greatpairings.com Blog

May 29, 2007

May 29, 2007 on 7:01 pm | In General |

This is the first entry for my Great Pairings journal, and, like most of entries to come, it is about a simple food & wine experience I’d like to share with you.

 I stopped in to a new wine bar in San Francisco called “District” on Townsend Street. I tried a 2002 “Pinot Nero” (same as a pinot noir) from Movia in Slovenia. Different style, but very nice. Lots of fruit and a good balance of acid, tannins and alcohol. For California standards, the alcohol was relatively low (13%), which makes it easier to pair with food, especially spicy (hot) food.

I had a small order of “Arancini with fontina and sage”. These are small risotto rounds, breaded and fried, with creamy, melted fontina inside. It was served with a slightly spicy roasted pepper sauce. The combination worked well. The cheese and the oil from the fried arancini coated my palate and softened the tannins, while the spice heated it up just a bit and lower the my perception of the fruit of the wine (look at the chart under the “Perfect Match / Elements of Taste on the web site). All this worked well with the wine. It did diminish the fullness of the flavor, but overall, it was a good match.

 Thanks for reading, please feel free to e-mail any comments or questions you might have and I’ll try to answer them as part of the blog.

Chef Bruce Riezenman, May 29, 2007

Eat well!