Somms offer picks for seasonal wine matches
Autumnal flavors, like the season, represent a midpoint between summer and winter.
“Fall is the perfect ‘Goldilocks’ level,” says Mitchell Malnati, sommelier at the Meatpacking District location of New York-based Mediterranean restaurant Fig & Olive. “There’s a balance of weight in fall dishes. They’re not as light as summer, and not as heavy as winter.”
Being in the middle promotes diversity among fall dishes. Chefs have more leeway to lean heavy or light, within a wide range of flavors.
“There’s an abundance of ingredients available in fall, such as heartier vegetables, or root vegetables like gourds,” says Andrey Ivanov, advanced sommelier/beverage birector at Reeds American Table in St. Louis.
With such variety on menus, sommeliers enjoy a cornucopia of options for pairing wines.
“This time of year, there are so many more wine-friendly foods out there,” says Micah Clark, sommelier/general manager of Steak & Whisky, a new 50-seat steakhouse in Hermosa Beach, CA. Fall brings more fat, sugar and savory flavors, he notes.
“Think of your typical fall meal—maybe heavy on game meats or something rich like lamb or duck,” he adds. “All that accompanied by vegetables that have a higher natural sugar content, like roasted squash, sweet potatoes, beets or turnips.”
Rich With Rosé
Just as autumn is midway between seasonal extremes, rosé is also at a midpoint along the spectrum of weight, between lighter white and heavier red wines. That’s why many sommeliers recommend rosé with fall dishes.
Maz Naba, wine director of Nico, a 44-seat restaurant in San Francisco, is a fan of the Antica Terra Rosé Erratica 2011.
“It’s an atypical rosé, but still very much a crowd-pleaser,” Naba says. “It has an extended maceration period, building on the skins until right before it goes directly to press.
The wine, which Nico sells for $58 a bottle, is Burgundian: “It pours out darker. It’s more of an old-school rosé.”
He recommends the Rosé Erratica with Nico’s pork shoulder chop, served with chantelle mushrooms, polenta and turnips. “Something on the savory side, very earthy,” Naba says.
“We might try to incorporate turnips, with cherry vinegar and lighter, Chinese pork siu,” he adds. “That pairs well with the Rosé Erratica.”
Nico offers three- and five-course pairing dinners for $35 or $45, respectively. These menus change every night, and the price includes wine by the glass.
Paul Chevalier, national fine wine director for Shaw-Ross International Importers expects rosé to be popular for the holiday season. “One of the hottest pairings this year will be rosé with turkey and savory stuffing,” he says.
Shaw-Ross imports Chateau d’Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé. The company recently rebranded its estate-bottled namesake rosé as Rock Angel Rosé for better alignment with its sister brand.
The Season’s Bounty
Fall cuisine typically involves dried fruits, cooked squash and lots of pumpkin, Chevalier says. Things are ripenings this time of year, he notes. “And there’s so many great fall spices, all the cinnamons and gingers.”
Fig & Olive, which operates eight restaurants—four in New York, two in the Los Angeles area and one each in Chicago and Washington, D.C., in previous seasons offered a pumpkin sage ravioli ($26) in the fall. The dish has “wonderful sage notes, and is rich and spicy,” says Malnati. He pairs a medium-bodied red wine, such as a chianti, with the pumpkin ravioli.
“The chianti has notes of eucalyptus and spearmint, with forest profiles,” he says. “When you’re drinking it, you feel like you’re camping in the forest.”
Another good match with the pasta dish is the Vindicated cabernet from Napa Valley, which Fig & Olive Meatpacking sells by the glass for $17 to $19. Malnati suggests a wide array of bottles, ranging in price from $50 to $92, from entry-level chianti to a Barolo Reserva.
At Steak & Whisky, the menu makes use of a traditional fall fruit by serving pickled crab apples alongside a lamb dish. “A classic wine to pair with lamb is a good red Bordeaux,” Clark says. “Something like a 2005 Chateau Vignot, a bottle we list at $120.” The wine blend is mostly merlot, he says of the Chateau Vignot. “The soft, rich tannins of the merlot, the earthiness and smokiness, play well with the lamb flavors.”
Meat the Reds
Clark also looks towards rioja wine from Spain this season, especially the gran reserva variety.
