Photograph By James Jurica
The swirling. The slow, methodical sipping. The way they stick their noses deep into the glass and sniff. To the uninitiated, the way wine drinkers drink their wine makes them seem downright snobby—and a
bit intimidating.
Stepping into the Wine Merchant (either the Clayton or Creve Coeur location) can be intimidating, too, when you see row upon row of exotic labels and differently shaped bottles, a specialty meat and cheese department and intricate world maps lining the walls.
"That's why we dress the way we do, in jeans and T-shirts," says Rich Gotsch, who oversees both Wine Merchant locations. "We don't want to be pretentious. Wine's supposed to be fun."
One way in which wine stores try to preserve the fun is by offering classes on wines from certain regions or the basics of pairing wine with food. With the popularity of the film Sideways, more and more people are stepping beyond the comfort of Chardonnay to experiment.
Unfortunately for wine newbies, following the longstanding rules of wine pairing isn't necessarily the best route. Those rules are outdated; what you need are principles that will help you understand why certain foods and wines either complement or detract from
each other.
John Cain, general manager and sommelier of Truffles, says that the old standards are failsafe—but not always the best meshing of flavors.
"You can say 'white wine with fish and red wine with meat' and not get in trouble, but it does depend a great deal on how the fish is prepared or what kind of sauces you're using," he says. "You don't want the wine to mask any of the flavors."
The easiest way to achieve a perfect match is to choose a wine that complements all food. Such "chameleon wines," as Cain describes them, include dry roses, Alsatian wines, dry Rieslings and Champagne, a beverage that many wine experts wish wouldn't be uncorked only at weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs.
Darryl Vennard of Premiere Cru Wine Co. likes to pair Champagne--or a similar wine that's bubbly as a result of double fermentation in its bottle--with potato chips. The saltiness and greasiness of the chips make them unexpectedly similar to Champagne's usual mate, caviar, and Vennard finds the flavor combination heavenly. "Find flavors and textures that mix well," he suggests, "then find something that matches them."
Another of Vennard's secrets is to serve Asian and Mexican foods with wines high in sugar and acidity, replicating the flavor combination many people instinctively make when they drink soda with these spicy, salty dishes. He suggests sweet German Rieslings, Argentinean Torrontes and Viognier.
Philip Peimann, the sommelier at Remy's Kitchen & Wine Bar, practices a similar technique when pairing flavors. An easy way to learn to pair wines and foods is to match the flavors of a wine "with something you've tasted or smelled before in your life," he says. "It's a very associative thing to do; it's just making those connections. People do it all the time but might not realize it."
If you know that a certain flavor would work well with your meal, such as lemon with fish, ask a server or wine specialist to suggest a wine with acidic or citrus tones. "Look at wine as an added ingredient to what you're preparing," Vennard advises.
Most experts emphasize that successful pairing depends not on the old "red with red meat" rule but on consideration of the meal's preparation and flavors.
"People have this perception that you do white with chicken, but I might suggest a rose or a lighter red, depending on what's being done with that piece of chicken," Gotsch says. A red or rose would complement a chicken dish with tomato sauce or other heavy flavors. Foods with high acidity or saltiness need an acidic wine to stand up to them. Cain suggests Sauvignon Blanc or a dry rose to match acidic foods but likes to contrast salty flavors with a sweet drink.
"You get a kind of yin-yang thing going on," Cain says, his hands clasped together in demonstration. "With sweet and salty, you're going to taste the flavor complexities back
and forth.
"There are several food-friendly wines. What are you serving?" he continues. "Is it a tomato sauce with high acidity, a mushroom sauce that's kind of earthy, or a cream sauce? Or a garlic sauce with a big flavor punch? You don't want the wine to butt against the food." Good complements would be Pinot Noir, Merlot or Cabernet with earthy undertones to go with mushrooms and wild game, but Chardonnay with the cream sauces.
If you're planning a multiple-course meal at home or an extravagant night out, pair a different wine with each course. To make that option less expensive, Cain suggests half-bottles. If having several wines is not possible, either serve a wine that matches anything well or focus on pairing one wine with the main entree.
wine
a primer for pairing
Follow your taste buds. Most meals have good white, red and rose matches. Experiment until you find a match you like.
