly sear the other side for 15 seconds or so just to finish the cooking and kill any bacteria that may be there.  Pull out of the pan and let rest, finish with sea salt and serve!

I have “borrowed” this recipe from one of my favorite local restaurants, Spinasse. Located at 14th and Pine, it is 2 blocks from my house and way too easy to go there multiple times a month.  Opened about a year ago by the talented Justin Niedermeyer, the cuisine is all about Piemontese classic dishes from vitello tonnato to crudo to roasted goat…..and then to pasta.  The pasta is sublime, the gnocchi in brodo (broth) is ridiculously good, simple but so well crafted you feel like you could eat a portion twice the size and not think twice. I could wax poetic about this place but there is a great blog post that you can find here.

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A couple of visits ago we had roasted cauliflower that blew my mind and since we seem to make this at my house about once a week.  We ordered it thinking that it was going to come like any other roasted vegetable, cut into florets and roasted with olive oil/butter, salt and pepper. When it came to the table we were surprised by a quarter of a head of cauliflower that appeared to be either extremely well carmelized or perhaps burned to a crisp on the two cut sides. Knowing that Justin and his crew wouldn’t send out burned food we dug in with enthusiasm. The outside is crunchy and sweet with a perfectly cooked interior, soft but still with a little tooth to it.  I asked my favorite bartender Michelle how this was made because I wanted to eat it everyday for the rest of my days and she simply laughed and said “You tell me, Mr. C.I.A.!”. After a moment looking dumbfounded it came to me - “Cast Iron!” - whew, all that schooling did pay off.

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So here is the process.  Heat your well-seasoned cast iron over medium heat. In the meantime, quarter your cauliflower and season liberally, making sure salt gets into the innards of the quartered piece. Add some high heat oil to the pan such as peanut or grapeseed. Place the cauliflower cut side down and sear for 15ish minutes until well carmelized, it will look almost burned. Flip onto other side and repeat. By the time the second side is done the inside will be perfectly cooked.  Finish with a drizzle of delicious olive oil.

Everyone learns at their own pace, and inevitably, everyone shocks the hell out of us with the specificity and acuteness of their observations.

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One of the core reasons for the existence of Élevage is to educate the public about wine. We do this directly through our Cellar Management program, Tastings and Wine Dinners, and indirectly by developing Wine Program Design for restaurants and retail shops, through which we offer staff education. The goal is to give people in the trade a solid foundation from which they can not only advance their own palates, but also give acurate and meaningful advice to their clients.

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People come to us for training at various levels of expertise. It is the people who are most willing to speak up who find a “voice” for their palate sooner than others. People will often use experiences from their lives to describe the wine they are tasting, which can be both illuminating and, frankly, utterly mystifying!

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We recently did a training session on the Loire Valley of France.  One taster’s impressions of a Chenin Blanc from Vouvray included a description of the lipstick of a woman he dated in the ’70’s (!). Another taster said it reminded her of the smell of her cat coming in from the rain. The other tasters snickered a little at both comments, and while we let the lipstick reference slip away, both Chris and I pounced on the “wet cat”; the thing is, classic Chenin Blanc often does have a musty aroma that many tasters describe as “wet wool”. While Chenin can be very floral, which may have been what the taster was associating with lipstick, it typically doesn’t have the pungent chemical aroma of lipstick.

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Does that necessarily invalidate lipstick as a tasting descriptor? What if that 1970’s lipstick smelled just like fresh spring flowers? While that may well be the case, it won’t be everyone’s impression of what lipstick smells (or tastes) like, especially considering the array of “flavors” with which lipsticks are marketed. On the other hand, wet cats typically come in one aroma: musty fur.

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Winespeak should never come off as fancy or snobby, but should give an impression of the wine’s character that most everyone can understand. We don’t necessarily push tasters to describe a Chenin Blanc as having aromas “reminsiscent of my cat coming in from the rain” to their clients, but it would be bad business to sell a musty, mineral-driven Chenin to someone who is looking for a wine that is all about the fruit. Similarly, it is a great feeling to be able to acurately describe Loire Valley Chenin Blanc to a guest that had visited the Loire Valley on a trip to France and had this marvelous white that they, understandably, can’t quite put a finger on, though maybe they can describe the damp cellar that they were in when they tasted it.

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We try to give people in the trade a means of communicating with the wine drinking world. It’s an elemental part of selling people exactly what they are looking for.