Recent food and wine pairing experiments.

I have been meaning to update everyone on some of the food and wine pairing that we have been doing outside of our work with Purple Teeth Cellars (2006 tasting notes here and 2007 tasting notes here).

When we were at Whistler last month, we went out for some much needed protein (READ: red meat) after 6+ hours of skiing/snowboarding. After perusing the wine list, we opted for a 2005 Andrew Rich Syrah from Columbia Valley to have with our dinner. The wine was good on its own with some black pepper and blackberries, with a little bit of oak and vanilla. With my steak, I had a béarnaise sauce on the side and Marc had his prepared with a peppercorn sauce. As I ate my meal, I noticed that Marc is clearly not having the same experience as I am with respects to the food and wine pairing. He is not enjoying the wine at all, which is unusual for him with a Syrah. So I cleanse the palate a bit and have a bite of Marc's steak with the wine.

Wow – night and day. The peppercorns with Marc's steak completely took over the wine and basically made it have no discernable taste one way or the other. This was completely different from my experience. The fat from the béarnaise sauce really went well with the Syrah and made the flavors all come out in a positive way. And Marc had a bite of my steak with the béarnaise and really enjoyed the pairing. So when a wine label says that a wine will go well with "fish, chicken or beef", think again. It has nothing to do with the main ingredient; it's more to do with how the main ingredient is prepared both in terms of seasoning and cooking method. We learned about this at the cooking class we took at the CIA last year.

Next food and wine experiment was by completely by chance a couple of weeks later, but yep – it involved red meat again. It was a stressful week, so Marc and I decided to head to one of our favorite haunts on Lake Union – Daniel's Broiler. Erik, who is our friend and the sommelier, found us in the waiting area and whisked us to an awesome table. He noticed that we brought in a 2003 Justin Isosceles from our collection and recommended that we try a ½ bottle of the 2002 Justin Isosceles that they had on the list. At first, I wasn't in favor since I had a 9-mile run the next morning, but then I was reminded that we can re-cork and bring home our wine so we didn't have to consume all that wine. Sweet – a mini wine vertical!

Again, I went with the béarnaise but Marc went without the peppercorns. I was all over the 2002 vintage; the differences between the 2002 and 2003 were significant. The 2003 was much more fruity and had some earthiness to it, while the 2002 was all earthy. The earthiness aroma and flavor went really well with the béarnaise. When we got home, Marc found this great tasting chart from Justin comparing the vintages. All in all, a fun evening and special thanks to Erik for the recommendation to do the ½ bottle. Well worth it.

And in case you are wondering, my NCAA brackets are down the tubes. L