A jug of wine, a loaf
of bread ... and wow!

Recently at Vino, we enjoyed a fascinating, insightful tasting of the most interesting breads, baked for us specially by Chris Miura, a doctor (by day), artisan home baker extraordinaire (by night).

Chris is so into his hobby that he built a wood burning brick oven in his back yard to bake his breads.

We paired a wine with each, just for fun. Our diners had much to say and each had a favorite.

Some preferred the sourdough, which was tasty, wine-friendly and as different from San Francisco-style sourdough as can be. It was especially tasty with a dry, delicious and refreshing French rosé called Fontsainte Corbieres Gris de Gris ($13).

Several other people asked to buy the fig-anise loaf, it was that good. Chris used organic, unsulfured figs that he bought from R. Field Wine Co. What a difference! Remarkably, a rounder, rustic Italian sangiovese blend -- Dogajolo from Carpineto ($25) worked wonders with this bread, something that surprised all of us, given the natural sweetness of the figs.

For the walnut-gorgonzola bread, we finally settled on an off-dry verdicchio -- Mariotti "Salmariano" ($14) -- as a pairing. The wine's slight sweetness countered the innate saltiness of the gorgonzola cheese, at the same time accentuating the bread's nuttiness. For me, this was one of the most interesting pairings of the evening.

The fifth bread that Chris made for us used spelt, one of the oldest grains in the world. For you low-carb dieters, spelt is high in protein, low in carbs -- and still very tasty. The Fontsainte Gris de Gris was the ideal wine for this bread as well.