Is there a scientific basis for wine and food pairing?

I went to a really interesting seminar last week on matching champagne with food. It was based on the chemical compounds flavourist Danny Hodrien of F & F projects had identified in Mumm champagnes using gas chromatography, solid phase micro-extraction and mass spectrometry (No, I don’t know what they are either). Based on those findings Iain Graham, the executive chef at the Caprice had devised a range of canapes that incorporated the flavours rather than seeking to complement them

The technical side I found slightly difficult to follow - we were encouraged to sniff a series of phials on the table which contained the different compounds then taste the champagnes then try them with food. Given the session was packed out it all got a bit chaotic but it threw up some fascinating combinations which I’ve now had the chance to analyse in a bit more detail:

THE FOOD PAIRINGS:

G.H. Mumm de Cramant
Style: Blanc de Blancs
Flavour compounds: Ethyl-2-Methyl Butyrate (apple, tropical fruits), Ethyl Isobutyrate (fruity, light, strawberry, tropical fruits) and delta-Decalactone (creamy, butter, coconut, peach)
Match: seared Orkney scallop served with cauliflower cream on a taro crisp
My verdict: A terrific match for this champagne which accentuated its freshness though one which oddly didn’t mirror the highlighted tropical fruit flavours.

G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge
Style: non-vintage
Flavour compounds: Dimethyl Sulphide (vegetable, crab, seafood, sweetcorn, tomato) Hexyl Acetate (pear, sweet, fruity) Caproic acid (sweaty, cheese-like, strawberry)
Match: steamed Atlantic prawns served with grilled corn.
My verdict: A match I suspect you wouldn’t have arrived at without the flavour analysis. Apparently grilling the corn was key - according to Iain it didn’t work as well with steamed corn. I found it slightly accentuated the dosage in the champagne though not unpleasantly

G.H. Mumm Rosé
Style: light, elegant, tasted of wild strawberries
Flavour compounds: Ethyl-2-Methyl Butyrate (apple, tropical fruits), Ethyl Isobutyrate (fruity, light, strawberry, tropical fruits)
Match: The shell fish and tropical fruit flavoured molecules of the ros were paired with yellow fin tuna sashimi and served with green mango and papaya salad seasoned with chilli, sugar and soy
My verdict: Another combination I wouldn’t have instinctively gone for but which worked very well. Interesting though that these components were also found in the Mumm de Cramant which I don’t think would have worked quite as well with the canap. Apparently Iain tried it with seared tuna but that didn’t work as well.

G.H. Mumm 2002
Style: mature vintage champagne
Flavour compounds: Diethyl Succinate (apple, tropical, star fruit, Cognac), Penyl Ethyl alcohol (rose, fermented, yeast, bread), Ethyl Crotonate (rum, sweet meat, pork, licorice) 2-Nonanone (blue cheese, yeast)
Match: Pork belly, dolcelatte and pain d‘epice: the yeasty, blue cheese and liquorice-like Mumm 2002 were paired with roasted pork belly served with macerated blue cheese and spiced bread crisp
My verdict: Like Iain I would never have put these ingredients together but they were surprisingly delicious. Would you serve them at a dinner party though, or, as a chef, in a restaurant? Can imagine them making a good burger . . .

G.H. Mumm R. Lalou 1998
Style: mature prestige cuve
Flavour compounds: Dimethyl Sulphide (vegetable, crab, seafood, sweetcorn, tomato), Furfural (almond, sweet macaroon), Furfuryl Alcohol (Sweet, grilled fish, Mushroom)
Match: Iain paired the R. Lalou’s mushroom and caramelised sugar flavours with roasted black cod served on crisp lotus with sweet miso marinade
My verdict: a bold but successful match which accentuated the richness of the champagne. (Can imagine it being good with something like lobster and vanilla too)

G.H. Mumm Demi-Sec
Style: off-dry
Flavour compounds: Ethyl-2-Methyl Butyrate (apple, tropical fruits), Ethyl Caprylate (cognac) Diethyl Succinate (apple, tropical, star fruit, Cognac), 5-Methyl-Furfural Caramel, sweet
Match: Apple and caramel millefeuille with cognac poached apple and crisp burnt sugar
My verdict: a stunning match. Interesting that there’s a scientific basis for the champagne cocktail!

