By Chef Jean Jacques Amaroni.
Bonjour! Comment allez-vous? J'espère que tout va bien pour vous, because here I am happy as a kid after having received the invitation from Casa Giramelia Gourmet (CGG) to write an article with some frequency, I am very grateful to you.
In the first place, there will be no claim on my part to write academically about gastronomy or oenology, that is, nothing that is about the style of complexity. We will talk plain and simple about how wine and common food, the usual one, can pair and create a moment of gratitude for those who are sitting at the table.
You will also have a section dedicated to the "Tips" related to the style that you could follow, for example both at home and when you visit a restaurant.
And finally I will recommend specific wines, concatenated with those indicated in the pairing, as well as any other little thing that you may want to ask.
1. Pairings
Let's see what is Pairing? First of all it is a French term “ mariage ”, which defines the art of combining food and wine. In other words, look for an affinity to find the perfect combination between both parties so that there is a full expression.
Are there rules for pairing wine and food? A first answer could be “well, for tastes the colors ”, and that what you like will be fine when experimenting with the flavors. But we do not want to stay alone in that. It is true that the theme of food and wine pairing gives a lot of play and that you can experiment with many alternatives. Remember… there are good “marriage” but none is perfect.
One of the greatest advantages we have today is the quality of the wine, which is absolutely superior to that produced just 50 years ago, which allows us multiple combinations that are impossible to pigeonhole into a single option. Combining wine and food is an art, and like all art... free.
Successfully combining food and wine is achieved as always in life "learning by doing", that is, experimenting and properly using the sense of taste. Good food is like music, for it to be ecstatic it must be harmonic. In other words, to achieve harmony, you have to follow some basic principles that begin with the choice of the type of wine and food; the compatibility and incompatibility between one and the other, the sequence of the dishes and their wines as well as the atmosphere and the company-occasion.
Is there a type of wine for each meal? Of course you do and that is the purpose of this article, to explore all possible wines for the same meal.
I asked the executive team of CGG to tell me what pairing to start these sessions with and immediately “a hare” jumped saying RICE! Well come on, rice will be!
It is worth knowing that with rice dishes, the ingredients with which they are prepared will be the determining factors when choosing one type of wine or another. The flavors are not the same in a mixed paella as in a "risotto frutti di mare" , so we have to adapt to them.
Also, you have to take into account the way in which the rice has been cooked, that is, if it is dry, soupy or sticky rice. The type of preparation is a fundamental factor for the choice of wine.
Risottos:
Rice made as risotto goes well with all kinds of wines and should be accompanied according to the predominant flavor or seasoning in the preparation.
Vegetable risottos are smooth and delicate and call for light, dry white wines, such as Pinot Grigio or Chablis.
Risottos di “funghi porcini” impose their intense and rich aroma, they go well with aromatic white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and fruity reds, that is Sangiovese, Tempranillo and Dolcetto d'Alba .
Risotto a la Milanesa, full of saffron and marrow, goes well with a white like Riesling or young, varietal red wines without much tannin, such as Barbera or Bonarda.
Risotto with gorgonzola cheese, with an intense aroma, goes well with well-structured tannic red wines, such as Tannat, Barolo or a Spanish Crianza.
Black squid ink risotto goes well with young, dry, medium-bodied whites, a gewürztraminer (pronounced guevurstraminaa) or a muscatel variety.
NOTE: As most risottos contain cheese and butter, you have to look for wines that always compensate for that predominant greasy sensation.
Paella:
The generosity of rice as food is complemented by the ingredients that go into the king of rice dishes: paella. All of them go well with dry and fruity rosé wines.
Seafood paella goes well with aromatic young white wines, such as an albariño, a ribeiro or a txacoli, and rosé wines.
The mixed paella goes well with fruity young red wines such as tempranillo, dry rosé wines or white varieties such as verdejo, verdicchio or godello.
The paella that includes poultry and meat goes well with young rosé and red wines such as the Mencía variety.
NOTE: Rosé wine has experienced a substantial increase in its consumption in recent years, because rosé wine has changed AND CHANGED FOR THE GOOD. The concept of rosé was that it was a low-quality wine, very sweet, for people with little or no understanding of the matter; It was considered a drink of very little oenological value.
Today, that trend has turned 180 degrees; rosé wines of extraordinary quality are being made, the wineries realized that a well-crafted rosé wine, vinified correctly, can be on a par with the usual good whites and reds, now they are essential on the table.
2.Tips
How to preserve wine after opening it?
Many times when we open a bottle of wine and at the end of the meal we realize that half the bottle is left over.
It is logical, because many bottles are opened for dinners between two people, who have had a full day of work and who have to get up early the next day...
Enjoying a drink is perfect for a quick dinner, or for an evening watching TV or listening to music.
But what do I do with the wine that I have left over? It's a shame to throw it away... Of course it's a shame, and don't throw it away! It is possible that you have an anecdote about a wine, served at a relative's or friend's house, that was practically impossible to drink. Leaving a wine open for several days is not recommended, let alone offering one of these wines to a visitor!
If the wine is open, it comes into contact with oxygen and this is not good for the wine. You can think of what happens to an apple when you open it and when it comes into contact with air and oxygen. The same thing happens with wine: it oxidizes. This happens more easily to white wines, because having "less body" they are less protected than red wines, but the same thing happens to them.
White wines, always in the fridge once opened. It is advisable to remove the air. There are simple plugs that are attached to air extraction pumps that cost little. If we remove the air and keep a leftover white wine, it is more than possible that we can have it two or three days in the fridge and that the wine is perfectly preserved. The wine will have evolved, it is certain that the fruitier aromas will be somewhat less present, but the wine will continue to be in perfect condition.
What to do with a sparkling wine, such as cava, champagne or prosecco? It's a bit more complicated. The bubbles are part of the essence of these wines. If we extract the air to avoid oxidation, we could think that we are, at the same time, extracting its bubbles. For sparkling wines it is better not to remove the air and simply cover them with a stopper. The wine should go to the fridge, in the coldest part if possible, and be consumed the next day.
Red wines have more protection against oxidation than white wines. But they rust anyway. It is therefore advisable to remove the air, as much as we can, until we notice that the pump no longer does any more work.
Later, leave it in a wine cellar if you have one. If you don't have it, you can put it in the fridge, but never drink a red wine taken from the fridge, you will have to leave it at room temperature for at least half an hour. Otherwise the wine will not taste good, and will have a very astringent character.
Fine or Sherry wines also lose all their character when opened. The same goes for Port wines. Being wines that usually have a higher alcohol content, there is a belief that it protects them and that they can be maintained after prolonged openings. In reality, the character of the wines is irremediably lost after this erroneous procedure.
There is always the popular resource of not using open wines to drink them, but to cook them. Any wine of a certain quality ends up being the best ingredient for a sauce. Cooking with wine is always an option that we should not forget.
3. Recommendations
- Antonio Montero Godello 2020
