The wonderful part about food and wine pairing is that there isn't one true answer. There are certainly better pairings than others and some that don't work at all. Sometimes two very different wines will elevate and compliment the same dish in two very different ways. There are some classic pairings that I won't mess with like Foie Gras and Sauternes or Dark Chocolate and Port.
Our sassy friend, Judy, prepared a tasty chicken tagine and had several amazing wines on the table. I love dinners like that - it truly appeals to my non-committal side. I can have several small glasses of different wines instead of one (or 3) glasses of the same wine. The two wines that were winners for me were the Merry Edwards barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and the Owe Roe Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2008 (my contribution to the dinner party, heh heh).Merry Edwards is such an icon that I think I felt honored to be drinking her wine in the first place. She's been making wine for 40 years or something impressive like that. She makes world class Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. This Sauvignon Blanc is made with almost half of the grapes coming from 30+ year old vines (ANCIENT for Sonoma) in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma. They get some gorgeous fog and cool breezes that you can almost taste in the wine. She barrel ferments the wine and allows lees aging, so there is a smoothness and a bit of a fuller body to it compared to a wine that fermented in stainless steel.
I was drinking this before the tagine and then when everyone switched to red, I had the rest of the bottle to myself (good party scam). There is a lovely lush Meyer lemon nose that is echoed on the palate. There's something akin to a honeyed grapefruit with bright minerality on the palate too. I really enjoyed the lusciousness and it really stood up to the chicken thigh and couscous.When I had drained the Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc I reached for the Oregon Pinot Noir, an Owen Roe bottling called Sharecropper's from the Willamette Valley. The minerality and cherry cola flavors really brought out the richness of the dark chicken meat and made the cherry studded couscous sing.
Owen Roe is a great winery in the Pacific Northwest that specializes in grapes that grow best in theWillamette Valley of Oregon and the Yakima Valley in Washington. Sharecropper's sources its fruit from the Willamette Valley. This particular bottle had a gorgeous aromatic nose full of wild strawberries, cherry cola and delicate earth. It was bright on the palate with more cherries and spice and had a lengthy finish.
Verdict: Drink multiple wines with dinner to hedge your bets and check out these two wineries. Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc 2009: $30.00
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2008: $24.00
1 comment:
Laura: you are awesome. I, too, had the intention of drinking white with tagine, since it was chicken and all! But why do i have no recollection of the Sharecroppers? Maybe the other guests drank it all while I was cooking! xo Judy b, aka tagine maker.
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