Interestingly six molecules were found in all the champagnes: Ethyl Acetate which contains fruity, ethereal, sweet tastes and flavours, Isoamyl alcohol (fermented, whisky, harsh), Ethyl Caproate (pineapple and strawberry), Ethyl Lactate (rum), Ethly Caprylate (Cognac) and Ethyl Caprate (waxy fruity, apple, grape)

“There’s no one molecule that smells of ‘champagne’,” said Hodrien. “They are each like instruments in an orchestra. And orchestras containin the same instruments sound different depending on the music being played, or even the conductor”

A few thoughts:

• All the pairings worked which is unusual in an exercise of this kind though there was a bit of a ‘you could but why would you?’ aspect to a couple of the pairings such as the pork belly and blue cheese. A bit like Heston’s white chocolate and oyster pairing which was similarly scientifically based.

• Subjecting a wine to this kind of analysis certainly throws up combinations that you might not arrive it otherwise. And suggests that working with three or more flavours may be more successful than trying to match just one.

• It’s possible this exercise worked as well as it did because champagne - like beer - is a good carrier of flavour. I’ve found in the past that if you mimic the flavour of an ingredien with a still wine it tends to mask the flavour in the wine - like orange muscat with an orange-flavoured dessert.

• It still needs the skill of a chef. Not all the pairings Iain tried worked to start with.

• But even if you aren't a chef there are still some interesting ideas to take away - for example that rose champagne might match sashimi and a fruity salsa and that vintage champagne might be a good match for blue cheese.

 

Pairing Indian food with the biodynamic wines of Bonny Doon

I have to confess I found it pretty hard to concentrate on the finer nuances of the food and wine combinations at the recent Cinnamon Club dinner. But when the speaker is the discursive Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon and you're sitting next to him that's no great surprise. Before the meal had even started we were into Kierkegaard and a vigorous discussion of terroir in the bar below over our glasses of Vin Gris de Cigare (a typically unorthodox full-bodied rosé based on Grenache, Cinsault and Roussanne).

The Cinnamon Club for those of you who are not aware of it, is based in Westminster and is one of London's top Indian restaurants - and a regular haunt of nearby MPs and lobbyists. (Or it was until the recent expenses scandal.) Its food, which is presided over by the genial Vivek Singh, is designed to be wine-friendly and they frequently hold wine dinners there.

Grahm, one of the most colourful figures on the international wine scene, probably needs no introduction but you may not be aware that his wines, which tend to be made from the same grape varieties as are grown in the Rhône, are now produced biodynamically. (For an account of how his approach to winemaking has changed check out this brilliant comic strip created for the Wine Spectator here) I've always liked his wines - he abhors over-extraction and excessively high levels of alcohol - and I was fascinated to see how they would shape up with spicy food.

Rather less well than I had hoped was the disappointing answer. Successes were the Vin Gris de Cigare which kicked off brilliantly with some mildly spicy nibbles of chicken tikka and pooris, a lovely Ca del Solo Albariño which perfectly hit the spot with an edible martini of Norwegian king crab with tamarind and green pea relish and a stellar pairing of the luscious late-harvest Le Vol Des Anges Roussanne with a mango fondant and chilled mango soup.

But I felt the intervening dishes, though skilfully spiced didn't show their accompanying wines to best advantage: Roast loin of rabbit with dried fruits in a mustard marinade took the edge off the opulent, waxy Cigare Blanc 2007 (a blend of two thirds Roussanne, one third Grenache Blanc) and the two reds, a gamey Syrah Le Pousseur 2005 and a rich, complex 2004 Cigare Volant were similarly diminished by their respective partners, a Tandoori breast of Anjou squab pigeon with peppercorn and cloves and a smoked loin of Welsh lamb with Chettinadu curry. In a more conventional Indian meal with several dishes on the table or with 'wetter' curries I suspect they would have been slaughtered.

I realise this is a personal view. I'm not a big fan of full-bodied reds with spicy food but the wines of the Rhône - or Grahm's particular take on them - seem particularly ill-suited to the task. You need more upfront fruit, a style he no longer embraces.

Incidentally Grahm read an extract from his new 'vinthology', as he calls it - a collection of his musings and writings called Been Doon So Long - involving a spoof encounter between Loulou Bize Leroy and Robert Parker. I've been meaning to read it and certainly will now. You can find out more about it here.

I attended the dinner as a guest of the Cinnamon Club.

A menu for Riesling

Earlier this week I was involved in judging a selection of South African rieslings at High Timber in London and afterwards we had a three course lunch that had been designed to match with them. This is what we ate and drank.

First the wines which were all tasted blind. There were just 16 of them, the purpose of the exercise being to assess where South Africa currently stands in comparison to its international competitors. Most were dry and a few sweet: pretty well all were appealing while, in the case of the drier wines, not yet having the complexity of more established Riesling producing countries and regions.

