Trust your own taste to match wines with foods

By Wanda Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Several varietals were put to the test recently at a wine-and-food matching event at Chef Mavro restaurant. Photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Chris Franklin of McCully samples just a sip so as not to overwhelm his palate during a tasting at Chef Mavro restaurant.

So how is it that, when a group that includes even wine innocents sits down to match wines with dishes for Chef Mavro's new summer menu, they pretty much enjoy everything they taste and end up voting in a surprisingly uniform manner?

Because, said Brian Geiser, "there is no one right answer (as to which wine goes with which dish). There are dozens of right answers." And the best pairings tend to stand out even for those with little experience of wine-tasting.

This is not to say that wine-and-food matching can't be complicated. But if all you're looking for is something that tastes good with dinner, Geiser said, that's pretty easily accomplished.

Geiser is a longtime wine consultant to George "Chef Mavro" Mavrothalassitis' James Beard Award-winning restaurant in Honolulu, where the menu changes quarterly and every dish is matched to a particular wine by the glass.

At the tasting last week, the restaurant's entire staff, from chefs to dishwasher, along with a trio of invited guests, participated in a quarterly ritual. At lunch time on a Monday, normally the restaurant's day of rest, samples of Mavro's menu additions — six to nine new dishes — are nibbled in tiny portions with equally tiny sips of wines pre-selected by Geiser. He looks for wines likely to taste right with the dish as described by the chef, but also wines that are priced appropriately and are readily available; 20 to 25 cases of each are needed during the menu's three-month cycle.

The selections are all over the map. For example, the first "flight" — winespeak for a group of wines tasted in succession — included German, Austrian, New Zealand, French and Californian wines with varietals from reisling to pinot noir, colors from white to rosé. All were meant to complement a salad of deep-fried zucchini blossoms with sautéed Hamakua mushrooms drizzled with a watercress reduction, the flavors very clean and somewhat muted, and textures ranging from crisp to velvety.

The wines themselves ranged from light and subtle to steely and acidic to earthy and grassy. But all were acceptable with that dish. The Selbach 2001 Reisling from Mosel, Germany, got the most votes from the tasters.

Mavro's tastings are generally a private affair. However, on this occasion, regular customers Ruth and John Overton got the extraordinary opportunity to sit in because the chef had been persuaded to offer a tasting as a silent-auction item at the American Heart Association Heart Ball. The Overtons snapped it up and had been counting the days.

"It all works for me," moaned Ruth Overton, sipping from a flight of reds matched with Mavro's take on homely oxtail soup — a fillet of beef topped with an oxtail "dumpling" in star-anise consommé.

'Trust your taste'

"Don't try to be an expert," Mavro advised. "Just trust your taste."

Beyond that, to match the foods you prepare at home, or make an appropriate selection in a restaurant, you need to memorize a few general principles about wine, and you need a little knowledge of the dish you're planning to eat. These will get you into the right wine "ballpark" as you scan the wine list or grocery-store shelf. The rest is a pleasurable adventure.

"The main thing you have to look at in a dish that you're tasting or creating are the primary flavor components ... You're trying to have the flavor, texture and acidity (or sweetness) of the wine complement the dish. That usually means the sauce, not the thing under the sauce, determines the right wine match," Geiser said.

We've all heard reds with red meat, whites with white meat. But beef gently braised in a clear broth or lightly sautéed and topped with a cream sauce may go wonderfully with a white because it's the broth or sauce that is running the show.

"Complement," in the case of wine, can mean to match or to contrast. Sweet desserts, for example, are generally matched with sweet wines. But oilier kinds of fish benefit from pairing with a wine with good acidity, just as a little lemon helps to bring out the flavor of seafood. With broiled or grilled red meat, the proteins and the fat tend to coat the tongue and taste buds, Geiser said, so the sharp tannins in the red wine tend to clear that, revealing flavors and refreshing the palate.

The point is, what do you want to taste? With desserts, sweetness is usually desirable. With fish, oiliness is less so. The wine can bring up a desirable taste or smooth out a less-desirable one.

Foods that are difficult to pair — because certain flavor elements in these can turn even a usually delicious wine into a nasty shock — include tomato-based sauces with high acidity, artichokes and certain other vegetables, chilies and curries, Geiser said. The usual options are earthy, high-acid Italian reds for tomato sauces; beer with curry; light, low-alcohol German wines with a bit of sweetness for spicy dishes. Recommendations as to what to do about artichokes are all over the map from light, fruity reds to light, acidic whites; you're safest serving the artichoke as a first course with mineral water.

Beyond these tricky foods, Geiser said, "in reality, most people select wines that they like to drink and eat, not really caring whether they go together." As a wine steward — he's worked at many of Hawai'i's most select restaurants and is found now at The Bistro at Century Center when he's not working with Mavro — Geiser is happy to let customers drink what they like and rarely discourages a choice.

