Another one one Wine trends

Chemistry-set wine pairing

BEPPI CROSARIOL | Columnist profile | E-mail

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009 9:50AM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 6:11PM EDT

First there was molecular gastronomy, the chemistry-set cooking movement that gave us parmesan foam, fruit-juice “caviar” and Rice Krispies paella.

Now, thanks to a Quebec sommelier, there's molecular wine pairing, a hard-core, science-based approach to matching grub and grape.

Having roast lamb? Don't waste it on an ill-advised red Bordeaux, the old standby trotted out by generations of sommeliers. Lamb's characteristic flavour comes from thymol, an aromatic compound found in the oil of, yes, thyme. It's also a flavour note associated with red wines from the southern Languedoc region of France, such as Minervois, Corbières or St. Chinian.

“If you have aromatic molecules from the same family, when they come together, it's greater than the sum of its parts,” says François Chartier, whose new book, Papilles et molécules (Tastebuds and Molecules), is in its second printing just six weeks after publication.

If Catalan superchef Ferran Adrià is the leading missionary of molecular gastronomy, Mr. Chartier is his counterpart with a corkscrew. In fact, Mr. Adrià has several times invited the sommelier to his restaurant El Bulli, where Mr. Chartier helps suggest new flavour combinations for the menu, such as cauliflower with papaya. The Spaniard also co-wrote, with partner Juli Soler, the book's foreword, lauding it as “a paramount work, the foundation stone, the first step into a new world that is now open wide in all its splendour to those who love gastronomy.”

Papilles et mol écules reassuringly affirms such classic matches as oysters with muscadet and sauternes with foie gras. But it also boldly goes where few earnest wine snobs have gone before, touting scores of far-out pairings that might garner red-pencil marks in a sommelier exam.

One example: dishes flavoured with the Mediterranean herb rosemary and the white wines of France's northern Alsace region.

“When I started research on rosemary, I discovered five or six compounds which are related to the family called terpenes,” Mr. Chartier told me over the phone from his home in Sainte-Adèle, about an hour from Montreal. “These are found in moscato, riesling and gewurztraminer, yet those grapes don't grow on the Mediterranean shore. They grow in Alsace. And rosemary doesn't grow in Alsace. Each time I tried it, the matching was fabulous, especially with riesling.” For the record, terpenes are hydrocarbon molecules generally associated with coniferous plants and also can impart a pine-like aroma to riesling.

Another surprising discovery was oak-aged wines with pork. Usually, experts suggest non-oaked, fruit-forward wines to go with pork. This is based on the observation that pork often is served with fruit accompaniments such as apricots, plums or even pineapple. Oak aging tends to tone down a wine's fruit character, imparting notes of toastiness, vanilla and even a butterscotch character.

Mr. Chartier's scientific reasoning, however, takes note of the fact that pork contains lactones, aromatic compounds that give aroma to apricots but which also are imparted by oak-barrel aging.

Perhaps Mr. Chartier's most controversial recommendation is high-alcohol wines with spicy foods. Conventional thinking in wine-nerd circles has long been that alcohol fuels the fire. But Mr. Chartier says it's simply not true. For what it's worth, I think he's right; try spicy Thai dishes with high-alcohol gewurztraminer from Alsace or red zinfandel from California and be amazed by the synergy.

In fact, two of the worst partners for hot food are beverages many people instinctively reach for in Thai restaurants: light white wines and beer. “It's completely crazy,” Mr. Chartier says. In the case of beer, “the CO{-2} will make the burn more hot. It's like putting oil on fire. You need something full-bodied and preferably sweet instead.”

My favourite Chartier suggestions are pairings I happened to discover independently through empirical testing long ago, and have championed for years: Indian curries with viognier, and chili-spiced foods such as Buffalo wings with Niagara baco noir.

Though Mr. Chartier, 44, has been a sommelier for 20 years, his interest in food chemistry was sparked by health concerns. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the mid-1990s, he hit a low point in 2001. Seizing on an MS diet championed by the late physician Roy Swank, he gradually nursed himself back to health.

In the process, he befriended cancer researcher Richard Béliveau of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Dr. Béliveau, an expert in the healing powers of plant compounds and author of the bestseller Foods that Fight Cancer , is also a wine lover. He encouraged Mr. Chartier to study possible aromatic-molecule links between plants and wine. “These molecules biologically are self-defence mechanisms of plants, because plants don't have legs to run away from danger,” Dr. Béliveau says. “They therefore represent the flavour signature of the plant.”

Only recently have we begun to understand the chemical origin of those flavours, he adds.

With access to aromatic-molecule research compiled by Dr. Béliveau and scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Mr. Chartier began to map out what he calls bridge ingredients that could be added to meats, fish or vegetables or used in sauces to create harmony with specific wines. Mint, for example, has dominant flavour compounds that are shared with parsley, fennel and tarragon. So he began to theorize that a wine that goes well with mint, specifically a sauvignon blanc, should pair well with dishes based on those other ingredients.

