WINE TASTING with Micah Elconin
(Micah Elconin is a certified natural Chef and Nutrition Educator. Through his business, The Educated Vegetable, he offers personal chef services, nutrition consultations and cooking classes. Send questions or comments to micah@educatedvegetable.com)
Big Reds and Vegetarian Food?
Beckman Vineyards has always been one of my favorite wineries to visit in the valley. How could it not? They regularly offer an extensive list of wines for tasting, including their highly respected estate grown Syrahs. The setting is beautiful. Their large tasting room is set next to a gorgeous pond filled with playful ducks and other wildlife. Tasters can choose to hang out at the bar with the cheerful staff, venture out to the sun drenched deck or share a bottle with friends in one of the many nearby gazebos.
Last time I was in I sat down and talked wine pairings with tasting room manager Mandy Taylor-Gratzer. This was an especially interesting chat because Ms Taylor-Gratzer is a long time vegetarian. Some of her suggestions were a bit surprising at first, as you will see, but after putting a few of them to the test, I found that she was right on the money. Her suggestions really show that just about any style of wine can be paired well with vegetarian fare.
2005 Marsane
Aromas of honeysuckle are followed by wonderful stone fruit and sweet citrus flavors. Great minerality and very little acidity. This wine is a great example of how a white can have great body without being buttery. Pairing:
The honeysuckle nose on the Marsane pairs extremely well with floral herbs and spices like coriander, basil and galanga. See where this is going…? Thai food! Forget the lager and bring along a bottle of this Marsane next time you go out for thai. Sweet starchy dishes like pad thai and pumpkin curry are all especially good companions for our Marsane. Because of the strong mid pallete and low acid in this wine it is also pairs well with spicy (hot) dishes.
2006 Grenache Rose:
This 100% barrel fermented and oak aged Rose not only offers traditional framboise and ripe red fruit flavors to the nose and palette, but there is a good amount of complexity in the form of orange zest, pepper and clove notes. More like a strawberry rhubarb crisp than the cherry flavored cough syrup Rose’s that many of us have become accustomed to.
Pairing:
Rose is the wine of summer and BBQ is the food of summer for most of us. The spice notes in this wine do well with grilled onions and bell peppers. Raw veggies would be too vegetal for a Rose, but the caramelzation process of grilling brings out their sweetness which is allows them to match up with the fruit flavors in the wine.
2005 Grenache
This medium bodied wine feels luscious on the pallete. Great red fruit flavors are matched and intensified by a smoky aroma that can only be described as bacon fat.
Pairing: That bacon fat aroma was a problem for me at first in that it obviously lends itself to pork or any other smoked meats, which are not really vegetarian fare. So I turned to mushrooms. Any mushroom should work well with this Grenache, but shitake, porchini and maitake mushrooms are especially good choices. Grenache is a Spanish wine so how about pairing it with a tapas dish like Roasted Mushrooms and Tomatoes with Goat Cheese? I also find that people like salty foods with this wine. My guess is that it has something to do with the way it moves across the palette. It has a long finish which can leave one’s mouth wanting a little zing to bring some flavor back to the front of palette. To stay with the Spanish theme stick with dishes filled with olives and capers.
2004 Syrah
This wine presents very complex and earthy aromatics as well as a strong black pepper spice. Even though it is quite young by Syrah standards, the tannins are very refined and elegant ushering deep blackberry tones effortlessly across the palette.
Pairing:
You’re going to be a bit surprised by this one. I often will pair well structured big reds like this syrah with fairly light foods. This enables the wine to take center stage as opposed to being overpowered by a rich steak etc. I’ve used black truffles to harmonize with the earth tones, but I’ve also enjoyed this one with fried zucchini. Zucchini loves black pepper so it dances well with the spice in this wine. And as for that fruit forward characteristic, I’ve found that something as simple as roasted root vegetables can match up to it and still leave plenty of room for the wine to shine.
2005 Clone 1 Syrah
This wine is loaded with rich aromas of tobacco, leather, and campfires. The mouth feel is rich and sexy and saturates the entire palette. It packs a big punch, but there is a great subtlety to its dark fruit and mocha flavors.
Pairing:
This is a really big wine and requires food with big flavors. A friend of mine once said that the nose on this wine brought forth images of cowboys and horseback riding. So I tried it out with a hearty three bean chili and fried kale. The chili spices mingled well with the tobacco notes. Kale has a very dark green flavor and the dark fruit flavors in the wine helped round out the bitterness of the green.
This is only a portion of the wines that Beckman is currently offering. Stop in any day of the week between 11am and 5pm to taste any of the wines highlighted above as well as their two tasty Sauvignon Blancs and other great Syrah’s. Beckman Vineyards is located at 2670 Ontiveros Road in Los Olivos.