Sancerre and Marlborough minerality... Yes, minerality!

I work for a winery in Marlborough - New Zealand called Clos Henri Vineyard, that's owned by a French producer from Sancerre called Domaine Henri Bourgeois. Few days ago, was organised a wine diner in a restaurant of Christchurch (South Island of NZ) of the name of St Germain - www.st-germain.co.nz . The menu was matched to our wines, and each dish was paired with a sauvignon blanc from Sancerre and one from Marlborough, from both wineries indeed. And i was talking to the restaurant customers about the wine, explaining the story of the wineries as well as each wine specificities. And i have been so enthused all along the way, both by the wine and food match and by the wines. It is the kind of event that i do on a regular basis, and it is always such a pleasure and surprise to have your own wine specifically matched by great chefs.

It actually started with a veloute of asparagus with a basil and parsley oil matched with the Petit Clos sauvignon (which are the young vines of the estate, aged on fine lees for 10 months). The textures of the veloute, quite smooth and creamy and the soft and rounded sauvignon were really matching well, added to the fact that the asparagus (which isn't an aromas found in this wine) was balancing the Petit Clos to make it somehow a bit more spicy and kind of 'meaty' (actual word in fact of my neighbour table, that i thought very appropriate) - a delight!

The most incredible was actually served on a monkfish on a bed of lentils. The match was undoubtedly good. The wines were however just showing wonderfully. On the nose, i would never have been able to tell which sauvignon was from Sancerre, and in the mouth it wasn't that obvious either, as the Monts Damnes from Sancerre was very masculin and somehow tight but still showing fruit ripness and expression from good sun exposure slopes, whereas the Clos Henri was very feminin and floral and nicely fresh. The expression of minerality in both wines was outstanding, and something i wish everyone could experience.

Malrborough has such a beautiful potential, such a terroir.... i hope from the bottom of my heart that the viticulturists and winemakers of Marlborough will one day Love their sauvignon blanc! As when it happens - and Clos Henri isn't the only winery in this case - the results are truly meant to be shared, meant to be shown with pride.
www.closhenri.com
www.henribourgeois.com

Fish and wine trial matches...

I've 'cooked' some hapuku fish yesterday with the idea of trying it in its raw flavour and try to find wine matches with different varieties. So I simply steamed the hapuku.

Well after trying the oaked chardonnay, which was too rich and round and with too loud aromas not matching the freshness of the fish, i tried some unoaked chardonnay. Rather more interesting of course, nice acidity and citrus aromas were this time accompanying the fish. Sauvignon blanc was a nice match too, but i must say it was a quite restrained style, not the fruit focused NZ sauvignon type, so the minerality was going pretty well with the fish. Little trial this time, i had only these 3 bottles under my hands.

Well, after finishing my little experience, i just stopped and decided to have a simple beer, just a classic lager (i know!...). ... Best match!... I was just finishing my last bite of hapuku, and I started my beer. Freshness of the beer, fresh aromas, something quite nice actually revealed the iodine of the fish and combined to enhance a nice sort of smokey flavour. But no more fish to try that again... Damn!

Another great surprise! But now i can't wait to try again, and this time i'll add spices to the fish - still steamed but with the objective to check on spices as well. And beer will be in the game! Step by step in the experiences, I add flavours and then textures, and then both. It is a game of patience indeed, but every step teaches something new. More results to come...

Wine ... Food, a love I nurture

Haven't been writing for a while on this blog... Thinking about it, i believe that i haven't had much fantastic wine experience this year in fact. Sad, indeed! Again, if i look deep in my memory, only food memories come up...

I actually had my best food experience so far in a restaurant in San Francisco US. it was fantastic from the beginning to the end, i promised myself i would write an email to the chef, but didn't... Anyway, fresh seafood, like you dream of! first experience of sea urchin, simply cooked, with few alguas, a drop of mayonnaise (sounds very basic, but no it was not!) - yes, mayonnaise sounds weird, but it was quite amazing. First, the urchin was extra fresh, the iodine of the urchin was very present, the mayonnaise was just bringing that touch of sweetness and great balance to the whole. then i had a bouillabaisse, when i saw it coming, came also disappointment because it was not at all the traditional french dish i was expecting. But finally, absolutely no regret - i must also say that the waiter told me in advance it wouldn't be the french thing - again the fish and seafood were so perfectly cooked and the flavours simple ans sophisticated at the same time. The clams were not quite crunchy, not quite too cooked, they were tender and had kept all their flavours, and so were the schrimps, and the fish. the whole secret of that whole meal was in the freshness of the seafood, and the respect of the original flavours of each of the seafood/fish and this by cooking every piece in perfect timing. It was also fantastic because all the dishes were outstanding, not only one thing, but the whole food experience! Gosh, i wish this restaurant was down my road! www.swellsf.com

What else, great herring in Belgium... it doesn't sound very appealing, but the flavours were this time around very strong and delicate at the same time. fresh herring with white wine, fresh onions and herbs, lemon. The herring was actually raw or more precisely soaked in a brine, nice balance between the strength of the flavours, the acidity of the wine and lemon - the onions were nicely bringing zing and opposite crunchy texture to the quite fat herring. Quite a delicate fish in fact - but still, it was lucky i didn't have anyone to kiss afterwards!