Dr. Béliveau calls it a “rational approach to epicureanism.”

Martin Loignon, a senior scientist in Montreal with PerkinElmer, a large environmental-sciences company, also helped Mr. Chartier and applauds his initiative. “Very few chefs have a scientific background,” Dr. Loignon says. “The information was out there, but what François did was bring it together and make the link. This is what scientists do, they make the links. He's got this sense of observation that is essential to any scientist.”

If it all sounds a little too pretentious or academic for a subject as visceral and hedonistic as eating, Mr. Chartier counters that applying science to your choice of wine is no different than carefully selecting foods for cooking. Why take the trouble to prepare a meal with complementary flavours and serve the dish with a jarring beverage? “It's like cooking with bad ingredients,” he says.

FRIENDLY FLAVOURS

Foods infused with the following ingredients tend to pair well with the corresponding wines and liquors. Cinnamon Pinot noir, grenache, ice cider, oloroso sherry

Chili peppers Sake, viognier, German riesling (spätlese & auslese), Tavel rosé, zinfandel, baco noir, ripasso Ginger Gewurztraminer, French or Spanish grenache, Alsatian pinot gris, New World cabernet sauvignon

Maple syrup Sake nigori, amber or dark beer, tawny port, dark rum, bourbon, kirsch, amaretto

Mint/basil/fennel/parsley Sauvignon blanc, verdejo (Rueda)

Rosemary Alsatian whites such as riesling or muscat, Spanish albarino, fino sherry

Saffron Riesling, fino sherry, rosé win

Food & Wine Paring

Food and wine pairings, the next generation

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 4:52PM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010 5:30PM EDT

Bloomy cheeses (such as Camembert, Brie or Époisses) Conventional pairing: red Burgundy. New pairing: oak-aged chardonnay from the New World. Reason: Diacetyl, found in the cheese, helps give butter and cheese its flavour, and oaky chardonnays taste buttery.

Blue cheeses (such as Stilton)

Conventional pairing: vintage port. New pairings: Sauternes, late-harvest gewurztraminer, fino or manzanilla sherry, or New World oaky chardonnay. Reason: a host of aromatic molecules and fatty acids that resonate with the wines. Port remains a good alternative, but try a relatively young, 15-year-old vintage.

Roast pork

Conventional pairing: light-bodied red. New pairing: white wine aged on its lees (yeast sediment left over from fermentation), such as a roussanne from southern France, or an oak-aged white, such as a full-bodied California chardonnay. Reason: Pork is rich in lactones and so are the wines.

Braised beef

Conventional pairings: Barolo (a tannic, high-acid red from Italy) or, in the case of boeuf bourguignon, red Burgundy, which usually is light- or medium-bodied. New pairing: rich, voluptuous reds, such as grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blends from Australia, or an Italian Amarone. Reason: The wines’ velvety texture will harmonize with the rich, saucy meat.

Lamb

Conventional pairing: cabernet sauvignon. New pairing: grenache-syrah-mourvèdre blends from the Languedoc-Roussillon or Rhône Valley regions of southern France. Reason: Lamb shares aromatic compounds found in thyme; many southern French reds display notes of herbs. If the lamb is cooked with rosemary, try riesling; the pine-scented herb and wine both contain terpenes.

Sushi

Conventional pairing: sake. New pairing: semi-sweet riesling, such as a spatlese from Germany. Reason: “Sushi is complex,” Mr. Chartier said. “There are a lot of different things in a sushi dinner – pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce. The best wine to manage all of that is a sweet wine, but not too sweet.” Alternative: wheat beer.

Smoked salmon

Conventional pairings: Champagne or whisky. New pairing: oak-aged whites, especially oloroso or amontillado sherry. Reason: Smoked fish develops aromatic compounds found in charred wood barrels.

Curries

Conventional pairing (at least in Britain): lager. New pairing: aged white wine, such as a vin jaune from the Jura region of France or a Sauternes from Bordeaux or tokay from Hungary. As whites age in bottle (after, say, five years), they begin to develop the flavour of sotolon, a highly aromatic compound found in curry.

Spicy food (such as Thai)

Conventional pairing: beer or cold water. New pairing: sweet or high-alcohol whites, such as California viognier or medium-sweet riesling. Reason: Carbonation fuels the fire, while sugar and alcohol (though ideally not over 14.5 per cent) will tame it. “You can’t drink water, you cannot drink an acidic beverage, you cannot drink carbonated beverages,” Mr. Chartier said. Alternative: sweet Nigori sake.

Pizza

Conventional pairing: Italian red such as Chianti. New pairing: Depends on the toppings, but if you like green peppers, a cabernet franc such as a Chinon or Bourgueil from France’s Loire Valley. Reason: The bell pepper and the wine are high in herbal compounds known as pyrazines
.