Restaurant fare

High-end restaurants — the ones where you are most likely to feel hesitant about choosing wine — have a sommelier (SAW-muhl-yay), wine steward or wine manager to help with selections.

There absolutely is no shame in baring your soul to that individual, Geiser said: "Look, I'm having steak, she's having 'ahi. I'm not sure what to order, and we're fairly new to wine." In a well-run wine operation, this should result in an enjoyable and unintimidating conversation about your taste preferences and the offer of several suggestions in different price ranges. If you feel bullied, sneered at, talked down to or shamed into spending more than you want to, they're not doing their job correctly. Go elsewhere and let the manager know why you won't be dining there again.

Further, wine-forward restaurants generally have gone to some effort to select wines to complement their cooking style, so it's hard to go too far wrong. A well-written wine list is descriptive and may also group wines in a helpful way (i.e. "lighter reds," "fruity whites").

In the grocery store, look for shelf labels or carry a copy of "Andrea Immer's Wine Buying Guide for Everyone" ($12.95, paper) that lists widely available, affordable and recommended brands, varietals and styles.

One way to get to know a wine is to conduct a casual tasting at home. Buy a couple of bottles of wine that seem interesting and that you know you'll be able to find again. Prepare or buy some small dishes or pupu — things that have different flavors, textures and acid/sweet profiles. Instead of dinner that night, sip and munch, making a mental note of what works. The next time you have a special meal, or go out to dinner, you can use this knowledge in making a wine selection. Repeat from time to time to broaden your wine knowledge.

Mavro guest John Overton, who collects wines, said he follows a two-bottle rule in getting to know a wine. He buys two bottles of a wine, drinks them on different occasions (because our tastes differ from day to day and to experience the wine with different foods). Only after he's tasted the wine twice in this way does he decide whether to invest in more of that vintage.

When all else fails, some wines are widely accepted as food friendly. These include rieslings and sauvignon blancs among whites and rhones and pinot noirs among reds. One school of thought is that pinot noir comes closest to going with everything.

New menu 'crazy' in a good way

"My menu this time is crazy, completely crazy," says chef George Mavrothalassitis at Chef Mavro — but crazy in a good way. A peek at the new menu items and their wine pairings (described by vintner, grape variety, region of origin):

Green Tea-dusted Zucchini Blossom Tempura — delicate zucchini blossoms battered and fried and served in a hot-and-cold salad with sauteed honshimeji mushrooms from Hamakua with one of those "essences" for which Mavro is famous, this time watercress. He takes a pot full of watercress, a spoonful of water and a good sprinkling of salt, cooks the watercress down, plunges it into an ice bath to retain the bright green color, then strains the verdant juice to use as a sauce ($16). Paired with Selbach 2001 Reisling, Mosel, Germany ($6).

Nori-wrapped Duck Foie Gras "au Torchon" — Mavro chef Chae Won Choe explained that "au torchon" means to wrap something, in this case a duck liver, in cloth and press it. The foie gras is tightly wrapped and steamed very briefly, chilled and rolled in nori, served sushi-style with a round of refreshing lemon aspic (made with sauternes wine and a paper-thin slice of poached lemon) and a vibrant unripe papaya salad pickled with rice wine vinegar. "Whenever I serve foie gras," says Mavro, "I try to serve it with something sharp to cut the fat. I can't believe I didn't think of nori earlier." ($20). Paired with Dr. F. Weins-Prums 2002 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese, Mosel, Germany ($12).

Onaga Fillet, Hot Aioli — succulent fillets of skin-on onaga served with a dollop of Mavro's trademark Provence-style mashed potatoes (very loose, silk-textured yellow Finn potatoes with olive oil and capers rather than butter or cream) and drizzled with a warm, liquid garlic mayonnaise ($39). Paired with Clos Ste. Magdalene 2002 Cassis, Provence, France ($11).

Beef a la Ficelle — beef fillet with a flavor-packed oxtail dumpling in a star- anise consomme with shaved root vegetables, a cross between a classic beef ficelle (a steamed or boiled beef) and oxtail soup. In this case, the fillet is trimmed and marinated for 24 hours in shoyu and balsamic vinegar, then seared to a dark caramel and topped with house-made powdered mushrooms before it's placed in the warm bowl with the broth and vegetables and topped with the dumpling ($37). Paired with Domaine des Bons Auspices 2000 Cuvée Emperatriz, Pays D'Oc, France ($11).