Aah, and there was also the bugtail in Brisbane Australia, to die for. Bugtail is apparently the speciality of Queensland, it is a kind of freshwater lobster or crayfish. So the bugtail was cooked in a pan with garlic, and it came on a freshly made ravioli of spinach and ricotta, on a creamy broth with peas. Amazing combination of delicate flavours, none overwhelming the other, and the combination of textures...! The soft of the ravioli pasta, the tender although firm of the bugtail really did work well together. The filling of the ravioli was quite small actually, and that was good because it delievered the texture of the pasta perfectly and just added few more flavours to enjoy, but the soft thin pasta was the centre point gathering all the other elements.

I have a good memory of Wine & Food match... In Sancerre France, i tried for the first time a Reuilly AOC, which is made out of sauvignon blanc. i thought, all right, nice savvy, i had a good goat cheese salad, and was forced to have dessert (work lunch, i had to be polite and nicely accompany my guests). I first ordered an apple tart, but there was none left, so my choice went to creme brulee, but there was only liquorice creme brulee. So there it was, i had a liquorice creme brulee with a glass of Reuilly sauvignon blanc. Amazing! Once again, on its own, both the creme and the wine were good, but you wouldn't lose your sleep on it. But together, a complete harmony! The minerality of the sauvignon and the citrus flavours were totally completing the liquorice flavours, and the difference between the onctuous creme brulee and the zingy sauvignon was just not clashing at all! The liquorice was actually lifting the creme brulee to the freshness of the wine. I should try this with NZ sauvignon and see if it works... good thing with the Reuilly was that it doesn't have too much fruit, but more minerality and floral aromas, so it's more on the gentle side of sauvignon, compared to a Sancerre on flint that would be more strict, or an NZ that would be more explosive. Anyway, it's worth trying!

There are other moments i enjoyed wine or food this year, but specifically for the moments or company, not particularly the wine in itself or the food for itself. More about why i didn't write at all about wine this year later on...

W&F match - Spices experimentations, new track

I try here and there different W&F matches. One of the last ones that got my attention:
A dish with cumin (lamb) with a glass of 2006 sauvignon blanc from Marlborough. Obviously one of the sauvignon from that region that can gracefully age, nice minerality, but good round and weighty mid palate, with a slight sweetness most certainly enhanced by the roundness. Going quite well with the cumin, more than the lamb in itself actually. The sweetness was almost not perceptible when drunk on its own, but once matched, that's where it was revealed. Interesting. In terms of minerality, it was matchiong quite well, as it was not the fresh flinty minerality but more the warmer type (like chalk), therefore accompanying the cumin flavour rather than making a sharp distinction.

Maybe that is one of the new tracks i have to follow - matching spices with wines. Maybe they would somehow play the role of aromas in a wine, when the tannic structure, the acidity and the alcohol would have to be paired with textures, acidity of your dish.
Just random thinking, but i'll pay a specific attention to 'studying' that.

If you have some special experimentation on the way, or interesting W&F match experience, post them so we can share! We never learn better than when we can compare and talk.

The magic of wine & food matching

Have you ever experienced that perfect wine & food match? You've most certainly heard about it, and might even have doubt about the magic of it. Well, I was thinking exactly the same - right, red goes with meat, white with fish, light red on a salmon, tannic red on a game, try white wine with cheese, but red with a camembert, dessert wine on a blue etc. commun statements of wine & food matching (let's agree on the short W&F M). Never really convinced about the caracteres that could make it such a special thing. I also had in mind the fact that i needed great food and great wine, to achieve a perfect W&F M.

All wrong! I understood it that day, a day like any other day, when i had that wonderful surprise. The perfect W&F M. I was in a little cafe, nothing fancy about it, and i ordered a mud cake. As good as a mud cake can be, this chocolate cake from that little place had absolutely nothing special about it. To accompany it, i had a syrah, syrah from NZ not even from the region where i was or from a region known for its syrah - a simple syrah from Nelson, good, well made but nothing fancy about it, not the kind you would remember. However, i had a piece of that cake, and then a sip of that syrah... simply magic.
The length of flavours of the cake was melting with the mid palate of the syrah, and then the length of the syrah or end of mouth, melting with the mid palate of the cake, and one was calling for the other. And i could just not stop going from the cake to the wine to the cake to the wine, until both my plate and my glass were empty.
Flavours and aromas was just perfectly matching, the slight spices in the cake (cinnamon) and the spice of the syrah (pepper) were completing each other, the flavours were completing each other, chocolate on one side and cherries on the other side were meeting and joigning forces, the texture of the cake was helped by the sligt acidity and the soft although present tannic structure of the syrah, and finally the length of both were playing with each other calling for an 'encore'. Nothing was too much, nothing not enough. And the most surprising: the perfect match came from two absolutely commun products. Nothing wonderful about them when tasted on their own, but together it was a the perfect combination - a new ONE coming from two ones.

It is that experience that i want to live again and profoundly want to understand. In cooking, the idea is the same: take 2 products, as not noble as they can be, and combine them. If they flavour wise go together, if they are cooked to match their texture and their length in mouth... you obtain this magic combination. Molecular gastronomy explains you that in cooking. There is a way to explain it in wine and food matching, more cartesian that a simple description as done above. I'm not looking for a table of unbreakable rules, i'm looking for basic principles that will make people live that moment I've lived. The kind of moment that makes you forget time and space, and makes you feel excited and peaceful at the same time. Sounds crazy i know.