Wine Pairing Tips

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Were you ever at a wine tasting where you had no idea what the wine snobs were talking about?  You saw a person with his or her nose buried in an oversized wine glass and you heard, “Oh yes, yes you can really taste the hand-picked fruit in this 18-month-old Cabernet, which has been aged in barriques of French oak. It pairs perfectly with this mackerel.”  That’s usually how it goes as they swirl around their glass and do deep breathing exercises into it.

But, sometimes, they’re wrong. Wouldn’t it be nice to one day, perhaps at you next fancy work event, to turn to one these know-it-alls and say, “No, Mr. Parker, the fish that you’re eating actually doesn’t go with the wine you’re swirling.”

We’re AWS members. We know the rules. White meat and fish go with white wines; red meats, game, red sauces and stews go with red wines, right? But what do you do if you order a spicy Thai curry, or a vegetarian chili, or Uber Eats is bringing you a quinoa bowl from CoreLife? If you’re a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, gluten-free, no-high-fructose-corn-syrup-or-soda, salt-free foodie, the options can get narrow. Still, some foods actually do not go well with wine because of a chemical reaction. To make sense of the best wine pairings, it helps to recognize the worst wine pairings, too.

Why would the wine gods play a trick like that on us? The answer is that some foods contain chemical compounds that clash with those in wine. For instance, artichokes contain cynarin, which tricks people’s taste buds into thinking that there are tart flavors. A wine like Sancerre will taste strangely sweet. Some folk find the reaction is reversed and artichokes with wine make foods taste bitter.  You would honestly be better off drinking a (forgive me) beer!

Asparagus contains methyl mercaptan, a sulfur compound, which gives wine a vegetal character. Asparagus doesn’t need to be enhanced with wine. (Maybe a Gruner Veltliner. . .)  Also certain fish are not good. Cod, haddock and mackerel are examples, as are shellfish, since they’re high in iodine, which is why red wines don’t pair well with them. The iodine content reacts with the tannins in red wine and makes both the fish and the wine taste metallic (and terrible). Fish oils react badly with tannins, so don't serve mackerel with Cabernet, unless you enjoy the taste you get from licking a roll of pennies. With oily fish, skip the reds and go white. Any crisp wine: Albariño, Vermentino, or Sauvignon Blanc make good options. The only exception is Salmon. Try that with a nice Oregon Pinot Noir.

Egg yolks are also difficult to pair with wine, because they tend to coat your palate and kill flavor (not to mention wine is not offered at breakfast in most countries). Heavy egg dishes like quiche, frittatas and custard served at brunch, however, tend to pair best with a Pinot Bianco, Gris or Grigio.

Strangely, olives are tough to pair because they tend to be stong. They’re soaked in vinegar and not a particularly easy flavor to match with wine. Anything pickled can draw astringent properties out of the wine and give the wine an unpleasant flavor.

General Guidelines in Pairing

When in doubt, try to follow these simple suggestions. Whenever possible, try to match the wine of a region with the foods of the region. “If it grows together, it goes together.” For example, Italian sausage and spaghetti with red sauce with a good Chianti or a BBQ ribs with a Chilean red. Start with simple cheese and wine pairings and then expand to entrees and desserts.

Try buttery with buttery. Yes, a butter sauce on chicken or a light cream sauce over pasta matches well with a buttery Chardonnay or a Spätlese Riesling. Would you like a little comfort food but without the high calorie count? That’s the way to go. It’s all about portion control anyway, right?

Contrast spicy with sweet. Thai peppers or heavy garlic in Asian cuisine go well with Rieslings or Gewürztraminers. The contrast allows you to enjoy both the dish and wine’s flavors. A sweet red is best with spicy Latin/American food due to the use of chilies and peppers in the dishes. So, Sangria (as we found in our last tasting) is good with Mexican cuisine. Germany makes some nice, well balanced sweet reds that would be a good choice as well.

Try tannic reds with high fats. For example, Cabernets go well with a sirloin, fatty bacon or a brisket. The tannins cut the fats in the meat and make for another good pairing. A heavy cream or parmesan sauce can pair nicely with a bold red like a Cabernet. Again, tannins cut fat and that will make the meal more enjoyable.

Although, general rules of thumb are good concerning what foods to avoid when making a wine pairing, try not to carry the Unabridged Wine Bible with you at all times. Keep in mind that it’s actually more important to match your friends and the occasion with the wine than worry too much about the food and wine pairing. Besides, overthinking anything causes wrinkles!