Contrast or Complement: "A basic rule is, you want to have contrasting flavors or comparable flavors," says Rich Gotsch of the Wine Merchant stores. Choose an acidic wine to match up with a dish high in acidity. The contrast of a sweet wine with salty food, however, plays up a variety of flavor subtleties.
Explore regional matches. Wines from a certain area usually pair perfectly with that region's cuisine.
Ask questions. Servers, som-meliers and wine-store staff are all trained to make suggestions, and they welcome inquiries. There are no stupid questions, insists Truffles' John Cain: Wine pairing is "an ongoing education
every day."
characteristic choices
Bistro Eau keeps about 300 wines on its list, which could make pairing decisions exquisite agony. So waiters are now expected to attend tastings to learn the various wines' characteristics, the better to help patrons narrow their choices.
"I always suggest people start with the lower tier, bottles that cost $24 to $28," says Bruce Miller, executive director of food and beverage for the Chase Park Plaza. "Then, if they want, they can move up to try the $55- or $75-a-bottle middle tier. Our top tier goes to $220, but before you start spending that type of money, you'll want to acquire a palate so you know what characteristics you want."
Miller tastes wines two or three times a week, looking always for those that will pair well with the strongest entrees on the Bistro menu--the 10-ounce fillet, for example, or the salmon. "On the salmon, you may want an apple-pear mixture," he says. "Salmon has a very fishy taste, so you want something light to complement that. Our thinking is that you want to calm that fishiness, blend right into it, not try to match or overpower it."
And for the beef fillet? Dozens of possibilities--and once you have your shortlist, it comes down to personal preference. "A lot depends on how full-bodied a wine someone wants," says Miller. "Some wines are in barrel fermentation for 12 months, some for 18 months or longer. Do you prefer a wine that's soft to the palate or one with long-lasting flavor? What type of finish do you want? And are there certain regions whose wines you prefer?
"Ask the serving staff to sample," he suggests. "We're more than happy to sample any of our glass pours--and, really, even the bottles, because it's more than likely, if people know what characteristics they're looking for, that they'll end up purchasing the bottle."
wine-and-cheese cheat sheet
When planning a wine-and-cheese get-together, consider exploring something besides Kraft. Then prepare to pair. "A sweet wine with blue cheese is incredible," says Cain. "The blue cheese is screaming acidic and salty, and then, on the other end of the spectrum, you have a sweet, syrupy wine."
One simple, tasty match Gotsch suggests is Champagne with goat cheese or a rich triple-cream. For more obscure wine-and-cheese selections, Gotsch recommends considering regional matches. "A lot of the European cheeses are made only in certain areas," he says. "If you look at the wine they make in an area and the cheese they make in that area, usually you can make a match. These people have done this for centuries. They've made this cheese, they've made this wine, and of course they go together."
The Smokehouse Market passes out a primer on the art of cheese tasting: Don't bother taking a whiff or scrutinizing its shape; put it in your mouth. Make sure it's at room temperature first; cold mutes the flavors. Sample from the center to the rind; the cheese will taste different at its core. Roll it around your mouth to see how different taste receptors respond to its nuances. Now figure out the array of fruits, meats and wines it will complement (or ask for help).
teaching experts the ABCs
Because there are no steadfast rules when it comes to wine pairing, even the savviest sipper can continue to learn. Beginners and wine connoisseurs alike must be reminded to practice the "ABC" rule: Anything but Chardonnay. Try something new--and don't rely solely on magazines that score wines, says Vennard.
"I'll have in my head that this is going to match beautifully, and it's horrible; it just doesn't work," Gotsch says of the trial-and-error method. "Good matches come out of experimentation."
Cain urges wine drinkers "to have an open mind. I know what I like, and, when I go out, I have to force myself to try other wines," he admits. "But nine times out of 10, you're very happily surprised."
Some days he spends 14 or 15 hours in the green-and-gold interior of Truffles, swirling and sniffing new varieties, meeting with wine reps, educating the staff and suggesting selections to customers. There's something reminiscent of Paul Giamatti's character in Sideways--maybe Cain's goatee, maybe his vivid description of Pinot. He talks about regional differences, how some California Pinots are fruity whereas those from France have a kind of dirty (but good, he insists) barnyard smell.
"The magic of the French Pinot is, it's like a stained-glass window," he says. "Underneath the funk, you've got macerated chocolate-covered cherries lurking."
With such an array of flavors hidden in one bottle, it makes sense that wine pairing takes a little practice.
It's all part of the fun.