What’s Hot Today- Wine and Spicy Food

What’s Hot Today- Wine and Spicy Food

By Steven Kolpan



In the old days of wine and food pairing, the choice of a particular wine to accompany a particular dish was fairly predictable—white wine with fish, red wine with meat. The pairings were also Eurocentric, meaning that the marriage of food and wine was largely based on the classics. French wines, or wines made from the classic French grape varietals, were paired with dishes that featured the four mother sauces of Carême—Béchamel, Espagnole, Velouté, or Allemande, or their derivatives developed later by Escoffier—tomato, butter, and emulsified sauces as well as Mornay, Bordelaise, and others. In fact, back in the day, the job of a sommelier was pretty easy— taste the sauces in the kitchen and pair the wine in the dining room.



Many of the wine and food matches derived from the classic European approach have withstood the test of time, and the pairings continue to make for a satisfying dining experience. But today’s chefs are creating dishes that are lighter than the classics, and, perhaps more important, are cooking in the context of a global village. No longer content to focus solely on the traditions of Carême and Escoffier, chefs are looking and traveling all over the world for inspiration. Today’s wine service professionals need to follow their lead, catch that inspiration, and pair exciting wines with creative dishes that are either true to, or based on the spirit of, foods from the Mediterranean, Asia, Central and South America, and other places in the world with a dynamic food culture.



One of the most compelling trends in today’s restaurants is the sea change in the palate of both chefs and guests. Spicy food, from a reasonably mild mole of Mexico to a fiery hot chili sauce of China, has taken center stage in many restaurants, and customers are “eating it up.” Spicy foods add visceral excitement to dining, and cry out for a beverage that will cool down the heat while simultaneously highlighting background flavors and textures. In the not-too-distant past, beer was the go-to drink for heat and spice, and most of the time a cold beer will chill the chilies without offending the rest of the dish. Clearly, beer is a simple solution. Beer is also a cultural talisman, as many spicy-food cultures— India, China, and Mexico for example—have been closely identified with producing craft beers as well as national brands.



The world is changing. Practically overnight, China has become the sixth largest wine-producing nation in the world, and India is coming on strong. Mexico has a small but active wine industry. Still, we don’t drink much wine from these countries; at least not yet. While chefs and restaurateurs want to offer great food and wine pairings with spicy dishes, creating the ideal marriage of wine and spice can be challenging, testing the palates and creativity of chefs and wine professionals. But the results can be sublime.



Breaking the Rules

I am a great believer in rules, except when it comes to food and wine pairing. Unlike many of my fellow wine professionals, I believe that:



• Wine is a food that just happens to be in a glass.



• Just as anyone can choose anything he/she wants to eat, the same person should be able to choose anything that he/she wants to drink.



• Although I believe in absolute freedom where wine and food are concerned, there are some helpful guidelines that may lead us to highly successful wine and food pairings.



Where spicy food is concerned, I can’t emphasize enough that the traditional “rules” should be trashed, while attention must still be paid to some pretty simple guidelines.





In general, when pairing food and wine the intensity of the food and the intensity of the wine should be nearly equivalent—meet power with power. Light dishes with light-bodied wines, red meats and rich sauces with reds. When it comes to spicy food, forget that. A Thai beef salad, redolent of fresh lime juice and chilies, is not going to work with most red wines, even though the protein in the dish is beef. Think of the rare beef as a condiment to the salad—a lovely, rich texture, but with the sweet/sour lime juice and the spice of the chilies as the “center of the plate.” Did someone say “off-dry Riesling” or “Cava,” that great affordable sparkling wine from the Catalan region of Spain? Congratulations! You “get” it.



The fiery spice of chilies or other spice-laden ingredients can be a problem for many wines because of relatively high levels of alcohol in the wine, the tannins in red wines and oak-driven whites, and the relatively low acidity in popular wines from warm climates.



Alcohol

Every sip of wine, every bite of food amplifies both the alcohol in the wine and the heat of the dish. So unless your restaurant patron likes to sweat while eating, high alcohol does not work with spicy food.



Tannins

The astringent, near-bitter elements of wine make the heat of the dish “pop,” while overwhelming every delicate nuance of flavor and texture in that dish.



Acidity

Low levels of acidity don’t refresh or cleanse the palate of heat and spice, and don’t encourage another bite of food or another sip of wine.



Let’s look at a semi-dry Riesling from the Mosel region of Germany, the Columbia Valley of Washington State, or the Finger Lakes Region of New York paired with that Thai beef salad. The very slight sweetness in this relatively low-alcohol wine actually will neutralize some of the heat of the chilies, making for a milder palate sensation. And the high acidity of a Riesling wine from a cool climate will refresh and “scrape” the heat from the palate, while matching the refreshing sweet/sour flavors of the fresh lime juice. The beauty of this pairing is that the rare beef stands out as a silky, sexy texture, but because it is a small, thinly sliced portion bathed in spice and lime, its power is ameliorated by its condiments. With the Riesling, the spicy beef becomes an earthy but delicate component of the dish, contrasting with the citrus of the lime juice and the refreshing acidity of the wine.



