Food & Wine Pros

Argentine wines with Asian food

You’d expect Catena Zapata to come up with something out of the ordinary for this showcase event and they did. Importing a Japanese chef Takashi Yagihashi of Takashi in Chicago to create dishes to go with their wines. And not a Malbec in sight (well, only in a blend)

Here are the four pairings and how I rated them:

Seared langoustine with pancetta, saffron garlic mayonnaise and fresh basil oil
The first of two chardonnay pairings in this menu - a bold move. This one was the Angelica Chardonnay 2004 which is only available on the home market. The dish (right) - more of an ‘amuse’ was dominated not by the saffron mayo but by an intense basil oil with together with the langoustine made this a totally delicious pairing. Top marks.

Raw tuna with tofu, avocado and hearts of palm with a soy and sesame dressing
Basically this was an Asian salad with some top quality sashimi grade tuna in it, not the obvious partner for a heavyweight chardonnay you might have thought and you’d be right. The wine, the Catena Alta Chardonnay 2006 was perfectly pitched with a lovely freshness counterbalancing its toasty richness but the dressing took out that element leaving it tasting slightly heavy and bringing out tropical fruit flavours that were not obvious in the wine when tasted on its own. Lovely dish. Lovely wine. Just didn’t quite hit it off.

Marinated grilled short ribs with stir-fried brown rice and Arimasansho sauce
More soy this time in a slightly sweet marinade which unfortunately stripped some of seductive floral character and ripe fruit out of the 2005 Nicolas Catena Zapata, a blend of Cabernet and Malbec (68%/32%). However the accompaniment which also included a smoky grilled aubergine went really well, leaving the flavour of the wine intact. Just a touch too much sweetness can really play havoc with a pairing. Interestingly if it had been a vegetarian dish, based on the aubergine it would have been fantastic.

Sheeps milk panacotta with yuzu jelly and fresh berries with a green tea macaroon
Not very pannacotta-y in consistency - more like a mousse - but a very successful pairing with the accompanying Catena Zapata Semillon doux, a botrytised sweet wine that the winery makes in very small quantities. Not one of their best wines in my opinon but the citrus (lime and lemon) notes harmonised beautifully with the delicate lemon flavour of the dessert, the tartness of the berries and slight bitterness of the macaroon.

It was interesting that it was the lesser of the wines that provided the most successful pairings. The other two courses didn’t quite hit the spot not because they were Asian but because the dressing and the sweetness weren’t quite accurately enough judged. A delicious meal by any standards though.

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