Wine & Food Pairing
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
 Pastiche owner, Pat Connors, is coming up on his 12th anniversary of the well known restaurant. Taking the restaurant from Ernie’s Bar & Grill in 1997, Pastiche opened its doors in 1998 and never looked back. Today, Pastiche has a well established reputation as a casual yet elegant restaurant. We sat down recently to speak with Pat about himself, the restaurant and the industry and St Patrick’s Day.
Jim: Pat, thanks for taking a few minutes out what always seems to be a very busy schedule.
Pat: Always a pleasure, Jim
Jim: What led you into the culinary field, Pat?
Pat: I worked for restaurants in high school and college while attending U of A in order to help pay for my education. I loved the business and the give and take with customers. It just seemed natural.
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Tags: Pastiche Restaurant
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Thursday, February 25th, 2010
If you have never tried Chablis wine (from the namesake region of Burgundy), you owe it to yourself to try it. From the Chardonnay grape, the wine delights with aromas and flavors that make you think that the California version is a separate variety.
There are seven grand crus of Chablis, producing the top of the line wines: Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Les Preuses, Valmur and Vaudesir. While each sub-region of offers its own nuances, these wines tend to be mouthwatering crisp, clean and lemony with perhaps hints of peach, floral elements and an outstanding balance of acidity and mineralilty. They’re often described as wines with great finesse and can include scents of wet stone, sea salt, beeswax, honey and even iodine. Chablis owes its steely character to its northern clime and the geology of the soils, the vines planted in crumbled fossilized chalk, marl and limestone deposited by an invading sea nearly 140 million years ago.
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Tags: Chablis, Chardonnay, seafood, shellfish
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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
There are any number of ways to celebrate this special romantic day with food and wine. While chocolate, Champagne and roses may first come to mind, certainly great choices, my wife and I are planning to join forces this year and prepare a fun, creative brunch. While we have yet to choose the theme, we’ll let you know when we do. Meanwhile, there are many of you who will take advantage of dining at one of our local restaurants listed in our Wine News section and trust me, they all have great menus planned. But since I touched upon brunch, let me address some food and wine ideas, whether you choose to cook at home or dine out.
Brunch allows me to be outlandishly creative if I wish and it’s quite easy to accomplish, especially if keep a couple of themes in mind. For me, it’s easiest to think about the foundation for the dish such as eggs, meats, pancakes/French toast, doughnuts or fruit. Then, I can think about how I want to accent or kick up the dish. Once there, I can hone in on the wine or alternative beverage. A slightly different take is to decide which country or region you wish to “visit” culinary wise and build your dish accordingly.
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Tags: AJ's Fine Foods, Beaujolais, Champagne, East Broadway Beverage House, Elle, Feast, Gewurztraminer, Iced Wine, Pastiche, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Schramsberg Sparkling Wine, Total Wines, Valentine's Day
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Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Pork is one of those dates with food that you can dress up or down and take to nearly any dance. It’s hard not to make her look good. Depending upon its preparation and cut, you can pair the food group with varying whites, reds and even roses.
Lean pork (boneless chops) while not overly flavorful by itself lends itself to nearly any accent you wish whether it be dried spice, sauce or fruit. On the other extreme is bacon, with its rich fat and very savory aromas and flavors, just begging for a hearty red.
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Tags: Alsatian, Beaujolais, Burgundy, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Chianti, German, Gewurztraminer, Loire, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, pork, Rhone, Riesling, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Viognier, Vouvray, Zinfandel
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Monday, December 28th, 2009
This is part II in the series on Wine With Asian Food. Click here to read Part I.
While Asian cuisine is strongly influenced through the accents of spices and sauces, cooking technique plays a central role, as well.
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Tags: Asian cuisine, Asian food, Lotus Garden
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Friday, December 4th, 2009
Choosing a wine to pair with Asian cuisine can be challenging, perhaps more so than alternative cuisines styles. Not only are you likely to be serving several dishes simultaneously, but the flavor profiles of the individual dishes often overlap, presenting a rather unique challenge. One dish may be sweet and sour while another is spicy and smoky. As well, it’s likely that you’ll be dealing with multi-textured dishes from noodles to meats and poultry.
Most dishes are prepared in such a manner that the true flavor is represented by “accessory” ingredients such as sauces, seasonings, and cooking style. As well, the blend of some or all of these can yield still another set of aromas and flavors. With this in mind, I set out to speak with a few local sources about pairing strategies along with my own knowledge and experience. As well, I want to point you to valuable book on the subject, Wine with Asian Food, by Patricia Guy and Edwin Soon. If you’re searching for a resource, this is a great place to start.
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
As we approach Thanksgiving 2009, I thought that it would be instructive to check in on several of Tucson’s chefs and ask them what they are doing for the upcoming holiday. As you might imagine, it varies with many closing their restaurant for the holiday so that they and their employees can share the day with family while others will be serving those who wish to eat out.
Janos is celebrating at home again this year, featuring an earthy pig roast in a pit, a la 2007. You can read about the process by accessing his website at www.janos.com and clicking on to his blog, pictures and all!! Wines that Janos will be considering this year are a Kabinett Riesling and a “local” blend from Page Springs Cellars of Grenache, Syrah and Zinfandel.
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Tags: Acacia, Elle, Feast restaurant, Hacienda del Sol, Janos and J-Bar, Jax Kitchen, Jonathan's Cork, Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, Pastiche
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
To refer to an “alternative” Italian white is, to be succinct, to refer to all whites. Unlike calling the Nebbiolo or Sangiovese a primary grape, it is nearly impossible to call one white grape a primary standout and the rest secondary. That being the case, let’s review some of the more prominent whites and of course, food groups to pair.
Asti Spumante: today shortened to Asti, is derived from the Moscato Bianco or white Muscat grape. The wine from the grape can range from somewhat light to sweet and sparkling and low in alcohol (usually less than 8%). Being light and refreshing, it’s not surprising that the wine works well with desserts such as cookies (biscotti for paired regionality), fruit based desserts and mousses and meringues. As most of these wines tend to be quite ordinary, I would check with your local retailer for choices.
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Tags: Asti Spumante, Falanghina, Frascati, Galestro, Gavi, Greco Di Tufo, Orvieto, Pinot Bianco, Prosecco, Soave, Tocai Friulano, Trebbiano, Verdicchio, Vermentino, Vernaccia
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Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Italy churns out nearly one quarter of the world’s wine and lays claim to what seems to be an endless universe of red grape varieties….in fact, just too many to highlight. Many have names that few will recognize (take Ughetta or Uva rara, for example). My goal here is to highlight the more accessible and quality assured alternative varieties and their wines, leaving the very esoteric and sometimes uninspiring grapes aside. As well, we’ll leave the topic of desert wines for another chapter. For practical purposes, let’s define Barolo, Brunello, Barbaresco, Barbera and Chianti as mainstream and investigate some alternatives.
Aglianico: is a dark skinned grape yielding a full bodied red wine from the Southern Italian region of Campania and Basilicata. The wines have the potential to express deep plum and chocolate aromas, and tinge the palate with full tannins and marked acidity.
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Tags: anglianco, bardolino, Bonarda, charbono, dolcetto, lambrusco, montepulciano, Nero d'Avola, primitivo, valpolicella
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Thursday, September 10th, 2009
The universe of alternative French whites is significantly broader than for reds and thus offers more opportunities for pairing with food.
The Alsatian region in far northeast France, bordering Germany, has built a traditional reputation for producing very food friendly rich, dry white wines. However, in recent years, the tendency has been to produce more sweet wine. The grapes are a mixture of French, German and some exotic varieties. The four grapes, Gewurztraminer, German Riesling, Pinot Gris and Muscat produced namesake wine that define this region separated from the rest of France by the Vosges mountain range.
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Tags: Aligote, Alsace, Australia, Baillard, Bourboulenc, Bourchard Pere & Fils, Bourgeois, Brocard, Burgundy, Chablis, Chardonnay, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Chenin Blanc, Chidaine, Clairette, Corton-Charlemagne, Cotat, Cote d'Or, Cote de Beaune, Dagueneau, Dauvissat, Des Baumard, Droin, Drouhin, Fevre, Gewurztraminer, Grenache Blanc, Hugel & Fils, Humbrecht, Joly, Leflaive, Loire, Macon, Maconnais, Meursault, Monlouis sur Loire, Montrachat, Muscadet, Muscat, Nantais, Picpoul, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pouilly Fuisse, Pouilly-Fume, Raveneau, Rhone, Riesling, Roussanne, Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc, Savennieres, Semillon, Smith Haut Lafitte, St. Veran, Trimbach, Viognier, Vouvray, white Bordeaux, white Hermitage
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