Roasted Mountain Meadow Lamb Chateau Daube Style — The chateau is a medallion of meat from between the leg and the back or rib of the lamb; Mavro has been working for 17 years to persuade his Colorado supplier, Mountain Meadow, to reserve that special cut for him because, he says, it has the flavor of the chop but the tenderness of a tenderloin. The dish is actually a deconstructed daube, the classic Provencal stew that is made by layering onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and lamb in a cast-iron casserole dish, covering the whole with thyme, garlic and white wine and then cooking it slowly all night. In this case, the various components are cooked separately, then brought together on the plate ($39). Paired with Le Baron de Brane 2000 Margaux, Bordeaux, France ($17).

Mango and Licorice — This dessert consists of house-made mango kanten (gelatin derived from seaweed), a very light licorice ice cream and a light sauce the draws the whole together ($8). Quady Electra 2003 Orange Muscat, Madera, Calif. ($6)

Hot Chocolate Foam — Being of the conviction that chocolate is best hot, Mavro has here designed a very sophisticated dessert of foamed warm chocolate mouse flavored with cumin and paired with a vanilla- bean sorbet, candied roast pineapple and chocolate sponge cake ($11). Domaine La Tour Vielle 2001 Banyuls, France ($8).

Learn wines with a few bottles, a few friends

A simple tasting of six wines, readily conducted at home, can arm you with enough knowledge to march bravely into a grocery store or restaurant and choose a wine to drink with dinner. As designed by wine expert Andrea Immer, it works like this:

Buy a bottle each of reisling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot or cabernet sauvignon. You don't have to spend the earth — bottles in the $10 to $15 range are fine. Gather a small group of friends.

Chill the whites well, and you may wish to chill the reds as well, just for a half hour or so before serving, given Hawai'i's warm temperatures. Taste the whites side by side first, then the reds, pouring just an ounce or so of each. Sip, swish the wine around in your mouth and swallow.

In tasting the wines, you'll be making note of three characteristics: acid (dry or sweet), body (light or full-bodied, crisp or viscous, slight or "big"), taste and scent (that whole planet of terms for what it smells like and tastes like to you). Notice, too, how the wines taste side by side:

• Reisling (REEZ-ling). Crisp, refreshing, fruity.
• Sauvignon blanc (SO-vuh-nyon blahnk). Light, tangy, citrusy.
• Chardonnay (SHAR-duh-nay). Heavy, rich, flavors of oak, fruit, butter or toast (depending on style).
• Pinot noir (PEE-now new-ah). Delicate, smooth, mouthwatering acidity.
• Merlot (mer-LOW). Heavier, richer, "red wine" flavor, smooth.
• Cabernet sauvignon (KA-ber-nay SEW-vuh-nyon). Full-bodied, intense, dry sensation of tannins, scents of wood, vanilla or smoke.

In future tastings, experiment with other popular wines, from light to heavy in this order: whites such as pinot grigio (pee-know GREE-jyo) and gewurtztraminer (geh-VERTS-tra-mee-ner) and reds such as zinfandel (say it just like it looks) and shiraz (shee-RAZ) (aka syrah).

Sommelier shares tips on selecting your wine

Here are tips to assist you in choosing a wine:

Accept help. If the restaurant is oriented toward wine service, there will be someone on staff — even if they aren't titled sommelier and wearing a silver chain around their neck.

Choose a style. Red or white? Grape variety? Country or region? Body style — heavy or light? If you've tasted enough to have an understanding of these basic wine attributes, you'll be able to navigate a wine list sufficiently to find your "style zone," then you can get some descriptive help from the wine steward.

Set the price. It's best to be up front — "No more than $20 a bottle, please." But if you don't want to broadcast your budget in front of guests, here's a tip from master sommelier Andrea Immer: Open the wine list and say to the server "We're thinking of a gutsy red about in this area. What do you recommend?," all the while tapping on an appropriate price on the wine list and looking meaningfully at him or her. She swears they'll know just what you mean.

What should you expect to spend? Wine by the glass generally sells within a dollar or two of the price of a single appetizer. Wine by the bottle follows the cost of entrées. So, while you'll find plenty of $10 to $15 bottles in a pasta joint, expect to see a lot of bottles in the $25 to $35 range in a chef-run restaurant where entrées start at $20. Of course, there will be both less expensive and more costly wines, too.

Here's a shocker: Most wines taste OK with most food. Truly complementary matches elevate the experience. But if you choose a merlot where a cabernet might have been better, you're not going to suffer. In the main, the wine list has been chosen to complement the food style of the restaurant, so relax.

Think ABC — that's anything but cabernet, anything but chardonnay. Wine lists often offer better value on less-popular grape varietals. These wines may be equally delicious, they're just not ordered as often. It's supply and demand. Say to the wine steward, "Normally, I'd have a chardonnay, but I'm feeling a little adventurous — is there another white you'd recommend with the fish?"

Source: "Andrea Immer's Wine Buying Guide"