Chapter 9: The Final Exam

Synopsis Chapter 1: Christian meets the new next-door neighbour, William, who happens to be a renowned wine writer and educator. Chapter 2: Christian and his wife, Aimee, arrive at William’s home for their first wine lesson. They learn how to taste, and examine the four basic wine styles: Sparkling, White, Red, and Dessert. Chapter 3: William lays out his master plan: a simple system that groups all wine into six basic styles --three for whites and three for red wines -- and explains how this knowledge takes much of the mystery out of table wine. Chapter 4: As guests at a winery opening, the three friends go on a winery tour, learn how wine is grown and made, and enjoy a luncheon prepared by a gourmet chef with wines selected by the winemaker. Chapter 5: To strengthen their sense memory and ability to recognize aromas, William leads the couple through a series of “nose training” exercises. Chapter 6: Wine shows are a great place to sample and learn about many different wines, as Christian and Aimee discover. They finish their “lesson” with a bit of food and wine matching.  Chapter 7: Christian and Aimee are treated to insights into both old world and new world wine making traditions when they have a winemaker all to themselves. Chapter 8: The trio visits a wine collector and learn about wine cellars, which wines to cellar, and the effects of ageing wine.

Since their last visit with William, Christian and Aimee were abuzz with curiosity. William had said that he was planning a homecoming party, and somehow Christian and Aimee figured prominently into the planning process. That’s why they were now on their way to William’s house on this very pleasant Saturday afternoon.

William greeted them at the door and led them through the house to the back patio where they sat at a table covered with pens, papers and books, which William hastily gathered into semi-orderly piles. William addressed the reason for their meeting: “Our task for today is to look at food and wine pairing.”

“We’ve done a bit of that already, haven’t we?” Christian replied.

“Yes, at the winery and at every tasting you’ve had us to, in fact,” Aimee added. “The little tips we’ve picked up have been really helpful. Of course more would be better.”

“Well there’s certainly lots to discuss,” William continued, “but I’d like to point out that you can complicate this food and wine business to the point of neurosis, and many people do. So what I’d like to do is explore some of the major pairing strategies, and then I have an assignment for you, if you’re interested.”

“You mentioned a party,” Aimee replied.

“I did indeed,” William answered, “and I’d like you two to pick the wines to be served. I’ll provide you with a menu and a list of the wines I have available, and you can make the final selections based on what we discuss today, plus your homework.

“Now, how should we approach this – start with a dish and then pick wines to match, or should we choose the wine first and then look for the ideal dish to go with it?”

“We’ve never been able to decide,” Christian replied. “Which is better?”

“Well, to be honest,” William confessed, “we usually pick the wine first and then work on the dish.”

”Now, that’s only the second time you’ve used the word ‘we’,” Aimee shot back. “I think you’d better explain!”

William laughed, somewhat embarrassed. “You’re absolutely right. I’m afraid I get very wrapped up in things and sometimes forget to include the ‘back story’.  My wife Ann has been teaching and doing research in Europe for most of the year. She’s speaking at a conference next week, and after that she’ll be coming home. That’s also why I’ve been travelling so much. Whenever I had an opportunity to visit a European wine region, I’d tack on an extra week or so to be with Ann. The homecoming party is for her. It’s a chance to get some of our friends together so we can all get caught up, and as a way of christening our new home.”

“I knew it,” Aimee declared, with considerable satisfaction. “I knew you were too polite and well kept to be a bachelor.”

They all had a good laugh at this one.

“Now, before I uncork the fount of food and wine knowledge, let me get us something to drink.” With that, William disappeared into the house, returnin moments later with glasses, a bottle of rosé wine and a plate of small sandwiches. “This is likely the last of the warm weather, so I thought rosé would be just the thing.”

“There you go pushing my buttons again. This isn’t going to be sweet is it?” Christian asked, looking at the pink liquid..

“Then here is your first food and wine matching lesson,” William began. “The great rosé wines are mostly dry, and they come from regions that are almost all within sight of the Mediterranean. Rosé wines go well with warm weather and Mediterranean fare, preferably lunch. I didn’t know whether you might have had lunch, so I prepared a few finger sandwiches. We have grilled veg, tuna salad, and prosciutto with tomatoes and mozzarella – what you’d find on any good Italian table at lunchtime.”

While Christian and Aimee eagerly helped themselves to the sandwiches, William pulled a few books from the pile beside him.

“You’re right about this rosé,” Aimee said. “Very refreshing: quite ‘summery’.”

“And not the least bit sweet,” Christian added. “And it does seem to say lunch.”

“Good,” William replied, “although keep in mind that a little bit of sweetness can be a good thing in a table wine. Now, we’d better make sure you’re available on the day in question. I’m planning to have the party on the 18th. I hope you are both free that evening.”

“We have no plans,” Aimee replied, “ so we’re at your service,”

“Excellent. Then let’s get started,” William said as he reached for a sandwich and topped up his glass. “There are a lot of ways of looking at the food and wine matching business, not the least of which is ‘white with fish; red with meat’.”

“I thought that rule was passé,” Christian objected.

“Well, if you have nothing better it’s a pretty safe way to go,” William said. “But it can be limiting, and it tends to ignore extremes of style. It means you miss out on combinations like Douro with grilled salmon or Semillon with Haggis.”

“Haggis?” Christian remarked.

“You had to be there,” William joked. “So, let’s look at some other schemes. One of the easiest and most fun techniques is to pair regional foods with regional wines. Traditional local food and wine combinations evolved to complement each other – sometimes over centuries: Italian wine with Italian food, German wine with German food…”

“Greek wine with Greek food,” Aimee interjected. “That sounds so reasonable. How come nobody’s pointed it out before?”