The winners were the crisp citrussy De Wetshof Rhine Riesling 2009 and Paul Cluver Noble Late Harvest Weisser Riesling 2009 though we also particularly liked the late harvest Rieslings from Jordan (the Mellifera 2008) and Klein Constantia.

The first course was described as Nepalese Chicken and was a dry tikka-like dish served with a mint raita. It paired really well with the crisp young De Wetshof Riesling and also with Paul Cluver’s Close Encounter, a light 8% Riesling that had totally perplexed us having 39g of sugar but still tasting bone dry.

The next course was Coconut Poached Monkfish with Thai-spiced broth and steamed Pak Choi, a toned-down version of a Thai green curry (more creamy and coconutty, less hot). That worked particularly well with a limey 2008 Thelema Riesling which had been one of my own favourites in the line-up, and with the Klein Constantia and Jordan dry Rieslings.

Finally there was a dessert of mango with vanilla rice pudding with caramelised pistachios which I’d recommend to anyone seeking to show off a sweet Riesling: warm (rather than hot) rice pudding with fresh (Alfonso, I would guess) mango purée. The nuts would have been better uncaramelised, I think, just there to add a bit of texture. That was a great pairing with the Paul Cluver Late Harvest Riesling and with the 2008 Jordan Mellifera (but not with the 2006 which had evolved more marmaladey, Tokajish notes)

 

Clever pairings for rare sherries

I don’t think I ever go to a sherry tasting without coming away renewed in my conviction about what a marvellous match it is for food and the one I attended yesterday was no exception. It was organised by the enterprising Les Caves de Pyrne who are importing for the first time into the UK some rare sherries from Emilio Hidalgo and took place at Dehesa, the sister (if that’s the appropriate word) restaurant of the better known Salt Yard.

The sherries themselves were spectacular but what was impressive was how well they were matched with the food - no mean feat with wines of this character and complexity

Especial Fino, La Panesa with smoked Lincolnshire eel with hispi cabbage and dehydrated olives
The component sherries in this untypical fino are an average age of 15 years which accounts for its rich golden and intense flavour of roasted almonds. The combination with the eel seemed quite Japanese in character - it added a nutty top note that provided a brilliant contrast to the slightly oily, soft, smoky fish (the cabbage and olives didn’t really affect the pairing, I found).

Oloroso Seco, Gobernador with roasted Jerusalem artichoke, pied de mouton and Morcilla
A true dry oloroso with a powerful flavour of grilled hazelnuts which stood up well to the earthy flavours of the artichoke and morcilla, two difficult ingredients to pair with wine. A very autumnal combination as Le Cave’s Doug Wregg aptly observed.

Marques de Rodil Palo Cortado with pan-fried barbary duck with blood orange and parsnip purée
The stand-out pairing for me for its sheer unexpectedness. The palo cortado which was aged for half its 20 year life under flor was paler than the oloroso, but deliciously fragrant and nutty almost turning into caramel with the sweet orange sauce (made with blood orange juice and chicken stock) and creamy parsnip pure. A really inspired combination

El Tresillo 1874 Especial Amontillado Viejo with Parmesan, Comté and Mahon with caramelised walnuts and rye bread
Possibly the best sherry I’ve ever tasted - certainly the best amontillado. I can’t really improve on the tasting note: “Imagine notes of cooked walnuts, orange peel, dried figs, toffee, cream, warm wood and spices (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves among others” (although possibly hazelnuts rather than walnuts) Almost too good to drink with the cheese - you really didn’t want anything to distract from the amazing flavours but it did obviously work, especially with the Parmesan and Mahon. Shame it retails at around £60-70 but a perfect present for an ardent sherry lover.

Pedro Ximenez, with bitter chocolate sorbet, muscavado ice-cream and moscatel raisins macerated in PX brandy
Again a lovely and quite distinctive sherry without the excessive sweetness of many PXs: pure liquid raisin. Possibly the raisins in the dish were therefore superfluous though there was a touch of lemon zest which accentuated the flavour of the sherry nicely. (I also found the combination of black coffee, chocolate sorbet and PX pretty sensational when I sipped my espresso afterwards)

These sherries are only available in limited supply. Only 5000 bottles are made of the fino, for example - and most will go into restaurants like Dehesa and Salt Yard. But if you’re a sherry fanatic you really must try and taste them.

You may also enjoy: 

• The best pairings for amontillado and palo cortado sherry
• The best pairings for sweet oloroso and PX sherry
• The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry
• The best pairings for dry oloroso sherry

I attended the tasting and lunch as a guest of Les Caves de Pyrène.

Image by Volker Schoen from Pixabay