We’ve been scrambling lately with all kinds of obligations and our wine choices have suffered.
To relieve the daily hassles, I stood up a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon from The Hess Collection, anticipating going to a favorite BYO restaurant for a stress relieving dinner out. But when the day came the restaurant called, explaining their chef had taken ill and they had to cancel all their reservations.
Not wanting to waste the day that the wine had been standing, which I know is a lame excuse for drinking it since I simply could’ve returned it to its resting place, we drank it with leftover Chinese takeout we had in the fridge.
Cab with Chinese? Who does that? Well, I do since I’ve often written that while following the traditional wine and food pairing rules is great, it’s also a good idea to break those rules now and then. It shakes up your thinking and hopefully nudges you a bit outside the box, which, for me, is usually a learning experience.
So how did it work with Chinese food? The rules say a light to medium bodied white wine is the way to go with Asian food. We usually enjoy a slightly off-dry Riesling, Gewürztraminer or Pinot Gris, especially those from France’s Alsace region, with Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.
The Cab sort of worked. It complemented the hot and sour soup because of the soup’s hearty texture. It also worked with the beefy part of my Moo Shu Beef, but not so well with either the Moo Shu’s veggies or the other leftovers on hand. Generally, the food’s spiciness overwhelmed the wine, underscoring the need for the sweetness of those off dry whites. Though it wasn’t such a good pairing, it was a good experiment.
And what’s this about “standing up” a wine? Storing an older red wine, particularly a big hearty one, may yield sediment. Sediment, or “wine diamonds” (or “dregs”) are typically tartrate crystals that fall out of suspension as they grow larger. They’re completely safe to consume, but who needs crunchy wine? Standing the bottle up a day before opening allows the sediment to settle to the bottom and it won’t pour out until the bottle is nearly finished. Plus, it’s a fun part of the wine ritual.
Ernest Valtri of Buckingham is a sculptor, painter, graphic designer, and a former member of the PLCB’s Wine Advisory Council. Please contact Erno at ObjectDesign@verizon.net.
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