By The Glass
CHUCK FURUYA
I was invited to a very interesting tasting last month at Tropic Fish & Vegetable Center in the Ward Farmers Market. Seafood session a unique
chance to consider winesInstead of wine, though, the tastees du jour were Kekaha Shrimp from Kauai and cage-raised moi from Cates International.
Tropic's honcho Glen Tanoue served a group of us a myriad different preparations of these locally grown delicacies. The intent was to expose us to each product, as completely as possible.
The group of tasters included chefs Roy Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Fukui, Chai Chaowasaree and Russell Siu, farmer Dean Okimoto and Halekulani cellarmaster Randy Ching, to name just a few. I loved hearing everyone's comments on our end of the rather large table.
Especially intriguing to me was chef Yamaguchi. I watched as he intently checked out each morsel -- prodding and looking and inspecting, over and over and over. I also watched his reactions as he tasted the simply cooked, unseasoned versions of the fish and shrimp. It makes total sense that such simple preparations give a clearer, purer picture of the product and a better understanding of its flavor, texture and how to best prepare it.
The shrimp, for instance, was delicate and wonderfully sweet and Roy noted the texture seemed best when steamed. Russell agreed.
The moi had a surprising richness to it, with a decidedly softer texture than we would normally find in fish raised in the wild. Pan-fried until crispy on the outside was the general consensus on the best preparation.
As the chefs discussed their thoughts, my wine compadre, Randy Ching, rattled off wines he thought matched each preparation. "For the moi ... a dry Rosé from Southern France," he said. "Our (La Mer) chef, Yves Garnier, cooks this same moi, but his way, and we often serve it with Tempier's Bandol Rosé ($30) from Provence."
With the same pan-fried moi, I would recommend a Spanish Albarino, such as the 2001 Fillaboa ($20, and clearly the best I've tasted). The wine's riveting minerality (from the rockiness of the soil it is grown in) and its lemon-lime finish would work perfectly with the moi's innate richness, without taking away from its delicacy.
And so it went, back and forth, dish after dish. Chef Hiroshi, for instance, mentioned Picpoul de Pinet, a great value-oriented white wine from southern France, right on the Mediterranean, as one of his choices with such fish. "At the restaurant (L'Uraku), we serve it with our Moi En Papillote," he said. It has a similar (though much simpler) profile to the Albarino, but at about half the cost ($11). It is without a doubt a sensational value.
Roy just looked at me and said "A dry Rosé. Just have to find a good one with a lot of richness and texture to be able to work with the moi."
With the steamed shrimp, chilled and served with Tropics' homemade cocktail sauce, I would recommend Bonny Doon's Pacific Rim Riesling ($12). This wine is lively and crisp enough to heighten the shrimp's sweetness and texture, yet ornery enough to handle the cocktail sauce. Plus, it doesn't dent the wallet.
This column is a weekly lesson in wine
pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals.
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