Winophilia

In most high-end American steakhouses, cabernet sauvignon rules, especially if it’s from California and the label is silver or has a duck on it. But is cabernet sauvignon the best variety to pair with a great piece of charred cow? What do you like to pair  with steak, and why? Let’s leave sauces out of the mix and focus on the beef.

Chuck Furuya, Master Sommelier, DK Restaurants (Honolulu). With high-quality steaks, one sure can be adventuresome and have a lot of fun pairing wines. Plus, the scope of wines can be quite  diverse. For instance, my partner at DK Steakhouse, DK Kodama, loves drinking high-impact red wines with our “vintage” steaks. With the dry-aged rib-eye “on the bone,” DK especially likes hearty, rustic Paso Robles syrah-based reds from producers such as Linne Calodo, Saxum and Epoch, where the wine’s innate rusticity works well with the steak’s gaminess from the aging process. Plus, the limestone soils where the grapes are grown create an amazing buoyancy in the finished wines which just further adds to the overall enjoyment. READ MORE »

In most high-end American steakhouses, cabernet sauvignon rules, especially if it’s from California and the label is silver or has a duck on it. But is cabernet sauvignon the best variety to pair with a great piece of charred cow? What do you like to pair with steak, and why? Let’s leave sauces out of the mix and focus on the beef.

Jim Clarke, Wine Director, Megu New York (New York City). I think a lot of emphasis is put on the body of the wine when it comes to pairing with steak, when it can be the tannins that make the real difference. Last January I had a delicious cut of steak during a visit to the Chianti producer Badia a Coltibuono, paired of course with their wines, which are by and large in a traditional, dry, lighter-bodied style. The pairing was great; even the regular Chianti Classico had firm, dry tannins that perfectly addressed the fat of the beef. I actually serve it by the glass now at Megu and it does just as well with our kobe. Overall I think the body, alcohol and dark fruit that characterize today’s California cabernets are just window-dressing as far as the pairing goes; they’re great if that’s the style of wine you or your guests enjoy, but it’s structure and tannin that does the heavy lifting. READ MORE »

Please pick a specific cheese and wine pairing that you believe is especially successful, and explain why the combination works?

Steven Grubbs, Wine Director, Five and Ten Restaurant (Athens, GA). I think that making consistent, articulate pairings of wine and cheese is one of the harder tricks to master. The nuances of particular wines (all of which are in constant flux) meeting with the nuances of particular cheeses (all of which are also in constant flux) brings about some pretty rampant variables, and to herd them all into a workable formula is close to impossible. READ MORE »

Champagne producers always emphasize that Champagne is a flexible wine at the dinner table, rather than merely something to be served before and after a meal (i.e., as an aperitif or at the end of a meal, with or without dessert). Where have YOU had success in pairing Champagnes with various courses at the dinner table?

Christopher P. Bates, GM/Executive Chef, Hotel Fauchere (Milford, PA). I always find that for my palate, Champagne works much better in places you would not expect it to work than in places you would. While it is always easy to reach for Champagne with a raw or cured (or smoked) fish dish at the beginning of the meal, I often find the bubbles to be too aggressive for this type of delicacy in a dish. I rather prefer to use Champagne as the dishes kick up a few notches and in fact are in need of lightening. A pork roast or belly with a little smoke to it and some sweetness from fruits and heat from chilies works counter-intuitively with a fruity style of non-vintage rosé. READ MORE »