If we pair the same dish with a sparkling Spanish Cava; a Prosecco from Veneto, Italy; a Sekt from Germany; an extra-dry Champagne; or a Blanc de Blancs méthode champenoise bubbly from California, all of the Riesling-Thai beef salad interactions occur, plus one big contrasting interaction. The bubbles in the wine, coupled with fruit and acidity, really cleanse the palate efficiently, cooling off the heat, matching the acidity of the lime, and creating a bit of an instant marinade for the beef, rendering it richer and smoother as a background texture to the dish.



Contrast Not Complement

The key to pairing spicy food with wine is to create a contrasting relationship between the two flavor elements, not a complement. Fruity and/or off-dry white wines, a bubbly, or a dry to semi-dry still or sparkling rosé are the ideal choices for pairing with spicy food. Light fruit-driven reds, such as Beaujolais or Valpolicella, as well as lighter Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Zinfandel can work well with moderately spicy food, especially if you chill the wines for about a half hour before service to bring out their essential fruit. It would be a mistake to pair a spicy dish with an oaky Chardonnay. The oak and alcohol would fight the heat. A robust red, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah, would end up tasting bitter because of the tannins. Instead, try a Sauvignon Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay (Chablis is the benchmark of this style), a White Zinfandel, or a chilled Fleurie from the Beaujolais region of France.



Hot Recommendations

Whether you’re serving spicy dishes from the Americas, Asia, the Mediterranean, or beyond, here are some wines that will almost always create a slam-dunk marriage with spicy food. Experiment with these and inevitably you will find a union that will lead to a lifelong and happy marriage in the glass and on the plate.



White Wines



Riesling: Dry to semi-dry wines from the Mosel region of Germany, the Columbia Valley of Washington State, or the Finger Lakes of New York State



Chenin Blanc: Vouvray or Saumur from the Loire Valley of France, and varietal Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch, South Africa or Nasik, India



Sauvignon Blanc: New World Sauvignon Blanc with its “fruit salad in a glass” flavors, shines in wines from Marlborough, New Zealand, as well as wines from California and South Africa. Sauvignon Blanc from Chile is getting better and better and is a great and economical choice for a wine by the glass.



Gewürztraminer: “Gewürz” means spicy in German, so if you want to enhance the spice in a moderately spicy dish, choose this wonderful varietal, traditionally from Alsace, France, and bone dry. Off-dry to semi-sweet versions of the wine, actually more appropriate with a heavier dose of spice, are coming from California and Washington State.



Chardonnay: Avoid oak-and-alcohol bombs at all costs, but do choose unoaked, lighter examples of this wine from Chablis in Burgundy, France, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and California.



Viognier: The ancestral home for this grape is the Rhône Valley of France, but those wines tend to be a bit full and perhaps too dry for spicy food. Look for simpler hazelnut and stone-fruit-laden Viognier wines from California or Australia.



Vinho Verde: This fruit-driven, off-dry, ultra-light-bodied, highly affordable white from Minho, Portugal is the ideal foil for seriously spicy food.



Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio: Pinot Gris from Alsace might be too powerful with spicy food while the fruity, nutty Pinot Gris from Oregon is ideal. Don’t forget the easy drinking Pinot Grigio from Northeast Italy—it’s terrific.



Torrontes:While everyone knows about Malbec from Argentina, its signature white grape is still something of a secret. Floral, perfumed, fresh-and-fruity Torrontes is a wonderful match with spicy seafood dishes.



Rueda: Named for its denominación in Spain, Rueda produces only white wines, featuring the fruity, juicy Verdejo grape. That juiciness is what makes Rueda wines perfect with hot and spicy dishes.



Moschofilero: Greece’s answer to Riesling, Moschofilero—from the Mantinia wine region of the island of Peloponnese—is a wine that will cool even the spiciest dishes, providing just a bit of charming fruit to the mix.



Sparkling Wines

Just about any good sparkling wine from a cool climate— the lighter and fruitier the better—will work well with heat and spice. Try Cava from Spain or Prosecco from Italy, they are both extraordinary values. Fine sparklers from California, Washington State, Oregon, New Mexico, and New York State, as well as Asti (white bubbly) or Brachetto d’Acqui (light red bubbly), both from Piedmont, Italy, are great and low in alcohol. For a real surprise, treat your customers to fruit-driven, off-dry sparkling Shiraz from Australia or a semi-sparkling, low-alcohol Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna.



Rosé/Blush Wines

Thirst-quenching, dry- to off-dry rosés from Spain, France, Italy, California, or Australia will create another fruit-driven “sauce” for spicy dishes. The strawberry/ cranberry/raspberry notes pop right out of the wine. And don’t forget the previously ubiquitous, and undeservedly maligned, semi-dry to semi-sweet White Zinfandel if you want to calm that heat down with the tastes of berries and peaches.



