World Wine Weblog

Pairing seafood with big reds: Sesame seed encrusted Ahi Tuna and Mourvedre

I love seafood, but I don't particulalry like white wines, which are typically recommended for pairing with seafood dishes. Several years ago, I discovered that grilled salmon pairs well with Pinot Noir, and that my penchant for big reds makes bigger Pinot Noirs, such as Irony, nicely complement grilled salmon with a spice rub. I've discovered what may be my favorite pairing yet between a seafood dish and a big red wine: sesame seed encrusted seared Ahi Tuna and Mourvedre. The peppery, spicy flavor of a 2008 Chateau Ste. Michele Mourvedre turned out to be the perfect complement to the peppery, spicy flavor of the meal. Here is what the tasting notes from CSM winemaker Bob Bertheau say about the wine:

“Mourvèdre is traditionally blended with Rhone-origin varietals, but it’s the shining star of this wine with just a touch of Syrah for additional layers. This is a round and elegant wine that exhibits flavors and aromas of Herbes de Provence with white pepper spice. There is an underlying meat and earthiness that is beautifully complex all on its own, with an interesting juxtaposition of very soft tannins.”

For Christmas Eve dinner each year, we've taken to experimenting with non-traditional meals. This year, we found some good looking Ahi tuna steaks at Costco for $12.99 / pound, and decided to grill these up using a tasty recipe for sesame seed encrusted Ahi Tuna that I found at GrillingAddiction.com. Following the directions thre, I rubbed the tuna steaks with olive oil, toasted up some sesame seeds and rubbed them in, along with some coarsely ground black peppercorns. I gently laid them on the rack of our Weber Genesis Silver gas grill and because they were about 1.5" thick, I seared them on high heat for 3 minutes per side vs. the recommended 2 minutes per side for 1" thick steaks. I forgot to add a dash of sesame oil, but they turned out fine (the photo above is from Grilling Addiction, as I also forgot to take a photo of the tuna steaks before we ate them).

To accompany the tuna, I turned to another online recipe - Seared Ahi Tuna with Baby Boc Choy and Seasoned Rice - found at cbsop.com (cbsop = Cooking By the Seat of Our Pants). The sauce for the baby boc choy called for soy sauce and oyster flavored sauce, but I substituted a variant of the "3-2-1" sauce from Grilling Addiction: 3 parts soy sauce (I used tamari), 2 parts hoisin sauce and 1 part hot Thai sauce (the recipe called for Sriracha Thai Hot Sauce but I substituted Thai Kitchen Roasted Red Chili Paste). Unfortunately, I didn't notice the "baby" part of the ingredients while at the store, so I picked up a regular bok choy, and cut it down to size. Evan stir fried it in vegetable oil for a few minutes to soften it up and we drizzled in some of the 3-2-1 sauce near the end. The recipe called for seasoning with Nori Komi Furikake (a rice seasoning blend containing contains sesame seeds, seaweed flakes, salt and sugar), but we we just sprinkled on some of the leftover toasted sesame seeds. We found mixing some rice, bok choy and the tuna in each forkful was most flavorful way of eating it. [The photo above is from cbsop.com].

I had originally planned to pair the tuna with Grenache, which has become my most recent favorite wine pairing with rubbed salmon, but Chateau Ste. Michelle was sold out of their most recent release of the wine, and I couldn't find any other wineries or stores in Woodinville that had Grenache. I also bought a bottle of the CSM 2008 Austral - a blend of Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah - at the winery, which we opened to taste side-by-side with the Mourvedre to accompany the tuna. The Austral was another worthy candidate, but I think the single varietal Mourvedre was the better of the two. Next time we grill up some salmon, I may try a similar side-by-side tasting, although it would be nice to find some Grenache as well ... and I find myself wondering about Carignan (though that can be even more challenging to find than Grenache).

Thanksgiving Food and Wine Pairing: Turkey and Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Two years ago, I'd shared the recommendation that in pairing food and wine on thanksgiving, drink what you like. I still believe in that philosophy, but in posting an entry on this year's Thanksgiving meal on my primary blog, in which I elaborated on our refinements in brining and grilling a turkey, I also noted a trend in pairing Chateauneuf-du-Papes with turkey over the years.

The photo on the left is of the Rhone wines we had with turkey last year - the 1998 Patrick Le Sec Chateauneuf du Pape "Aurore", the 1998 Domaine de Villeneuve "Ville Vignes" and the 1999 Chateau St. Cosme Gigondas - the photo on the right is of the two we had with turkey this year - the 1998 Domaine de Villeneuve Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Ville Vignes" (again) and the 2000 Domaine de la Janasse Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Chaupin". Of all of these, the Janasse is my favorite (in general, and with the turkey).

