Winophilia

As we are now coming up on peak rosé season, can you recommend TWO of your favorite examples: one light, crisp and quaffable, the other more hearty and serious. And what kinds of foods do you pair each of them with?

Elise Loehr, Proprietor/Wine Director, F. Scott’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar (Nashville, TN).

Light rosé:  Gilbert Cellars Rosé of Mourvedre Columbia Valley (Washington): Think Bandol Rosé American style.

with Baby Rocket & Charcoal Grilled Pork Salad, with Carrots, Leeks, Sunflower Sprouts, Marcona Almonds & a Pea Tendril Vinaigrette (this dish is somewhat Asian in flair)

More intense rosé: Chateau Monpensier Le Grand Bouqueteau Chinon Rosé: if Chinon Rouge and Sancerre had a baby it would taste like this!

with Lamb Cannelloni with Goat’ s Milk Cottage Cheese, Fava Beans & Tomato Sauce (please . . . lamb AND goat’s cheese with Loire wines? Shooting fish in a barrel!!!) READ MORE »

Can you name a few wines for which you have a standing order, vintage in and vintage out? I’m referring less to trophy wines than to standouts that help to anchor your lists. And how do you typically use these wines with your cuisine?

Jeff Groh, Wine Director, Merriman’s Kapalua (Lahaina, HA). Here in Hawaii we end up using a lot of higher-acid tropical fruit and Asian influences in our cuisine. These elements are often coupled with a bit of heat or paired with delicate flaky fish like opakapaka, so when it comes to wine pairings you are already painted into certain corners. If you truly want to represent wines that are best pairings a chunk of your list is going to have to be lighter-to-medium-bodied, higher-acid, lower-tannin red wines; or higher-acid, light-to-medium-bodied, neutral/unoaked whites with varying levels of residual sugar. READ MORE »

What is the most challenging dish to pair with wine that’s currently on your menu, and why is it so difficult? And what wine (or other liquid refreshment) are you recommending to your clients to accompany it?

Nicholas Daddona, Sommelier & Wine Director, Meritage Restaurant (Boston, MA). This is an interesting question for me as a sommelier. I work in Boston at Chef Daniel Bruce’s “Meritage” at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Meritage was conceived and is operating as a restaurant that puts wine first and food second. This being said, the majority of the dishes are created with food and wine pairings in mind, though there are some challenging dishes to pair! The one that immediately comes to mind is our take on New England oysters. READ MORE »

It has been observed that the chateau proprietors of Bordeaux have lost a new generation of American wine drinkers as a result of their pricing policies and their tilt toward the Asian markets in recent years. What do you see as the role of Bordeaux in your restaurant(s)? Is the category in decline? What would it take to stimulate interest in these wines among a younger generation of consumers who see $1,000 and up a bottle as the standard price for a Bordeaux first growth?

Daniel Johnnes, Wine Director, Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group (New York City). Since I launched my Bordeaux Collection as part of my import portfolio, I have been blown away by the response. My initial projections were modest yet realistic. Since introducing these wines just over two years ago we have surpassed these projections by over 300%.

Some sommeliers may answer your inquiry in the same rote fashion as always by trashing Bordeaux, and lump the small chateaux in the same frame as the rarified classified growths, which are putting these wines out of reach of the general public. These sommeliers are not tasting wine from an objective perspective. They are following the herd and promoting fashionable wines—i.e., Jura, Loire, natural, etc. READ MORE »