WTN The Great Chianti Food Experiment

I should start by saying that this topic is not going to be anywhere near as interesting as the title made it out to be.

Regular readers will be aware that I regularly commit the grotesque and sinful act of drinking wine without a meal. Far more so than with, in fact. I think a lot of British people do this and so they'd be all the better for knowing a bit about what they were buying, seeing as so much wine, especially red, is that much better with some food.

But I digress. Some time ago I thought it might be amusing to do a thoroughly shotgun and unscientific test of the maxim that wines from a given country go well with food from the same country. Seeing as I cook and eat an awful lot of Italian-style (we're vegetarian so I can't entirely say just "Italian") food that seemed as good a place as any to start. So, I bought a bottle of Terrabianca 2003 Chianti Classico Riserva "Croce" which has been sitting in the cellar for about a year. This weekend I finally got round to opening it and trying it with a range of foods.

On it's own the wine came across as being quite exquisitely balanced. The tannins were soft and round and the acid sufficient to give the wine some backbone without spoiling the fruit flavours - blackcurrant, plum and cherry ably supported by a pleasing level of oak treatment. Clearly a lovingly made wine, but the whole was somehow slightly flat - a little watery.

So we then tried it with a dish of pasta in a home-made pesto of grilled tomato and sweet pepper. Frankly I can only describe the result as a revelation. The wine became, if anything, even softer and suddenly packed a massive punch of rich, opulent black cherry that was only hinted at before. The vanilla vanished and the spice increased, leaving behind hints of both sweet spice and black pepper. We had to restrain ourselves from drinking the rest of the bottle then and there.

The other dish we had lined up to try it with was some mixed antipasti - grilled artichokes, olives in parmesan and pink pepper and some sun-dried tomatoes. Now bizarrely although tomatoes are obviously sweet, the antipasti didn't taste as sweet as our pesto. And yet they made the wine taste unpleasantly acid. I can only assume the amount of salt in the olives and tomatoes somehow masked the sweet flavour until such time as it contrasted poorly with the wine.

So, our little experiment half-worked. But it was really interesting trying this particular wine with and without food. I've done it before with some other wines - NZ Sauvignon and Nebbiolo - but never in the past found that it changed the wine quite so much, or indeed improved the whole meal experience to such a degree. There's clearly a lot to learn about exactly what's best to go with what, but simply picking a regional wine to go with a regional dish can clearly backfire, as this did with the antipasti.

I'd recommend the wine though. Cracking stuff with the food and pretty good without - 5/5

Matt
Great post. Plenty of people here who are much more astute on food & wine matching than me, so I'll be interested in their thoughts.

Of the second dish, perhaps a few dangerous food elements that can make choosing a wine difficult (but not impossible)
- Parmesan and other strong tasting cheeses can overpower good (especially delicate) wines.
- Salt (on the olives) is a tricky 'food', as can olives themselves be
- Artichokes - I'm not a great eater of these, but recall they also present difficulties in food matching
- Also dressings can clash (don't know if you used one)

There are plenty of books either solely on wine/food matching or where it plays an element. For a nice cheap "primer" that's more than useful in it's own right, I occasionally refer to the food/wine section of Hugh Johnson's annual "Pocket wine book". Often reduced down to £6 or so, it's a great bargain that I buy ~ every other year.

regards

Ian

One of my favorite aspects of wine is trying it with different foods, attempting to create good matches and/or contrasts. There are some "rules" that tend to hold true, like those mentioned by Ian, but it's fun to see how different spices or sauces can take what might have otherwise been an average marriage and make it really compatible. Also, as someone who doesn't do a whole lot of cooking, I might someday be able to write a small book on which frozen meals go well with certain wines!

A few matches that come to mind are:

Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli with a 2005 Vissoux Fleurie Poncie
Lean Cuisine Veggie Pizza with a 2004 Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, roasted peppers and thyme with a kabinett riesling of all things (can't remember the exact wine).

Matthew,

Seeing as how you type with a British accent your post seems well thought out and quite reasonable. Were it written in "American" I would likely take exception.

Actually, I don't get too hung up on selecting food/wine combinations. Like you, I prefer to taste better wines without food, or with very simple foods that don't get in the way of the wine. Deli meats, baked fish, shellfish, and light cheeses are all relatively unobtrusive and generally work well. My wife spends lots of time looking for wine/fine synergies which are fantastic when you hit on them, but are more often the exception than the rule. In fact, I have all but given up on pairing dessert with wine. Most dessert wines go best by themselves, or with cheese in my opinion.

Good post MattThr. It reminds me of when I first got into drinking Italian wines and I wrote many of them off as being too thin and acidic. The problem was not with the wine but the fact that I was not pairing them with the correct food.