I believe most, if not all, of these are based predominantly on the Grenache grape, and so, as I noted in my main blog post, I may experiment with some single varietal Grenache next year, and perhaps a bit of Cinsault (Chateau Ste. Michelle offered their first single varietal bottlings of each grape this past year, and both sold out very quickly to Wine Club members).

I decided to repost this information here, as this is the forum in which I like to log my most interesting experiences with food and wine pairing ... and Chateauneuf-du-Pape may not be an obvious choice for most people looking for wines to pair with turkey.

Recreating the Ultimate Wine and Cheese Pairing Experience: Turley Zinfandel and a Mystery Cheese

On June 23, 2004, Amy and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Union Restaurant in Seattle. Everything about the food, service and atmosphere was outstanding, but what stood out most of all was the wine and cheese pairing experience we had during our first course. To start with, I was amazed to find a Turley Zinfandel on the wine list (I believe it was the 2002 Juvenile or Old Vines -- the bottle has the additional label denoting the Paso Robles earthquake in December 2003, so maybe it was the 2003 vintage). Then, when the cheese plate arrived, one of the cheeses, paired with the wine, created the most amazing wine and cheese taste sensation I've ever experienced. All of them were good but there was one that really stood out. Unfortunately, I've forgotten which of these cheeses was the one. Fortunately, however, I'd snapped a photo of the cheese plate and menu (see below).

Last night, we participated in a "progressive dinner" with three other couples, and we offered to do a wine and cheese course. After over two years on the waiting list for the Turley mailing list, I recently started getting shipments of Turley Zinfandel, including the 2004 Juvenile and Old Vines, so I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to attempt to recreate that ultimate wine and cheese pairing experience from June 2004.

I picked up [what I thought were] the five cheeses at Whole Foods:

• Blue Valdeon 2 Milk
• Pecorino Romano
• Goat Le Chevrot
• Pont L'eveque
• Pierre Robert

It took two trips -- four of the five were in the Redmond store, the last was in Bellevue -- and still, two are approximations (Pecorino Romano rather than Pecorino Fiore Sardo D.O.P., and Goat Le Chevrot rather than Mini Chevrot), and one was downright wrong (Blue Valdeon rather than Queso Azul de Valderon). Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a photo of the cheeses when they were laid out on the tray; fortunately, I remembered to snap a photo of the cheeses before I'd prepared them.

The eight of us each tried each of the cheeses with each of the wines, after starting out with a bottle of 2001 Hendry Ranch Zinfandel while people will still arriving. No one cheese turned out to be the favorite for a majority of everyone tasting. At least one person voted for each cheese, except for the Pecorino Romano, as a favorite, with a critical mass around the Valdeon and Pierre Robert. As for the wines, the Turley Old Vines was the favorite, followed closely by the Turley Juvenile. Mary, with whom I'd split a case of the Hendry three years ago, noted that the Hendry seemed to have mellowed considerably since we first had it, so it really wasn't a fair comparison with two young Turleys (I really only opened that one because it was the only other Zin I had close at hand as people were coming over).

My personal goal was to rediscover the one cheese that so exquisitely complemented the Turley. What I found was that they all complemented the Turley very well. Of course, I like Turley by itself, and like nearly all of the cheeses on their own, too. I suppose the standout was that I did not enjoy the Pont L'Eveque separately, but pairing with either of the Turleys really brought out a new taste that I did enjoy. I suspect, however, that the Queso Azur de Valderon -- the only cheese for which I did not have even an approximation -- may be the one I so fondly remember from the original experience ... and so I will try another experiment, once I can track down the missing cheese.

Irony 2004 Napa Valley / Carneros Pinot Noir

It's summer in Seattle, which I associate with grilling and salmon (among many other associations) ... and I associate grilled salmon with Pinot Noir.

We picked up some salmon -- generic Wild King Salmon and Yakutat Salmon -- at Whole Foods yesterday, where there were cases of the 2004 Irony Pinot Noir prominently displayed. With a wine name like Irony, a winery name of Life's Strange Twists, a $12 price tag and a description on the placard that included depth, complexity and smoke, I just had to try it.  Also, the alcohol level of 14.5% on the label -- high for a Pinot Noir -- reinforced my belief that this wine would have depth and complexity ... and it did, along with the smoke. 

