Thursday, October 18 2007
Wine and Food--the Winner!
You gonna finish that?
I've been thinking about my request for food and wine stories this week, as I've been doing tastings and pairings all over British Columbia. One of the pairings in particular is very striking, an intensely aromatic and fruity white wine (which we're using as a taste profile for our Limited Edition Pacific Quartet) is paired with chevre (creamy goat cheese, very earthy, tart with a lactic character, and moderately salty) and also with honey–one after the other. The two tastes transform the wine. With the chevre it's rounded and fruity, almost like an Auslese riesling or a dessert Gewurztraminer. Switch to the honey, and the wine flips around completely, tasting like an austerely dry Alsatian style, with minerals, structure and acidity to spare.
This leads me into telling the folks about the difficulties of trying to help someone replicate a wine they've had with a kit that we sell. It's not that we can't do it, it's that it's never actually about the wine. Typically, it goes like this: a phone call gets passed to me from someone wanting a 'similar wine' to one they had and enjoyed.
"Tell me about the wine."
"Well, we were in Gstaad, skiing. It was an utterly beautiful day, we started at first light, and had the mountain all to ourselves, and we skied all day. That night we dined in the lodge, by the fire, and had a wonderful meal of raclette and it was so delicious! The wine was a local Swiss one, and I think it was called Fendant. It was so delicious we drank two bottles!"
Sigh. Fendant is indeed a local Swiss wine, but it's really very plain. It's made from the Chasselas grape, which is very neutral flavoured (ha ha ha, Swiss wines are neutral! It's like the universe is perfect!) and not terribly aromatic. The point is, they weren't drinking the wine, they were drinking the experience.
Which brings us to the writing contest: it was a hard-fought , but in the end it came down to the magic of the set and setting. Our winning entry comes from Christine Day, who wrote
On Valentine's Day 2005 my husband and I treated ourselves to dinner at one of Orlando's finest restaurants - The Old Hickory Steakhouse, in the Gaylord Palms Hotel (in Kissimmee).
The atmosphere is 100% romance: beneath a massive 4.5 acre glass atrium surrounded by the sights and sounds of the everglades, our secluded table was lit only by candlelight. We experienced the most unobtrusive, yet thoroughly attentive service. On what is one of their busiest nights of the year, we felt like we were all alone.
We placed ourselves in the hands of our maitre 'd, who chose our meal from start to finish - starting with the artisanal cheese plate, then on to the most amazing steak I've ever eaten, and finally finishing with a chocolate souffle that was to die for. The accompanying wines were so perfectly matched, I cannot imagine a better meal - ever.
I made notes of the pairings but we moved a few days after returning from our trip and they were misplaced. I guess I'll just have to go back and do it all over again!
Ahh, Burt Bacharach knew, all you need is love, sweet love, and the food and the wine become magical. Christine, you're copy of the Hedonism Handbook is winging it's way to you now! Congratulations, and thanks to all the entrants for thier wonderful stories.
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