The perfect match: chefs turn the tables on traditional rules regarding food, wine pairings

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 6, 2003 by Alan J. Liddle

Creating wine-friendly food is a goal shared by many chefs, but few culinarians sweat the details of that endeavor as do the top toques at some of America's winery restaurants.

"If I make food that doesn't go with wine, I'm in trouble," quips Kimball Jones, corporate chef for multiwinery Wente Family Estates and that company's Wente Vineyards Restaurant in Livermore, Calif.

Along with Wente president Carolyn Wente, Jones co-authored the new Ten Speed Press cookbook on wine-friendly foods, "The Casual Vineyard Table," and the earlier "Sharing the Vineyard Table."

Jones says "too much emphasis" has been placed on pairing certain kinds of wines and foods, such as white wine with fish. Thumbing his nose at such conventions, he describes a plate of seared salmon on cauliflower-leak puree with a drizzle of basil oil that "I love with Pinot Noir."

According to Jones, "my goal with any dish is to balance flavors. If I can do that, I can serve it with almost any wine."

Keep in mind, the chef says, that the alcohol and tannins in wine are accentuated by food components and flavors that are sweet or "umami." Umami is described by some as the so-called "fifth taste" detected by the human taste buds, along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Sweet and umami flavors also tend to flatten the fruitiness of wines, he adds.

"On the opposite side of the coin, salty and acidic foods make wines taste less alcoholic and less tannic," Jones says.

Turning on its head the popular notion that red meat dishes always should be paired with red wines, Jones says he recently paired an upscale burger with a fruity, stainless-steel-aged Chardonnay to great success. He recounts that the burger meat was laced with diced portobello mushrooms sauteed with garlic and balsamic vinegar and that it was topped with caramelized onions cooked down with red wine and a slice of heirloom tomato.

"People too often think that only one kind of wine will work with a dish," says Debra Whiting, chef and co-owner of Red Newt Cellars, Winery and Bistro in Hector, N.Y. She maintains that with some careful flavor engineering foods can work well with multiple wines.

Among such two-way foods, Whiting says, is a focaccia with roasted garlic-cream sauce, artichoke hearts, apricots, pine nuts, spinach and manchego cheese. "That works with Riesling nicely and goes great with Pinot Noir," she reports, pointing out that the fruitiness of the apricots is a good match for that quality in the white wine, while the earthiness of the garlic, roasted nuts and cheese are compatible with the red.

To balance the vinegars that are a part of many of her wine-suitable salad dressings, including peach vinaigrette, Whiting says she almost always uses a sweetener, such as honey. But she indicates that she also uses the naturally high sugar content of some ingredients, such as beets, to achieve that end.

The chef says her pureed roasted-beet vinaigrette with red wine, red wine vinegar and honey pairs well with mixed local greens, chevre and warm, sliced duck breast.

Eric Torralba, executive chef of The Restaurant at Domaine Chandon, in Yountville, Calif., says sparkling wines, such as his company's signature products, are easy to cook around. "They have great acidity that refreshes the palate" and enables them to "work well" with "salty, creamy, oily and even spicy dishes," he observes.

Domaine Chandon's menu master says he uses citrus-or vinegar-based dressings on salads when a classic brut is being poured and considers the pairing of creamy foie gras and sparkling rose one worth toasting. His fois gras repertoire includes orange pappardelle with seared fois gras and terrine of eggplant, foie gras and morel with butternut squash gelato.

Torralba says he likes to prepare dishes "with no more than three primary flavors matched to the characters of the [targeted] wine." With that approach he turns out the likes of roasted rack of lamb with a Pinot Noir-fig jam, which he says pairs well with Pinot Noir, and a trio of tempura prawns with mango chutney that is better with bubbly.

Though many chefs cook with wine to make foods and wines compatible, moderation is important, suggests Joseph Truex, executive chef of Chateau Elan Winery and Resort in Braselton, Ga.

"I try to stay away from heavy wine sauces and marinades," notes Truex, who oversees six full-service restaurants. "These elements often interfere and cloud the experience of the wines they are matched with."

The Georgia chef says the winery-resort's Versailles restaurant serves an herb-crusted rack of lamb with baby beets and Roquefort bread pudding that stands up well to "big" Cabernet Sauvignons. And, he adds, Viogner "is a great match" with paupiettes of Dover sole with crab, as served in Le Clos, Chateau Elan's fixed-course, fine-dining venue.

Though wine consumption is more prevalent at high-end establishments, wine-friendly foods are sought elsewhere.

Chef Frank Ostini of the Hitching Post II restaurant in Buellton, Calif., where the average check is about $32, has an extraordinary interest in making foods that pair well with wine. Not only does he own and operate the acclaimed casual-dining spot, but also he and partner Gary Hartley annually produce about 4,500 cases of Hartley-Ostini Hitching Post Pinot Noir and other varietal wines. A good deal of their wine is sold at the restaurant.