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The December edition of our Bordeaux Wine

§        My first taste of the the 2008 vintage

§        James Bond in Bordeaux: Smith Haut Lafitte

§        More than a Wine Experience (part 3)

§        What Ronald’s been drinking this month

§        2009 Bordeaux Wine Tours getting more affordable every day

§        And much more

You can subscribe to this Bordeaux Wine Newsletter here:  To see an online version of the latest edition, please click here

As the president of The Bordeaux Wine Experience I was contacted by Doug Rutch from Petrosian. With his permission I will reprint his article here. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Charles Curtis, MW, came to wine pairings from the food side, first working as a chef before earning his Master of Wine. “To me, it seems like a very easy thing, to pair food and wine,” he said. “It is a fun thing to do, but not everyone has the same comfort level as I do.”

After you read this informative interview, you’ll have a better idea what to look for in your pairings. And a perfect pairing is a great start toward a perfect evening!

Petrossian: What makes for an excellent food and wine pairing?

Charles Curtis: Everybody wants to know, “what’s the right wine with this?” The truth is, drink what tastes good. People want to put the right wine with the right food, but the key to that is, you want to put the wine you want to drink with the food you want to eat. People say, “they pay you to tell me this?” But people are afraid to do that! They think there is some secret code. There is no secret code, but there are certain experiences that work better than others. The key to it is to experiment. My motto is: the more you drink, the more you know. That is only slightly tongue in cheek - sometimes, the more you drink, the more you fall down. The truth is, only by tasting the combinations do you find out what you like.A lot of people think it has to do with taste. But it doesn’t really. In terms of perceiving sensory impressions, taste is a relatively blunt instrument. It is more about smell than it is about taste. The things that relate to taste aren’t so much taste as tactile sensations in the mouth: principally texture, weight and richness. Taste is only part of good food and wine pairing.

P: How do people typically pair wines?

CC: There are three ways to pair food and wine.
First, regional pairs, like goat cheese and Sancerre that started out as, the two things were produced in the same area and they had the local wine and ate it with the local food, and that makes a local tradition. If you came from a wine producing area, you had a barrel of wine and that is what you drank with everything. You realized it went great with some things and poorly with other things. So, you would savor the things that it went well with, but it didn’t really matter because that is what you drank with everything. It is fun, if you travel in a region, to pick that up: this is their wine, this is what they are eating; it makes for a gastronomic travel diary.Then there are traditional matches that are traditional pairings but really have nothing to do with each other. Oysters and champagne are a classic combination: well, there is no ocean near Champagne. Those are traditional matches, and sometimes it can be a good idea to know those and you can organize meals like that. But what it comes down to are similar or contrasting textures, tastes and aromas. Again, the key is to experiment.
 

P: How do you measure those contrasting senses?

CC: There are a few flavor principles that you can identify. Tartness in the food trumps tartness in the wine. If you have something sour in the food, like lettuce and it has a vinegary dressing, it will make wine on its own that would be tart, seem less tart. It cancels out.
 
P: Is that good or bad? CC: It is just something that you have to be aware of when you are choosing the wine. If the dish has a lemony component, it is ok to have a wine that might otherwise seem aggressively sour because it will seem less so because of the food you are having it with.Savory elements can enhance bitterness unless you add salt. Most of the stuff we eat is savory, somewhat salty, and savory elements in food can make wine seem bitter unless it is matched very carefully. There is really not much you can do about it, but you just have to be aware of it. If you are eating something that is very savory or bitter, make sure you don’t get a wine that is too bitter, or else it may amplify it.

Outside of flavor principles, there are also texture principles. Hot foods go with sweet wines because the sweet wines soften the blow - hot food stings the mouth and sweet wines are relaxing. Also, some foods are fatty and some wines almost seem fatty. For example, a really rich chardonnay matched with a buttery food, either a fish with butter sauce or something with a rich texture, that can be too much. Fat wines and fat foods do not really go together, it is better to work with contrast.

P: Fish and white wine is a traditional pairing. Do you agree with that?

CC: Fish and white wine work because white wines are more acidic than reds. It follows the same principle as squeezing a lemon on a fish, because the white wine acts as a counterbalance and cuts the fishiness of it.

P: Champagne and caviar is another classic pairing. How do you serve hors d’oeuvres?

CC: Champagne  is very versatile. You can have it with appetizers, and sometimes I will offer it with each course during the full meal.

P: What wine would you serve with sweet foods and chocolates?

CC: Sweet foods decrease perception of sweetness of wine. If you have a really sweet dessert, then a sweet wine will seem less sweet because of the food. If you have a dessert wine, you want to make sure you serve a dessert with it that’s not supersweet, something with almonds, or fruit that doesn’t have a lot of sugar to it. Cake and wine are usually a bad idea. If something is really sweet or chocolate, one of the best things you can really do…people always say chocolate and port, but I like chocolate with a cognac.

P: We have some full-bodied wines how do you pair those[Château Pavie 2003 Saint Emilion] ?

CC: Really rich foods can handle that flavor combination. If you have a really full-bodied wine but don’t have a lot going on on the plate, the wine can overpower the meal. It is good to have a balance.

P: What suggestions do you give to people picking a wine at a restaurant?

CC: If you are a sommelier, you think of a dish: what is the dominant element in that dish, and what type of wine does that relate to, and of that, what looks really good on the list in front of you. That is how you do it on the floor. Taste, texture, aroma, and then what do you have on hand, availability and cost. One of the elements people overlook is the idea of surprise. I like things that are surprising, things that are different.

For more information, please visit to the Petrosian website

You can subscribe to this Bordeaux Wine Newsletter here:  To see an online version of the latest edition, please click here