Cheers!

Calvados

. . . The Calvados slid down her throat like buttery apple cider. She tasted a hint of vanilla and rum raisin and started to smack her lips. Then the brandy hit her belly!

‘Whoa!’ Breathing fire, she fanned the air and regarded her empty shot glass with awe. ‘That is some potent stuff!’”

Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace, 2007.

 

Do you remember Tim Meadows as "The Ladies Man" and his Courvosier?

French brandy has always had sort of “snooty” air, maybe because it's always the British upper class you imagine drinking it. You imagine older men wearing smoking jackets and holding snifters and cigars. It's especially true of Cognac, the most famous of French brandies, and increasingly so of Armagnac, Cognac's former country cousin. But what about Calvados, the apple brandy from Normandy?

Some producers have tried to transform Calvados into an elegant sophisticated drink, but the best versions keep a rustic character. It's the difference between wine, from which Cognac and Armagnac are distilled, and cider, from which Calvados is distilled.And of course, Calvados has historically been a drink of the French workingman. It’s always been the sort of 7:00 am eye-opener that would make a The Ladies Man shudder.

What is Calvados?

Calvados is a variety of brandy made from apples (and sometimes pears). Like Champagne, the fruit must be grown in Normandy in northern France to be called Calvados. 

Calvados starts as an apple cider, made by fermenting apples. It’s then distilled and aged in oak casks, where it is required to remain for at least two years to be properly classified as Calvados under the AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée). There are around 400 producers in the region, each of whom has their own special combination of apple varieties and ageing processes.

How is it different than Cognac?

The ingredients are different. Cognac is made from distilling white wine (and therefore grapes), while Calvados is made from cider and therefore apples. You might not be able to tell from tasting it that Cognac originates from wine, it's impossible to miss the apple in Calvados, which gives people a sense of familiarity with the product.

According to the AOC, Cognac must be made from 90% Ugni Blanc grapes (known as Trebbiano in Italy) and a small selection of others can make up the rest. Calvados, however, is much more diverse. There are around 300 different varieties of apples available under the Calvados AOC, and the list is constantly growing. You just need to prove that the apples you are using are native to the Normandy region. Therefore, distillers can use dozens of different varieties of apples to make just one expression of Calvados.

You’ll never be surprised by Cognac. You’ll never find that small farmer that makes his own Cognac. That doesn't exist because the market is too mature. Around six million bottles of Calvados are produced each year, compared to 200 million bottles of Cognac.

The divide between Cognac and Calvados production goes beyond ingredients and production methods and into the early modern era. During the 18th century, King Louis XIV passed a law that forbade people from Normandy from exporting Calvados outside the region because one of his ministers was from Cognac. Because of his actions, investment and therefore production of Calvados stagnated while Cognac exports went through the roof.

Also, a lot of the great Cognac houses were created by British owners who loved the taste of traditional French eau de vie (clear, colorless fruit brandy). The founder of Martell, for example, was a merchant from Jersey in the British Channel Islands and the founder of Hennesy was an Irish military officer. Calvados, though, was a very local product for local people, so it was never very intense in terms of business.

How do you serve Calvados?

Calvados makes a good apéritif or digéstif. The traditional way to enjoy Calvados is as an after-dinner drink. But, you can enjoy it like you would a good whiskey. You can enjoy it after dinner but also before a meal. Serve it in a tulip-shaped glass to trap the aromas and drink it neat without ice for maximum flavor. Small wine glasses are also fine.

However, after-dinner drinks aren't exactly a trend with young people these days. Hipsters prefer aperitifs or spritz-type drinks. Calvados goes great in cocktails, though. It's one of the spirits in classic cocktails like the Jack Rose, which you can find in any good classical cocktail bar.

What do you eat with it, and what is the 'Trou Normand'?

Drinking Calvados during a meal is very traditional. People in Normandy used to drink it during meals because it would renew their appetite. It's what they call a Trou Normand or 'Norman hole' because it creates a new hole in your belly!

So what food pairs with the apple liquor? Calvados can be drunk with an entire meal. A few small sips are enough to stimulate the palate and bring out the flavor of many dishes. It’s excellent with meat dishes (roast pork with apples, leg of lamb, duckling with honey), seafood (skate, trout with almonds, scallops) and served with a fruit plate filled with apples and pears (obviously), peaches, prunes, grapes and apricots.

Should you try cider?

