By The Glass
CHUCK FURUYA
Wine pairings provide
high point of special dinnerA recent dinner at Roy's Hawaii Kai was the highlight of this year's wine-and-food get-togethers. The featured chefs were Roy Yamaguchi (of course), and three of his friends -- the legendary Nobu Matsuhisa, Yuuji Wakiya (considered the top Chinese chef in Japan) and fellow Islander Alan Wong. The winemaker was Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat. What an all star line-up and a wonderful opportunity to explore some unique wine pairings.
The evening's first pairing was one of the biggest challenges, as it featured Nobu's Onaga Tiradito, thinly sliced, delicately flavored, raw, deep-sea Hawaiian snapper served with a touch of a Peruvian chile paste and a very tangy yuzu dressing.
My knee-jerk wine recommendation would have been a bone-dry, light-bodied, white wine such as the 2001 Malvasia Bianca from Bonny Doon ($17), bottled under the winemaker's Mediterranean-esque Ca' del Solo label.
For this special shindig, the dish was paired with Au Bon Climat's 2000 "Santa Rita Hills" Chardonnay ($30), an upper-end reserve bottling. A California chardonnay normally would have been one of my last considerations, but this proved one of the evening's most remarkable pairings -- totally unexpected.
Produced from grapes grown in the Sanford & Benedict, Mount Carmel and Clos Pepe vineyards of the newly designated appellation, "Santa Rita Hills," this chardonnay was very pure, elegant, extremely fine and balanced. It really caught most of us by surprise, both in style and especially how deliciously it paired with this delicate dish.
Several other Au Bon Climat wines led to impressive pairings as the meal progressed:
The 1999 Hildegard ($45) is an incredible world-class wine that is thankfully very different from chardonnay. Produced from a blend of pinot blanc, pinot gris and aligote, the 1999 has great intensity and concentration but is still very elegant and finely balanced.
Winemaker Clendenen gave a bottle to chef Wong three weeks prior to the dinner and Alan created an absolutely delicious, savory, multilayered dish -- Shrimp & Foie Gras with Macaroni & Cheese -- for the wine. It was another pairing that was totally unexpected, but that proved to be the evening's standout for many.
The aspiring chef or gourmand could have picked up a lot of insider's insight watching Roy put together his dish that afternoon, focusing on his assigned wine -- the 2000 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir "Knox Alexander" ($55), a very intense, complex, worldly reserve pinot named for Clendenen's only son.
The dish was called Asian Spiced & Braised Short Rib with Roasted Beet & Crispy Shallots. To enhance the pairing, here is what Roy did:
>> Slowly reduced the braising liquid.The pairing was incredibly complex and had me sitting in wonderment ... again. The judicious addition of the spices was like a revelation.>> Deepened the flavor with coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, cinnamon stick and chile flakes.
>> Added coconut milk, palm sugar and veal stock.
>> At the last moment added some of the wine.
>> Completed the dish with some miniature raisins.
That is what I love about these dinners. When done well, they provide good food, good wine and an opportunity to learn.
-Chuck Furuya is president of Fine Wine Imports and Hawaii’s only master sommelier.
This column is a weekly lesson in wine
pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals.
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