“With a little aging, you can really get that fantastic oak-influenced flavors,” he explains. “That goes well with dill pickles, beautiful dried fruits, cranberries, figs.”
Rioja is a traditional Thanksgiving pairing, “because it goes well with the entire spread,” he notes.
“We’ve got a great bottle of Ribera del Duero—though not technically rioja, it has the same grapes and aging process—for $78 that is amazing with rich steaks and game,” he adds.
For something “more contemplative,” Clark will suggest Steak & Whisky’s trio of old vintages from Marques de Caceres (1990, 1994, 1995). These riojas can “make you stop and think about the changing seasons, and are worth the price point of $170 to $190.”
Reeds American Table serves a pork steak with braised collard greens, potato rösti, and crème fraîche ($15). Ivanov recommends pairing this with Bernard Magrez Kahina ($13 wa glass), a Moroccan red wine blend of 40% syrah and 60% grenache.
“It’s got that grenache spice, and some caramel notes,” Ivanov says of the Kahina. “The pork has a soft flavor profile, so this wine matches well, since it’s juicy without being overpowering.”
Another Fig & Olive fall specialty is rosemary lamb chops, smoked à la minute, with Herbs de Provence, goat cheese and chive gnocchi, braised eggplant with honey and thyme, and rosemary garlic olive oil ($39).
“The smokiness rises right out of this dish,” says Malnati. “To match with that, I usually steer guests towards an oaked California cabernet,” which Fig & Olive sells for between $17 and $19 a glass.
Clark is a big fan of cabernets from France: “They scream out for food this time of year.” He will suggest pairing a dry-aged steak with cabernet from the Domaine de la Noblaie vineyard in Chinon ($17 per glass).
“The cabernet tannins and greenness will cut through anything smoked or braised,” he says.
The beverage menu at Reeds American Table lists optimal food pairings for each order. In addition to red and white wines, several dishes are a match with vermouth.
For instance, the fingerling potato salad with roasted red potatoes ($8) pairs well with the Salers Gentiane ($7 a glass), a French apéritif made from gentian root and white wine.
The menu suggests diners try the Italian Americano Rosato Vermouth ($7) with the ricotta gnocchi appetizer ($11).
“The vermouth has a distinctive tart flavor, and that pairs well with the fall arugula of the gnocchi dish,” says Ivanov.
Fall into Dessert
Autumnal pairings can extend right through to the dessert course. Nico, for instance, ended one pairing dinner last fall with a dessert of black berries, fresh crème, red cabbage and juiced red beets.
What to pair with it? Naba went with a bottle of Piedmont brachetto. Made from the aromatic Italian red grape of the same name, the brachetto is effervescent with a low ABV.
“Anything with red fruit or dark berries is the perfect pairing,” he explains. “It’s almost like cheating.”
Another dessert featured last fall at Nico was a persimmon pomegranate spiced crumble. Naba matched this plate with Domaine Philippe Tessier’s Cour-Cheverny.
This white wine hails from France’s eastern Loire Valley, where the Cour-Cheverny AOC is the last region growing the Romorantin varietal, a sibling of chardonnay.
Why this wine with the fruit and vegetable dessert? “It has a burnt-hay smell, straw-like, and also is sweet,” Naba says of the Romorantin wine. “It has weight and medium acid. It holds up well to the persimmon.”
Kyle Swartz is the associate editor of Cheers Magazine. Contact him at kswartz@epgacceleration.com
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Reeds’ Exclusive Portuguese Blend
Reeds American Table in St. Louis regularly takes research trips to find wines, and tries to “bring home some of what we like best,” says advanced sommelier/beverage director Andrey Ivanov.
This includes the Quinta do Vale do Pios “Excomungado,” from Portugal. This wine is unusual in the Douro region for being a mix of the varietals touriga nacional, touriga franca and tinta roriz.
“The producer thought he would be excommunicated for making a blend,” Ivanov says. “Hence the name of the wine.”
Reeds, which sells the wine for $32 a bottle, pairs the Excomungado with its roasted pork tenderloin with green onions, English peas, carrots and pancetta fried rice ($26).
The wine is harvested from younger vines and kept in stainless steel tanks. It has “this twiggy quality, almost like underbrush, with an herby nose and taste of underripe cherry,” Ivanov says. “When put together, it stands up to the pork tenderloin. It helps brighten up the dish.”—KS