A few weeks ago, we were reading an article online about hard cider, the “true” drink of early Americans. In those days, water wasn’t safe to drink, and wine and beer weren’t very common yet. You’ve heard of Johnny Appleseed, right? Those weren’t eating apples he was planting.

Cider is everywhere these days. It’s much more than an option for the gluten haters or people who say they don't like beer. Still, most people don’t think about ordering cider when they’re having dinner. Good old fermented apple juice can be as complex (and expensive) as any craft beer or fine wine. The best of it, “heritage cider,” made with specific heirloom apple varieties and produced with traditional winemaking techniques, is distinct, with plenty of regional differences and unique flavors. Unfortunately, relatively few people have yet made this discovery because they’ve been turned off by the overly sweet drinks masquerading as "hard" cider for years. 

But why bother with cider when there’s so much delicious wine out there to drink? Cider's low alcohol content (usually around 8% ABV) makes it much easier to pair than wine, but it still has all the great acidity and tannin. Cider matches well with many different cuisines and ingredients that usually pose problems for wine, like asparagus or Thai food.

If you’re a home winemaker, the craftsmanship and artisinal qualities of small-batch, heritage cider will appeal to you. Heritage cider takes great deal of care and a long time to make, so there’s a lot of technique to get excited about. The apples aren’t easy to grow. It can take 5 years for a new tree to bear fruit, so you’re supporting makers who believe in sustainable farming.

That sounds great, right? But, we’re a wine society, and, as with wine, complexity can translate into confusion. Even if you’re already aware of cider, the many regions, producers, and flavors might be a little bit overwhelming at first. So, let your friends at the Pittsburgh Chapter of the AWS walk you through the steps to better understanding, and ordering, cider.

Find a good retailer

Shopping for cider can be challenging, since many stores and bars have limited selections. Cider labels can be useful, but often don’t give you a full picture. Your first step is to find a cider source that you can trust to stock a great selection of ciders. Most local craft beer bottle shops carry artisinal cider, too, and are staffed by knowledgeable salespeople who can offer recommendations. But if this isn’t an option for you, try purchasing on line.

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Choose still or sparkling

Once you’ve got a reliable cider retailer in mind, decide if you want bubbles. Most heritage cider is sparkling (or at least slightly effervescent), but there are stand-out still ciders.         

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Choose a level of sweetness

Next, be honest with yourself about how dry you’d like your cider. Some drinkers, especially those used to commercial cider, think they want “dry” (less than 0.5% residual sugar, with no discernible sweetness) when they’re actually looking for “off-dry” (1% to 2% residual sugar, with a little more body and richer flavor).

Others confuse fruit flavors with sweetness and are perplexed when their bone-dry cider still tastes like apples. Fortunately, many producers indicate relative sweetness on their labels. Of course, if you're looking for something super sweet, there's also plenty of "hard cider" in cans and 12 oz bottles. You don't need to go to a bottle shop for those.    

·          

Understand flavor profiles

Cider’s range is nearly as broad as (but different from) wine, so it helps to understand which flavors you want in the beverage. You can also shop by tasting notes (e.g. the “earthy” category breaks down further into “grassy,” etc.)

Pay attention to apple variety and provenance

Learn what apples are in the cider, and where the cider comes from. Common culinary apples like Red Delicious or Maine Gold have medium acid, low tannin, and plenty of fruity flavor. Meanwhile, cider-specific varieties are bitter, high-tannin apples that lend complexity, texture, and savory qualities to the cider.

As with wine, terroir matters, too. If you love high acid ciders, then you might enjoy cider from New York's Finger Lakes. If you prefer full-bodied and rich cider, then one made from English bitter apples in Eastern Washington might be a better option.

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FINAL DAY TO RSVP!

AWS "Field Trip" to Ripepi Winery

Friday, July 12, 2019

Some of our chapter members are planning a trip to Ripepi Winery.  If you would like to join them, please email Kevin Dering ( kedred2006@gmail.com ) before July 8, 2019 so that we can let the winery know how many members are going to attend.

Rich Ripepi has participated in our annual conference and is making some very good wines! The tasting starts at 5pm and ends at 8pm, and there is NO cover charge. The website has a lot of information and directions.  Here is the link:

www.ripepiwine.com

We hope that you’ll join your chapter on this tasty outing!

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Cabernet?

Americans have enjoyed hot dogs since 1871, when a German baker by the name of Charles Feltman opened the first Coney Island hot dog stand.