In fact, I have all but given up on pairing dessert with wine. Most dessert wines go best by themselves, or with cheese in my opinion.

Sam, I've found that certain nuts can also be a nice accompaniment to some desert wines, walnuts and almonds in particular. I've enjoyed them with Sauternes, tawny port and pedro ximenez, along with cheese as you suggested (Stilton, specifically).

Good post MattThr. It reminds me of when I first got into drinking Italian wines and I wrote many of them off as being too thin and acidic. The problem was not with the wine but the fact that I was not pairing them with the correct food.

Good point Dave. Have to add that a little sugar in the tomato pasta sauce can help the balance somewhat.

Sam, I've found that certain nuts can also be a nice accompaniment to some desert wines, walnuts and almonds in particular. I've enjoyed them with Sauternes, tawny port and pedro ximenez, along with cheese as you suggested (Stilton, specifically).

Kyrstyn,

I agree. I just had almonds with an Otima Tawny Port this past weekend. We struggle with pairing dessert wines with sugary desserts. Pound cake works okay with Sauternes, and tarts good alright with some late harvest wine and TBA's, but on the whole I've not found any wine/sweet dessert combination that knock my socks off.

Well, if you're going to do food-wine experiments, I suppose Chianti is a natural place to start.

Although that menu sounds awfully spring and summer life for January in the UK

Well, if you're going to do food-wine experiments, I suppose Chianti is a natural place to start.

Although that menu sounds awfully spring and summer life for January in the UK

Wonderful thing, central heating

Besides, traditional winter comfort food is hard work for vegetarians.

Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, roasted peppers and thyme with a kabinett riesling of all things (can't remember the exact wine).

Actually I can imagine that working extremely well. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. As luck would have it I've got some Dr. Loosen kabinett I was saving *just in case* it needed some age, but after that I feel like breaking it out and giving your suggestion a try. Thanks for the other suggestions too!

- Parmesan and other strong tasting cheeses can overpower good (especially delicate) wines.
- Salt (on the olives) is a tricky 'food', as can olives themselves be
- Artichokes - I'm not a great eater of these, but recall they also present difficulties in food matching
- Also dressings can clash (don't know if you used one)

No dressing, and we went easy on the parmesan, but I'd forgotten all about Artichokes being a difficult match and didn't realise that olives were thought of the same way. I confess I'm a little surprised by this revelation - since olives are popular snacking food in many old-world wine making areas, you'd have thought some effort might have gone in to creating some synergy between the two, either in terms of the winemaking or the dressing of the olives.

There are plenty of books either solely on wine/food matching or where it plays an element. For a nice cheap "primer" that's more than useful in it's own right, I occasionally refer to the food/wine section of Hugh Johnson's annual "Pocket wine book". Often reduced down to £6 or so, it's a great bargain that I buy ~ every other year.

I've seen that in the shops before - thanks for the tip, will keep an eye open.

In the wine-food pairing department people tend to differ on whether acidic foods should be paired with acidic wines or with less acidic wines. I like the acidic Chianti Classico with tomato-sauced pasta (tomatoes are acidic and not always on the sweet side) but some would prefer a less acidic wine with tomato-based sauces. Same thing with fatty, buttery foods. Some like an acidic wine to cut through the fat. Others like a buttery wine such as a Chardonnay with malolactic fermentation to match the buttery sauce. I have had good pairings both ways--lobster tail with butter-lemon sauce with a buttery Chard for example or a fish in a creamy sauce with an acidic, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc.

Besides, traditional winter comfort food is hard work for vegetarians.

Tell me about it!

I'm vegetarian myself and have spent some winters in the UK. I became very creative with the 'pantry'..

Especially with olives, one of my go-to additions for flavor in the winter. And I love using them to deepen a dish that might not otherwise go with red wine. But I can see how their bitter briny flavors might be challenging in some circumstances.

Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, roasted peppers and thyme with a kabinett riesling of all things (can't remember the exact wine).

Actually I can imagine that working extremely well. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

I found kabinett riesling (particularly trocken) a natural match with Zwiebelkuchen and then pretty soon it was fantastic with quiche, so the goodness of the match with eggs scrambled with goat cheese doesn't seem surprising to me at all.

Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, roasted peppers and thyme with a kabinett riesling of all things (can't remember the exact wine).

Actually I can imagine that working extremely well. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

I found kabinett riesling (particularly trocken) a natural match with Zwiebelkuchen and then pretty soon it was fantastic with quiche, so the goodness of the match with eggs scrambled with goat cheese doesn't seem surprising to me at all.

Not to mention the fact that the roasted peppers probably played off the kabinett sweetness while the thyme probably played off the kabinett bitterness.

Well constructed Matt!