Red Wines

When it comes to reds, look for simpler wines that don’t have much more body than a rosé. That means Beaujolais, or any Gamay-based wine, Valpolicella, simple Chianti, a lighter Côtes-du-Rhône, and inexpensive examples of Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, or Merlot. A good rule of thumb: if the red wine can’t take chilling in the wine fridge before service, don’t pair it with spicy food. If a bit of chill brings out its fresh, red fruits, then that’s the red you want to counter the heat.



So, when it comes to hot and spicy food, go with cool and fruity wine. Think about the perfect wine to put out the fire of the dish while highlighting background flavors and textures, and don’t be afraid to go off the beaten path in your wine choices. Forget the oaky Chardonnays and the tannic Cabernets, and instead offer your customers something new, different, and memorable. Fruit and spice living in perfect harmony— let the music play.





Steven Kolpan, C.W.E., C.H.E. is The Charmer Sunbelt Group Endowed Chair in Wine and Spirits, and a professor in wine studies at the CIA. Steven (along with co-authors Brian Smith and Michael Weiss) is the recipient of the 2009 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Beverage Book and the 2009 Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year for Wine Wise.

Guys ask these questions from ur F&B Teacher

WINE


Q. Which was the first law to regulate the retail trade of wine?

Q. Where were the first hollow glass drinking vessels, which developed into modern-day wine glasses, developed?

Q. Name the Roman Emperor who forbade the planting of any more vines in Italy to save land for grain cultivation.

Q. Which legendary eighth-century emperor was responsible for codifying rules covering the planting of vines and wine-making in France and Germany?

Q. Where were the first modern wine bottles developed?

Q. Which action of the English Parliament was the cause of the rise in popularity of port from Portugal’s Douro Valley?

Q. Who was the Dutch doctor who first brought vines to South Africa’s Cape in 1655?

Q. Name the American President who was an active promoter of wine in his country.

Q. Who was the legendary Bordeaux professor who established modern wine-making practices like temperature-controlled fermentation?

Q. Which famous wine-producing district in Bordeaux was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1999?

Q. Name the two top wine labels from Bordeaux owned by the luxury empire, LVMH?

Q. Name the three Champagne brands that are universally regarded as the icons of excellence. (One of the brands, incidentally, is the favourite of rappers.)

Q. Which Champagne brand has become associated with James Bond?

Q. What was Sir Winston Churchill’s favourite Champagne?

Q. Name the five largest-selling non-vintage Champagne brands?

Q. Which is the only major wine-producing region in France that labels its wines by grape variety, as they do in the New World?

Q. Why do top Bordeaux wines spend up to two years in a barrique – or oak barrels?

Q. Why do top Bordeaux estates use new oak barrels for fermenting, maturing, or conditioning wine before bottling?

Q. Which is the most widely planted red grape variety in Italy?

Q. Name the grape variety that makes the legendary wines of Barolo and Barbaresco.

Q. DNA studies have proved that the birthplace of Gewurtztraminer, the grape variety linked with Alsace, is an Italian village (or commune). What is the name of this village?

Q. What is the origin of the term frascati, which is the name of a popular wine-producing region in Central Italy?

Q. Which is the most famous South African wine-producing region?

Q. Under European Union rules, the word Champagne cannot be used to describe the sparkling wines produced anywhere else in the world. What is the name used by South African sparkling wine producers to brand their product?

Q. Give the abbreviation by which the giant cooperative that regulated every aspect of the South African wine industry till 1997 is known as.

Q. Name the New Zealand winery that was responsible for the rise of Marlborough as the world’s premier region for the production of Sauignon Blanc?

Q. Name the associate professor of neurology who doubles as the owner and wine-maker for Pegasus Bay, the popular New Zealand wine brand.

Q. What are the four building blocks of wine?

Q. What is botrytis?

Q. Which are the latitudes where the world’s vineyards are concentrated?

Q. What are the natural acids that appear in wine?

Q. What is aftertaste?

Q. What are tannins?

Q. What is balance?

Q. What is the red grape variety known as Syrah in France called in the New World?

Q. What are the grape varieties that are together responsible for the creation of Pinotage, the famous South African wine grape?

Q. Which is the most planted wine grape variety in the world?

Cork Tree

Cork Oak

Close up of Trunk

Scrapped Trunks

Trunk Close up

Cork Oak after Scrapping

Wine & Food Matching Science or Art?

(By Randy Caparoso)

Wine is always called a combination of art and science, and in our schools cooking is always called a food science. If anything, the “art” of matching wine and food has always been one of the least understood aspects of wine appreciation, and a lot of that is because many of our leading wine “experts” (journalists, winemakers, judges, etc.) simply do not understand the science behind the concept.

This is understandable because much of what we know about wine and food matching is a priori – a matter what we know from tried-and-true experience. Therefore, experts and everyday people alike know a good Cabernet Sauvignon is a good match for roast beef, but can we really explicate the sensory reasons why? One could make a valid point that explication has never really been necessary, but consider the cooking done by many of our restaurant chefs, and by ourselves at home, today: beef is no longer just roasted. Nowadays we’ll marinate it in salty-sweet-spicy marinades, drench it in sweet fruit or Port infused demi-glace, serve it with hot-vinegary barbecue sauces, douse it lime and chili peppers, top it with lemony couscous or tropical fruit salsas, and on and on. Are these, then, the ideal matches for a typically big, hefty Cabernet Sauvignon? You can say yes; but objectively speaking, there are probably a number of other red wines that could make a better match.

