deVine Table

Jeffrey Saad and Exhausted Me

“Trust your mouth. You know what you like; enjoy it.”

So says Jeffrey Saad, The Next Food Network Star runner up, 25-year food industry veteran and restaurateur. I recently returned from the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference where I had the great pleasure of seeing this dynamic personality give a presentation on food and wine pairing.

Jeffrey asked us who in the audience would pair a Coke with pizza so that he could make a point about why the combination works together. A big laugh came from the crowd when not even one hand went up and he mused, “Wow, you guys really are a bunch of winos!”

Key pointers:

• Pair acid with acid, such as salad with vinaigrette paired with Grüner Veltliner.
• Pair fat in food with acid in wine, such as goat cheese in buttery phyllo cups with Argentine Torrontes.
• Pair protein or animal fat with tannin such as Kobe beef with Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Pair sweet with sweet. Sweet food spanks the fruit right out of the wine if the wine isn’t as sweet.
• Pair spice with sweetness. Spice does not like tannin; it accentuates it.
• Make funky ingredients a part of a dish, not the main flavor.

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Tom Douglas and Me

Last Saturday, Washington wine lovers from near and far could be found at the Taste Washington Seminars in Seattle. My seminar of choice? Food and Wine Pairing with Tom Douglas.

Tom guided the audience and panel through a tasting of four classic dishes from his Seattle restaurants. The panel not only included Tom Douglas, but also Stephanie Izard of Top Chef fame; Leslie Sbrocco, NBC’s Today Show wine correspondent; and Dawn Smith, sommelier of Heavy Restaurant Group. Michael Teer, owner of Pike and Western Wine Shop, moderated.

So, the audience got to hear about great pairing principles from some truly experienced experts. How? The dishes served were paired with a wine selected by Tom as well as a wine picked by Dawn. All panelists commented on which wines they felt paired well and why. Then the audience voted for the pairing they decided worked best. It was a “Tom vs. Somm” throwdown!

 Here are some observations from the panel regarding wine and food pairings:

 Tom Douglas

• Do focused matches before dinner.
• When pairing, select the wine first because you can’t change the wine; it is what it is. It’s easier to change to food to go with the wine (this was made as a counterpoint to Stephanie’s comment below).
• Sometimes it’s better to go with opposites, for example choose a sweet wine to go with spicy food.

 Leslie Sbrocco

• Match textures, just like how you match items in your wardrobe. You know, like if you’re wearing a light linen jacket, you put on something else lightweight that complements that. Apply that same principle to food and wine.
• Proper temperature is the Spanx of wine.

 Stephanie Izard

• Select the food first, then select a wine. As Dawn pointed out, that thinking is more progressive rather than the standard. However, Stephanie says that sometimes she’ll taste something and think that it is just made to go with a certain wine.

 Dawn Smith

• Let your own palate be your guide.
• The higher the alcohol, the sweeter the wine appears.
• Spice raises your perception of alcohol.

 There you have some tips to improve food and wine pairings around your table. For more details about the wine and food served, check out my review on Wine and Beer of Washington State.