and all things of a sensual nature I'd likely still be trying to make it as a struggling rock-and-roll drummer, and whose recipes grace this book and make it far better than it would be without them; my sisters, Karen and Rachel, whose palates are better than mine; and my father, Marc, who, in spite of recognizing and appreciating gourmet cuisine, would be far happier with a grilled-cheese sandwich, made with real American cheese!
I express my profuse thanks to the team at the University of California Press: my editor, Blake Edgar, whose support and belief in this project made it happen; Nola Burger and Nicole Hay-ward for their design prowess; Dore Brown, Erika Büky, and Chalon Emmons for their perspective and assistance with the text; and Jenny Wapner and Matthew Winfield for keeping the engine humming.
I also thank my agents, Eric and Maureen Lasher, and my indispensable right hand during this project, Christie Dufault, who organized the tastings, kept copious notes on the hundreds of wines we tasted, provided balanced opinions, and kept the devil out of the details!
Appreciative gratitude goes out to all the producers, importers, and winemakers who shared their wines, souls, and personal artistry.
And finally there are my peers and friends, who collectively have influenced me more than they will ever know. Among them are Nunzio Alioto, Stephen Brauer, Sam Bronfman II, Val Brown, Fred Dame, Gilles Deschamps, Barbara Ensrud, Doug Frost, Joël Girodot, Diana Goldstein, Peter Granoff, Daniel Hallé, Mike Holden, Chet Hutchinson, Brian Julyan, Masa Kobayashi, Danny Kopelson, Nick Lander, Barbara Lang, Erika Lenkert, Bob Long, Chris Lynch, Karen MacNeil, Danny Meyer, Bill Newlands, Steve Olson, Ronn Owens, Kathleen and Michel Rege, Andrea Immer Robinson, Jancis Robinson, David Rosengarten, Leslie Sbrocco, Ab Simon, Harvey Steiman, Madeline Triffon, Paul Wagner, Alice Waters, Josh Wesson, Wilfred Wong, Mary Ann Worobiec-Bovio, Kevin Zraly, and the late, great Gerard Jaboulet.
INTRODUCTION
Numerous books on wine, and wine and food pairing, have been written over the years. And many stories have been told about the moonlike surface of Châteauneuf du Pape and that magical bottle of Rioja Gran Reserva that paired so seamlessly with an unbelievable meal at Restaurant XYZ. But while there is a lot of excellent writing about wine, food, and the synergy between them, much of it has actually missed most of “us.”
“Us” I define as Joe and Mary America-at-Table: people who really enjoy wine, and wine with food, but don't have the inclination or the time to learn the language of wine specialists. They (or we) are people who simply want to celebrate the simple pleasures of tasty food, drink delicious wine, enjoy the company of family and friends sharing a meal, and have a way to think and talk about what “worked” in an enjoyable combination of wine and food.
Over the years I have found that most individuals do want some guidance and useful information and are curious about wine but don't want to have to take a class or pore over a reference book before going to their local wine store or supermarket to shop for food and drink. This group includes me. Having spent many of my formative years hanging out with friends and family and appreciating the pleasures that good, unpretentious wine and food can bring to the table, I can't spend too much time with people who are sooooo serious about wine and food that the planning of all their vacations is based on traipsing about wine regions and special restaurants. Nor do I buy into the belief that the enjoyment of wine depends on the exclusive consumption of wines scoring ninety points or above on somebody's scale or costing the equivalent of a second mortgage.
Much of the world's quality wine is being discussed and consumed in a vacuum. Horizontal tastings of Riesling across geography, verticals of Chateau Doesn't-That-Impress-You, and samplings of the latest and greatest release of Evan's “Acme Vineyard” Zinfandel are, for the most part, served, judged, and revered in isolation—in the complete absence of anything resembling food. And although the “wine and food thing” has been on the rise over the past few decades, and more and more people are expressing an interest in learning about it, most of them feel as if they are on the outside and do not really know where to begin.
That's where I hope this book can be of use. Over the last twenty-plus years and in varying professional capacities, I have taught well in excess of twenty-five thousand people about wine, food, and the enjoyment of both. Along the way I have discovered that people want to know what wines are “like” (dry or sweet, tannic or not tannic, what style they're made in, and so forth), how they taste, and, finally, what foods they pair best with. That's about as far as most of us want to take it. Some get deeper into the subject, but they are in the minority.
Intriguingly, however, even these relatively wine- and culinaria-obsessed folks confide that there is not much out there that covers the pairing of wine and food—why and how they work together. For those people, it is my intention to provide solid, nuanced information. In collaborating with the renowned chef Joyce Goldstein (aka Mom) in developing and exploring particular recipes tailored to different types of wine, my aim has been to create a forum in which both the wine buffs and the foodies feel comfortable and included in this book's broader audience. It's a risky but deliberate strategy.
Many authors make wine and food pairing much more complicated than it needs to be. I believe that if you have to think too deeply, it's simply not worth it. A better goal is to reach a personal comfort zone of wine and food in which you can decide effortlessly whether it's the wine or the food that will drive a particular dining experience. Whether you choose the wine first and pick compatible recipes, or choose your menu first and then the wine to accompany it, you will ultimately find pairing as intuitive and natural as breathing.
So read on—there's something here for everyone. For the novice or the more experienced wine lover, the professional wine and food geek, or the weekend “let's-try-this-wine-with-this-dish” warrior, Perfect Pairings can help.
And always remember, as we say at my house, if you don't like the wine you selected, you can always run downstairs or to the fridge and pick out something else!
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is designed to be a practical and easy-to-use guide for learning about wines and their styles and how to pair them with food. The flow is logical, beginning with an introduction on how to taste wines with thought and increasing discernment. The goal of this section is to provide you with some coaching and direction that will help you discover a thoughtful approach toward wine tasting and evaluation and develop a more confident palate.
Once we've established a wine comfort zone, the next section of the book explores cooking for and with wine and how recipes and ingredients can influence the choice of wine to accompany a meal. This section, which includes opinions, pointers, and discussion of a few wine-friendly foods and their tricks, seeks to (as the title of my son's first-grade reading development book eloquently put it) “explode the code.” Here, that means addressing and at times challenging the orthodoxies of wine and food philosophy (for instance, the idea that you must always serve red wine with meat and white wine with fish).
The heart of the book is the separate chapters looking at twelve varietals (grape types), along with sparkling wines and dessert wines, each exploring the where (where the grapes are from and the wines are made), the how (how they are interpreted and produced to define their style), and the what (what they taste like). Finally, we consider what you need to bear in mind when cooking to accompany the specific styles of each wine.
Each varietal chapter concludes with a selection of recipes that have been created specially for this book to highlight particular interpretations and styles of the given wine. Each recipe is followed by comments from Joyce and me about the rationale behind the dish and its pairing with the wine. In the Chardonnay chapter, for example, I discuss four acknowledged and readily available styles of Chardonnay: oak-aged and influenced by malolactic