So if anything, an understanding of wine and food matching from a sensory or scientific perspective is exactly what we need this complicated culinary age. But I’ve always found it helpful to start with a simple premise: that foods and wines are matched in the exact same way as the way they are tasted – on the palate, where it comes together. In other words, wines are matched with dishes the same way that, say, a scoop of vanilla ice cream is matched with a dollop of hot chocolate syrup, sliced bananas, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry – a plethora of delicious, complimenting sensations. Vanilla ice cream, on the other hand, is not a good match with ketchup and anchovies. We may know this, but do we know why?

In the course of my own work in the culinary industry over the years I’ve found it helpful to know and understand the following six basic principles that help us understand wine and food matching in more of an empirical rather than vague or instinctive way:

1st Principle: WINE IS A FOOD

All food and wine matching is more easily understood when the taste components of wines are thought of in the same way as ingredients in a dish. Just like good cooking involves a balancing of ingredients and technique, good wine/food matching involves focusing on how specific components in wines interact and achieve a sense of balance and harmony with specific components in dishes.

2nd Principle: THE FIVE BASIC TASTE SENSATIONS

That is to say, what your taste buds perceive, whether you are tasting wine or food:

Sweetness – Related to amount of residual sugar in both foods and wines; sensed by taste buds located towards at the tip of the tongue.

Sour/tartness – Degree of acidity in both foods and wines (more so in whites than in reds); tasted at the center and sides of the tongue.



Saltiness – Not a significant component in wine, but important in how a wine relates to it in foods; tasted near center of tongue.

Bitterness – Tasted in many foods, and in the tannin content of red wines (to a lesser degree in whites); tasted towards the rear of the tongue.

Umami – The flattering, amino acid related sense of “deliciousness” found in many foods, and to a limited extent in wines (location of “umami taste buds” on palate indeterminate)

3rd Principle: KEY TACTILE SENSATIONS

Like the hot/cold of chocolate syrup and ice cream, these are some key factors in many food/wine matches:

Density, body or weight – The sense of light vs. heavy contributed by proteins, fats and/or carbs in foods, and primarily related to degree of alcohol content in wines (bolstered by tannin in reds)

Soft/crisp textures – Tactile contrasts in foods; and in wines, smooth or easy vs. hard, sharp or angular.

Spicy/hot – Feel of heat when chiles, peppers or horseradishes are used in foods; not felt as a tactile sensation in wines, but suggested in aromas and flavors (“spice” notes).

4th Principle: FLAVOR IS AROMA RELATED

Without the sense of smell, neither foods nor wines have “flavor.” Example: the taste and tactile sensations in an apple, a pineapple, and an onion are similar in that they are all sweet, crisp yet juicy, with some degree of acidity, but they all give a distinctly different flavor perceived through the sense of smell.

By the same token, both Cabernet Sauvignon and a Petite Sirah are two types of red wine that tend to be dark, full bodied, dry, and fairly hard in tannin; but the Cabernet gives aromas and flavors of herbal, minty, berry/cassis aromas and flavors, whereas the Petite Sirah gives ripe berry/blueberry and black peppercorn-like aromas and flavors.

5th Principle: THE TWO WAYS WINES & FOODS ARE SUCCESSFULLY MATCHED

Two gastronomic pioneers of the 1980s, David Rosengarten and Joshua Wesson, deserve full credit for first formulating these two self-evident concepts for food and wine:

Similarities – When there are similar taste sensations in both a dish and a wine (example: the buttery sauce in a fish dish enhanced by the creamy or buttery texture of an oak barrel fermented white wine).

6th Principle: INTRINSICALLY BALANCED FOODS & WINES MAKE THE BEST MATCHES

No matter what your personal taste, invariably you discover this natural occurrence: the easiest foods and the easiest wines to find a match for are the ones with their own intrinsic sense of harmony and balance. This is because taste buds and sensations of tactile qualities work for you collectively.



When you add salt to a pineapple, for example, you not only make the pineapple salty, you also increase the sensation of sweetness and decrease the sensation of sourness. But when it comes to food as it relates to wine, it is always easier to match a dish that does not need as much alteration of taste (like throwing salt on a pineapple) to make it taste better; and vice-versa in the way a wine relates to food. The simple solution is to find matching components of similarity and contrast in foods and wines that are already well balanced.