The winery web site is "under contruction", and the only other description I can find on the web is at BevMo (where the 2003 version is available for $10):

90 PTS WILFRED WONG. Enticing, exotic, and another "e" word I cannot mention, the fascinating '03 Irony Pinot Noir steals the show; packed with fruit, smoked bacon rind, and pungent sour plum, tasty!

The wine paired beautifully with all four variations of salmon that we prepared: we coated half of each salmon with Tom Douglas' Salmon Rub (from the "Rub with Love" spice rub series).  The Yakutat Salmon, with 33% oil, was preferred over the regular King Salmon, with 16% oil, and the rubbed sections were preferred over the plain sections, by all members of the family.  Along with having twice as much oil content, the Yakutat Salmon is also nearly twice as expensive -- and, like Copper River Salmon and Yukon River Salmon, only available for brief periods each year.  It would be fun to arrange a multi-person multi-dimensional Salmon and Pinot Noir tasting while everything is in season ... but we may have to wait until next season.

Thanksgiving Food and Wine Pairing: Drink What You Like

I received an email asking my opinion about serving the Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir at Thanksgiving, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some thoughts on my experience matching wines with turkey and other tradtional foods on Thanksgiving.

I remember one Thanksgiving several years ago, probably 1999 (I remember vividly that 1997 was the currently available vintage for Chateauneur-du-Pape), when I brought five bottles of wine to a Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin's house in New Hampshire.  Given that turkey was the [food] focus, I brought a couple of whites (a Fume Blanc and a Chardonnay), a Pinot Noir, a medium bodied Zinfandel and a full-throttle Zin.  My cousin-in-law, Richard, brought nothing but big reds (including the 1997 Domaine de Marcoux Chateauneuf-du-Pape, my first taste of wine of CdP ... and it was love at first taste!).  The whites and pinot noir were pretty good wines, for their style, but as soon as I started into the big reds (for which I have a strong prediliction), they fell flat, and I couldn't bring myself to drink any more ... and I was grateful that I rarely go anywhere (for dinner) without bringing at least one big red with me :-) ... and, of course, I was grateful that Richard had brought all the "right" wine, as he always does ... but then that's his job -- literally (he is the wine department manager of the Brattleboro Food Co-op).

To my surprise, despite the "better" match with the turkey that might be predicted for the whites and lighter red (using conventional wisdom), even with the food, I liked the big reds ... I guess I nearly always prefer big reds, even with lighter or medium fare (a more recent example of this preference can be seen in my experiment in pairing salmon with pinot noir and sauvignon blanc). 

Now, I still prefer a Pinot Noir (such as Castle Rock) paired with spicy Thai food than other, bigger, reds, but for a comparatively blander meal like turkey, I think the bigger the better. Since I like the Castle Rock Pinot Noir, I think it would be just fine with a Thanksgiving meal (though I suspect finding anything earlier than the 2004 vintage would be challenging at this point ... but I think the 2004 is very similar to the 2002).  However, if I had any other wines I typically like better, in general, I would opt for those.

I welcome other insights and experiences on this topic that anyone else is willing to share.

A Trio of Pinots: De Loach, Edna Valley and Willakenzie

We've been enjoying good food and wine -- and conversation -- with our old friends, the Hefferns, this weekend.  Amy, Jack and Donna picked up a bunch of seafood (salmon, halibut, tuna, crab and clams) at Pike Place Market on Friday, and we've paired these with a selection of wines over the weekend.  We determined that Sauvignon Blanc (DiStefano, 2002) goes better with crab than Pinot Noir, but confirmed an earlier preference for Pinot Noir over white wines (in this case the Sauvignon Blanc and McCrea Viognier) with salmon.

We tried three different Pinot Noirs over the weekend -- all bought for $15-20 from Fine Wines, and each one progressively "bigger" (and so, in our estimation, better).  Our first was the 2001 DeLoach Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, which had a light color and medium body. 

The 2003 Edna Valley Paragon Pinot Noir, was a bit darker and had more spice and body.  The winemaker notes say "The 2003 Edna Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir shows rich black cherry and strawberry fruit, backed by caramel and vanilla notes, a full, viscous palate, soft tannins and a lingering, smoky finish."

Our favorite was the 2003 Willakenzie Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which their tasting panel describes as follows:

The wine’s deep, clear garnet color is an indication of the intensity of the 2003 vintage. The aromas give an initial impression of fresh, bright red and black fruits, enhanced by subtle floral tones and an appealing touch of earthiness. The flavors follow the aromas with lively red and black cherry, blackberries and currants and a hint of violets. The mid-palate is full of ripe fruit, framed by good acidity and round, well-integrated tannins. The overall impression in the mouth is generous, balanced and very pleasing. The finish is long with licorice, spice and a touch of pepper. This is a wonderfully approachable wine, which is ready to drink now and will continue to improve for the next 2- 3 years.