Although a beer is the usual beverage of choice, have you tried hot dog and wine pairings? It may sound strange, but this is a case of “tasting is believing.” We’re not expecting you to chug a bottle of vino at PNC park with your $3.50 dog (although, we may have smuggled a dry Rosé or two into the Pittsburgh Zoo recently), but for those nights when you’re watching the Buccos on TV and want to serve your guest (or just yourself) something a little more exciting than nachos and PBR, well, your Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Wine Society has you covered!

Have a look at the pairings below and let us know what you think!  

Chicago Dog

The Chicago dog is famous, and a level 5 wine pairing disaster. Poppy seed bun, neon relish, celery salt, onions, pickle spear, tomatoes, mustard, sport peppers (and, never ketchup). Try a Beaujolais. High acidity red wines that have fresh, tart fruit, like Beaujolais, complement salty and spiced foods very well!

Wine Pairing: Beaujolais.

Try:     Louis Jadot Beaujolais Vilages     PLCB: 7208  $14.99

Classic Dog

For those traditionalists who prefer just ketchup or mustard on your dog, try a sparkling wine.  The acidity will match the tang of either topping and will also balance the fattiness of the dog. Plus, bubbly is as fun to drink as a hot dog is to eat!

Wine Pairing: Sparkling Wine

Try:     Poema Cava Brut    PLCB:2456                           $10.39

Chili Dog

Chili Cheese Dogs are a very popular way to eat a hot dog. Hot dogs are placed in a bun, smothered with chili and topped with shredded cheddar cheese. Kids love them, adults love them. A full-bodied Shiraz from Australia or a Zinfandel from the States fit the bill; even better if it is in a style that has low tannins and a bit of oak to cool down any spice or sliced jalapeños.

Wine Pairing: Syrah/Shiraz; Zinfandel

Try:     Knock Knock Shiraz 2016 PLCB: 75114             $21.99

            Carnivor Zinfandel   PLCB: 2053                          $12.99

Bacon Wrapped Cheese Dog

Slice a hot dog down the middle, stuff it with cheddar cheese, and wrap it in bacon before grilling. A wine with some acidity will cut through the weight and fat of this meat/cheese combination, while cleansing the palate after each bite. A wine with tannins is also a good choice here because tannins act like acidity when paired with richer foods. 

Wine Pairing: Aglianico; Garnacha

Try:     Di Majo Norante Aglianico Molise PLCB: 74887             $14.99

            Las Rocas Garnacha          PLCB: 3404                          $9.99

Corn Dog

If corn dogs are your choice, or you go for other deep-fried things like fried chicken, breaded shrimp, or fish and chips, think bubbles! Sparkling wines are made for fried and salty foods. Or, a semi-dry Riesling. Riesling is also a match made in heaven with corn dogs. And if you’ve never had wine with corn dogs, now is the time to start. The Riesling matches the sweetness of the outer cornbread and quells the saltiness of the hot dog center. Shall we start requesting Riesling at the fair?

Wine Pairing: Sparkling Wine; Riesling

Try:     La Marca Prosecco              PLCB:3636                           $16.99

            Kung Fu Girl Riesling         PLCB:7465                           $11.99

           

Pairings by Condiment

Ketchup

Choose a red wine, but not one that’s too full-bodied, because the sweetness of the ketchup doesn’t match well with full-bodied red wines. We suggest a fruity Cabernet/Merlot blend.

Mustard

Mustard fans might appreciate a little history lesson. Dijon is world-renowned as a mustard source. Although the stuff in the yellow squeeze bottle is tamer in flavor, the basic taste profile is similar. Since Dijon is the capital of the Burgundy region in France, look for grapes that are from in Burgundy. For fans of white, try a wine like an un-oaked Chardonnay. For fans of red, have a Pinot Noir.

Pickled things

If you prefer pickled things like relish or sauerkraut on your dog, it’s best to match the acidity of those with something tangy and with a little bit of fruit to round it out. A Sauvignon Blanc is a nice match. If you don’t want too much tanginess, you can try a Bordeaux white blend. If you prefer a spicy pickle like kimchi, you’ll need a bit of sweetness to cut the heat. Gewurztraminer is a great pick.

Grilled onions

If savory flavors like grilled onions are your favorite, try a Chardonnay or Cabernet Franc. The caramelization of the onions works well with an oaked Chardonnay or a medium-bodied, earthy red.

The works

With such a mixture of flavors and aromas, a dog with “the works” needs something that will refresh the palate. Off-dry Rosé works well.