This is not to say that a young, overly bitter or hard textured Cabernet Sauvignon cannot be served with food. But it does narrow your food choices somewhat: instead of a lamb chop finished with a sweet natural plum reduction or a slightly salty, spice scented Asian marinade – ingredients that can make gamy lamb more interesting, but increase a young Cabernet’s toughness -- you are probably relegated to simply grilling the lamb to a slight char to at least reduce the drying effect of the wine’s tannins, and serving it with a more neutral sauce (if any) made with Cabernet and the lamb’s own natural juices.



Then again, if the Cabernet is extremely rough to the point that it is barely drinkable, not even the simplest piece of charred meat will help it taste better. The same thing for a lamb chop that is drenched in a sauce or marinade that is too sweet, too salty, too spicy hot or sour: the palate knows when a dish is unbalanced, and so even the finest, smoothest, most elegantly balanced Cabernet Sauvignon will not make that poorly prepared lamb taste better.

After this, it’s all a matter of actual tasting, and soon becoming familiar with the wines we like – just as we continue to discover delicious, new foods – followed by the combinations that make the most sense to you. The nice thing is the fact that the variations in both foods and wines are virtually endless, and so it will always be as much fun as you want it to be.



CLASSIC & CONTEMPORARY MATCHES

There are many old standby, tried-and-true wine and food matches, as well as a number of others reflecting more contemporary style dining, all based upon the basic, commonsense principles of food and wine matching. As food and wine for thought, a few interesting examples:



o Full bodied, dry, richly flavorful white wines (like Chardonnay and Viognier) with meatier “other white” meats (like pork, veal and chicken) in richly flavorful sauces

o White wines with zesty acidity (i.e. Sauvignon Blanc) with foods with matching degrees of acidity (like salads in mildly sharp vinaigrettes, or cheeses like Chèvre)

o Slightly sweet yet zesty white wines (like German Rieslings) with seafoods prepared with slightly sweet, sour, salty, and even spicy-hot sauces and ingredients (since sugar in wine and as a food ingredient brings contrasting balance to spicy, salty or acidic sensations)

o Soft red wines (like Pinot Noir and Beaujolais) with soft but full flavored red fish (like salmon and tuna)

o Zesty, pungent, earthy/foresty red wines (like Chianti Classico and Rosso di Montalcino from Tuscany) with zesty, Italian influenced dishes (use of pasta, tomato, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and resiny herbs like oregano and rosemary)

o High tannin reds (like a youthful Cabernet Sauvignon) with slight bitterness or astringency with red meats prepared with slightly bitter peppercorns, vegetables, or char from wood grilling

o Bright, zesty, sweetly fruit scented red wines (like red Zinfandel and Syrah) with fatty meats in zesty, sweet or even spicy sauces and marinades (re barbecued or even teriyaki style beef or pork ribs)

o Big, herbaceous, minty or cedary Cabernet Sauvignon based reds (from France’s Bordeaux, California or Australia) with red meats in sauces reduced with aromatic green herbs (mint, thyme, sage, etc.)

o Smoky, toasty, aggressively oaked wines (like many Chardonnays, and most ultrapremium reds) with white or red meats that are aggressively grilled, roasted or wood-smoked

o Sweet, high acid, intensely fruity “late harvest” whites with sweet desserts made with fruits retaining natural fruit acidity (berries and stone fruits peach and pear)

o Sweet, full bodied wines (fortified reds like Port and Banyuls from France, or golden colored Sauternes from France) contrasting with salty blue cheeses (like Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Maytag Blue)

o Sweet, full bodied, fortified reds (like Port and Banyuls) with bitter/sweet chocolate desserts

Flavour of the Spanish Countryside

(Courtesy- Food & Beverage Business Review)

If you can imagine enough, then a languid sip of sidra on a murky evening, or in a sunny morning for that matter, does have the potential to make you feel that you have been transported to the sun-drenched greenery of Spain. This ethereal sensation can make you heady. People of Spain have kept the age-old tradition of drinking fresh sidra during the summer alive with much enthusiasm, and moreover, they have also institutionalised the tradition by building sidra museums in Asturias, and the Basque country of the kingdom of Spain.




Sidra is protected under the Denomination of Origin in Spain, and among the locals, the drink has attained the status of regional ‘wine’. Globally, the United Kingdom tops the production and consumption of cider drinks, but only in Spain, a cider drink named sidra has become an integral part of the country’s rich and vibrant cultural mosaic.



Traditionally called ‘pomaria’ by the Romans and ‘siserio’ by the Arabs, sidra is a cider drink of Spain. But contrary to other non-alcoholic apple cider drinks of some countries, Spanish sidra contains only 4-6 percent of alcohol. Its long history and uniqueness have made sidra an integral part of Spain’s culinary landscape. Fermented mostly in the Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque country region of northern Spain, sidra’s popularity is gradually crossing boundaries.



However, authentic sidra is processed in the northern part of Spain as it is made through fermentation of a few select varieties of apples. People find Asturias’ sidra sweeter than the dry sidra served in the Basque country. An authentic sidra bottle from Spain looks cloudy with dregs in golden yellow colour. Natural sidra is unfiltered and unpasteurised. In the United States and Canada, the drink is known as ciderjack or hard cider.