I will pick up more of the Willakenzie, compare it to the 2002 Hartford Pinot Noir, which was our favorite in another comparative tasting we had a few weeks ago (same price range) ... and perhaps post an update.

Salmon and Wine Pairing

We had salmon last night -- wild Alaskan Sockeye -- grilled with a butter, wine, garlic and herb basting.  I had to use some white for the sauce, and decided to use the opportunity to do a side-by-side accompaniment comparison of a white and a red.  The white was the Quivira 2000 Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, another bargain wine ($5) from Trader Joe's; the red was the Rodney Strong 2002 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, "a medium-full-bodied wine with bright red fruit character, accents of earth and smoke, and a long satiny finish," which I think I picked up for $14 at Safeway.  We both liked the way both wines tasted, alone and with the salmon, but liked the Pinot Noir better (on both counts), and so salmon and Pinot Noir may become a more standard pairing for us in the future.

Ham and Carmenere: Arboleda 2002 Colchagua Valley Carmenere

I had earlier commented on how much I enjoyed the food and wine pairing of ham and Malbec that I tried during a holiday party; for Easter dinner, we had a smoked ham, and I decided to pair it with Carmenere, another Bordeaux varietal that is increasingly grown in South America (and it has not been grown in Bordeaux since a phylloxera outbreak there in the 19th century).  We picked up the only bottle of Carmenere I could find at Larry's Market (and it was the last bottle): the Arboleda 2002 Colchagua Valley Carmenere from Chile ($13).  It was full, spicy and tannic, and complimented the ham -- and the potatoes au gratin -- quite nicely.  On its own, I think I like it even better than the Malbec, but I think a side-by-side comparison is called for ... assuming I can find more of this wine.

Full Moon 2003 "Honey Moon" Viognier

I enjoyed the Full Moon Zinfandel so much, I just had to try their Viognier (also available at Trader Joe's, for $6 per bottle).  We paired this with a smoked salmon recipe with pasta and a creamy, dill and ginger sauce.  It worked quite well, complementing rather than overpowering the meal (I had earlier noted that the McCrea Viognier overpowered a grilled salmon we had once, which may be due to the comparative fullness of the McCrea wine or the comparative lightness of the grilled (vs. smoked) salmon ... I look forward to another opportunity to taste the McCrea Viognier -- and their other varietals -- at Fine Wines on Friday).

I'm even worse at describing tastes and aromas of white wines than I am of red wines, so I'll simply transcribe the label (and say that, in retrospect, I concur with the description):

Viognier is a rare and stylish grape with golden hues and amazing floral scents.  Our Honey Moon Viognier is named after the June full moon, which signifies the moment when the sweet scent of flowers turn into young grapes, creating this lush, full bodied wine with peach, apricot and honeysuckelae aromas, followed by luscious honey, mango and nectar finish.

Very perfumey, Viognier is beautiful with "exotic" recipes such as Thai coconut-basred curries and many cheeses.  It's also a tasty and unusual choice for dishes like simply prepared lobster, roast chicken and plainly sauteed sole or trout.

So, it looks like I may have yet another wine to match with Asian food, and a candidate for accompanying Amy's mango salsa.

[Update (2005-03-26): I have confirmed that this Viognier does, in fact, compliment Amy's mango salsa quite nicely.  Also, I was $1 off in the price I originally posted ... it's actually $6 per bottle, which I edited above.]

Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir

Another great bargain from Trader Joe's ($9 / bottle).  Amy even likes this wine, and the only other pinor noir's she's ever liked were the ones we had from Ken Wright and Chehalem at Ray's Boathouse when Meg and Richard were visiting last April -- and those were far more (5x to 10x) expensive (though they were better wines).  Many pinot noirs are just too light and delicate for either of us, but this one has considerably more substance than most.

We paired this pinot noir with thai food (from Racha Thai) and it complimented the Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai and Pad Ki Mao, very nicely.  I rarely even try to match up wine with asian food, given the nearly overwhelming spices; the only other time I succeeded was when we had a 1998 Gigondas (I forget from where) with some Malaysian food at Mandalay Cafe last year.  I suspect it's the plum flavor in both wines that combines so well with the Asian food.

This elegant well-balanced wine offers aromas of red fruit and spice.  On the palate, there are flavors of plum and cherry with oak nuances, and the finish is long and harmonious.  [From the label of the Castle Rock 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir]