By The Glass
CHUCK FURUYA
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Chuck Furuya, left, and chef Mario Batali discuss wines to be served with Batali's dishes.
"We really want to do something outside of the box and, most importantly, have fun doing it." Star chef inspires
great wine pairingsThat's what Kurt Matsumoto, vice president of Mauna Lani Hotel & Bungalows, said when we first discussed the selection of wines for chef Mario Batali's appearance at the resort.
It sounded great to me. But what about Mario?
Candidly, I was nervous. He is the hottest chef in America. He and his partner (Joe Bastianich) have created an 800-item all-Italian wine list for their high-profile New York eatery, Babbo, in addition to buying vineyard land in Italy's Fiuli and Morellino di Scansano appellations to make some serious wine.
Mario arrived on the Big Island March 19 as the first chef in the Mauna Lani's "Culinary Conversations" series.
On his first three nights he ordered Bonny Doon's Vin Gris de Cigare while eating at the hotel's Canoe House Restaurant. That's right, a pink wine.
Once I learned that, any and all apprehensions were quickly put to rest. I knew he would be hip. As inspiring as are Mario's theories on food, his understanding of wine and how it works with food is equally amazing.
Here are highlights of the wine pairings with Mario's dishes from this magical weekend:
Asparagus Milanese with Fried Duck Egg and Sorrel: Mario smiled at how challenging this pairing would be. Because of its pungency, green taste and sour, hard acids, asparagus is always a difficult match. In addition, Mario placed a fried duck egg atop the dish, another pairing nightmare. Our first reaction? Think pink. Bonny Doon's Vin Gris worked because its earthy components handled the asparagus, its abundance of fruit countered the egg, and its brightness, elegance and well-textured flow on the palate (with NO sense of bitterness, oak or alcohol) allowed for a smooth, uplifting finish.
Bruschetta with Kahuku Shrimp and Limoncello: Mario and I agreed that an intense, rustic Tocai Friulano would be the call here. But when he added a somewhat sweet liqueur, Limoncello, to the dish at the last moment, we downsized to an equally dry though light-bodied Vermentino white from the island of Sardinia, off the west coast of Italy. Its lemon-lime edge did wonders for the shrimp, accented the sauce and also refreshed the palate between bites.
Goat Cheese Tortelloni with Dried Orange and Fennel Pollen: White wine seems to work especially well with goat cheese, but I've been amazed at how well rustic red wines work with fennel pollen. We paired the dish with a dry, fizzy red Italian Lambrusco, well chilled. Although its profile was much like a white wine, it did not work as well as I had hoped. The wine's rustic edge and the fennel pollen were great together, but the wine's normally unnoticeable bitterness became very apparent. Perhaps we should have considered instead Bolognani's Moscato Giallo, a dry, wonderfully perfumed, crisp white wine from the hills of Northeast Italy.
Hamachi "Semi Crudo" with Black Molokai Salt and Micro Arugula: This was THE highlight of the weekend, and it was totally outside the box. The hamachi's innate richness and fattiness were intimidating, especially since the fish was only partially cooked. But we found the perfect wine stashed away in the hotel's very impressive wine cellar: a 1995 Domaine Ostertag Riesling "Muenchberg." The wine's rich, concentrated, minerally, honeyed, exotic qualities intermingled with all parts of the dish. Also, its harmonious palate, from the additional years of bottle age, melded perfectly with the fish. "I know this will be the top pairing of the year," beamed chef Batali.
Chuck Furuya is 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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