Drinking fresh sidra from the barrel during the summer and autumn is a tradition that the people of northern Spain have kept alive for centuries. In Guipuzcoa of the Basque region, people generally visit sagardotegiak or siderias to enjoy sidra with a traditional meal like txuleton, during the summer. Locals generally prefer sweet sidra drinks with, sweet desserts, salads, fruits, aperitifs and cocktails. With semi-dry sidra, people of the northern Spain prefer mild cheeses, fish, poultry, patés, foie gras and seafood. Strong cheeses, meat and aperitifs generally go well with dry sidra.



Fermentation Process of Sidra

Sidra is produced through fermenting fresh sweet and sour apples, which are not used for normal consumption. The skillful sidra makers combine sweet, sour and bitter varieties of apples to produce the best quality sidra. Depending on the variety, apples for the sidra drink are picked when the ripening process starts during the autumn. After washing and chopping the apples, they are softened in water and pressed in stone mill or hydraulic press. Sidra producers ferment the apple juice in the cider cells of chestnut barrels or stainless steel tanks. In order to transform the sugar into alcohol, the fermentation process takes place under a physically controlled temperature. It takes around six months for achieving around 4-5 percent of alcohol content. Three varieties of sidra—dry, semi-dry and sweet — are thus produced, depending on the quality of the apple. The fermentation is done mainly during the fall and winter seasons. Sidra is bottled without any artificial carbonation. Whatever carbonation the drink contains is natural.



The green bottle that contains around 750 ml of sidra is kept in a cool temperature that ideally ranges between 7 to 10 degrees Celsius. However, in Asturias, the drink is not caged in green glass bottles. The corked white bottles generally contain 720 ml of sidra.



Serving Sidra in Style

Sidra is unique not only in terms of its composition, but also in terms of its serving style. In Asturias, the drink is sometimes served in special glasses, poured from ceramic pitchers. In siderias, where sidra is primarily served, the bartenders display a spectacular method of pouring sidra to bring the maximum taste out of the drink.



The bartender brings the opened sidra bottle in one of his hands and pours it in a large glass held at 45o in his other hand, near the hip. The drink is spilled from across the head of the bartender to the glass, in order to soften it to make its apple characteristics more prominent. The bartender does not look at the glass while pouring the drink as he looks straight and pours the drink, apparently blindly. The glass is filled up to an inch high at a time and served to the custmers.



People believe that this distinct way of serving sidra, which is called ‘throwing’ in popular parlance, is necessary to aerate the cider and produce the ‘estrella’ gas, thereby enhancing the natural carbonation. This style of pouring the drink that helps in effecting champagne like sparks for a few moments is traditionally known as ‘escanciar un culín’ or ‘echar’. Once it is served, you need to drink it immediately as cider becomes flat quickly because of oxidisation. Although the drink is served in most bars and restaurants, there are special siderias in Spain that serve sidra. Some siderias are equipped with special drains for doing away with the dregs.



Major Sidra Producers of Spain

The affection and enthusiasm with which the culture of drinking sidra is being kept alive by the people of Asturias, and the Basque country, have encouraged many producers to turn into successful business ventures. Valle, Ballina Y Fernandez, S.A (contact: Ms. Maria Cardin, Export Manager) is one such ISO-9001 certified company based in Asturias, Spain. Founded in 1890, the company is providing the El Gaitero brand of sidra in various parts of the world. Among the Asian countries, the Valle, Ballina Y Fernandez, S.A. is focusing on supplying cider drinks mainly to China. You can go to www.gaitero.com to know more about the company.



Valdedios, Mayador and M. Busto are some of the popular brands of sidra supplied by Manuel Basto Amandi, S.A. (Bodegas Mayador), an ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and IFS (International Food Standard V.5) certified company. Marketed for the first time in 1939, its M. Busto brand is the oldest. Apart from the alcoholic ciders, the company also markets apple vinegar and other non-alcoholic cider drink. You can go to www.mayador.com to know more.



Celebrating Sidra

The Spanish have developed a whole new way of celebrating the releasing of sidra from the barrel. There is the seasonal ‘Txot’ celebrated from late April to early May. During this period, people visit the siderias for enjoying fresh sidra directly from the barrel. Some of the barrels loaded with sidra are pierced and people queue up at a distance to enjoy sidra one by one, until the barrel is emptied. People then move to the next barrel dedicated for the txot festivities. At some places, locals also enjoy food and organise some traditional events. This ‘first tasting’ festival in Asturias is also known as ‘espichas’.



Sidra of the north Spanish region is found in most siderias and bars. However, in rural areas of Asturias, some brands of the drink are found even in the grocery shops. Some siderias close down during the fall and winter.



How much sidra is a part of the Spanish life and culture can be easily gauged from the presence of sidra museums at Nava, in the Asturias and Astigarraga, and at Guipúzcoa in the Basque country. The sidra museum in Asturias showcases the entire process of sidra making, starting from apple growing.