“Possibly because the theory appears to break down fairly quickly,” William explained. “For example, just about any Italian white or rosé or light red would work with my Tuscan-inspired sandwiches here. But what would I have put with Chinese? Or with traditional English fare? The trick to this approach is to also look at the evolution of the regional foods. For example, you can trace Tex-Mex back to Spain, so Spanish Rioja or Rueda or even Sherry would be natural choices there. The English diet has many influences, but mostly French, and the British have always been dedicated buyers of French wines. So Bordeaux – what the British often call ‘claret’ – is a tried and true partner for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

“Take another example: chicken cacciatore. This literally means ‘hunter’s stew’ and it’s traditionally partnered with Chianti. Just about every culture has a hunter’s stew, so any wine that has the qualities of Chianti would be a good match. Also, Riesling goes nicely with schnitzel, so you might want to try it with scaloppini or with breaded chops.”

“Sounds all very good, but what about that Chinese?” Christian reminded him.

“Or East Indian?” Aimee added.

“Yes, well those are a challenge,” William replied, “but only to the theory, not to the task of finding suitable wines, and that brings us to another technique: matching by flavour components. Look for the dominant flavour elements in the food and then find a wine that has similar elements.”

“So if we can find a curry flavoured wine, we’re all set!” Christian joked.

“Now that would be pretty handy,” William said with a laugh, “and I’m sure someone has tried it. But if you look at Asian cuisine, you find that it’s often dominated by fruits, spices or sugar. Those are all components that we can work with. For fruity dishes, go with a fruity wine. One of my favourite matches is Riesling with any sort of curry – or Pinot Grigio. And if it’s a Szechwan dish or a spicy curry, a sweeter Riesling can lessen the heat. A lot of people will recommend Gewurztraminer with East Indian on the theory that the ‘spicy’ grape goes with spicy food, which actually is true to some extent. I have to say, though, that beer is often a better choice. I also think Cava works very well.

“In general, you can match sweet with sweet, spice with spice, acid with acid. Italian reds have generous acid in them and are perfect with tomatoes. If you’re faced with a cream sauce, a modern-styled Chardonnay will match the sweetness and butteriness of the sauce. Cabernet often has a bit of bell pepper aroma, and Cabernet goes very nicely with stuffed peppers. New World Shiraz is loaded with sweet fruit flavours, and sometimes some sugar as well, and it stands up well to barbecue sauce.”

“Someone told me it was indecent to have Aussie Shiraz with barbecued ribs,” Christian protested. “So you’re telling me it’s not only OK, but actually a pretty good choice?”

“As always, trust your instincts,” William replied. “And if you like the combination, who cares what the critics and theorists say. A couple of other things you can try are an earthy Pinot Noir with game, and with your crème caramel or fruit flan, try a sweet, viscous Icewine. Just be sure that the wine is sweeter than the dish.”

“What about those classic pairings I keep hearing about,” Christian interjected, “like Port with Stilton?”

“Ah, that brings us to the next approach,” William answered. “Look for contrasting elements. Port is sweet, Stilton is quite salty, and it works. Some Chinese dishes are rather salty and a sweeter wine can work there as well. Actually, roast beef with Cabernet and Cabernet blends is another example. Cabernet tends to be rather hefty, so the milder flavour of roast beef provides a nice contrast. In this case you’re contrasting by weight and complexity. Just be careful you don’t create a ‘David and Goliath’ situation.”

“When you mention these combinations, I can almost taste them, and how the wine and the dishes would complement each other,” Aimee said, reaching for another sandwich.

“It really isn’t all that mysterious,” William affirmed. “And as you said, you can almost taste the combinations in your imagination. That’s because you can call on your sense memory in a creative way. You likely do it with food all the time. It can be as easy as deciding whether to have potatoes or pilaf with your pork chops. Do the same with wine as if it’s just another food ingredient: recall the characteristics of the wine and see if they’re a match for the dish you have in mind. Now, there are a couple of more things I want to discuss and then we’d better get onto your homework.

“The next technique is to match by weight. Your big, gooey Shiraz with smoky, sauce-laden ribs is a perfect example of matching weight with weight – big with big. Other classic matches are Muscadet with shellfish, Brunello with wild boar, or Chablis with roast chicken.”

“Hey, aren’t those regional matches?” Christian observed.

“Indeed they are,” William confirmed. “These matching techniques often work in harmony with each other. And they show the wisdom of each of these combinations as they’ve evolved over the years.

“Now, here’s a simple trick you can try, what you might call a force fit,” William continued. “Add the wine you intend to serve to the dish you’re making and you’ll have an automatic match. For example you can make Coq au Vin with either red or white wine, and then you can serve it with the same wine as you used in the dish.”

“On the subject of cooking with wine,” Aimee noted, “is it really necessary to use the same wine in the dish that you plan on drinking? A lot of people seem pretty fixated on this idea.”

“It’s not a bad guideline,” William answered, “but it’s maybe a bit severe, especially if you plan to serve something rare or costly. Actually, any wine that’s similar and of good quality will do. But I’ve got to admit that I will sometimes cook with wine that I’d never consider drinking.”

“And just how do you come by wine that’s not worth drinking?” Christian asked.

“Remember, I get a lot of unsolicited samples,” William answered. “And frankly, some of them make me despair for the state of the industry.”

“So you save the worst ones for cooking with,” Aimee concluded.

“No, those go down the drain after a token taste, but the ‘OK’ wines are quite acceptable. Now, I have just a couple of more points to make and then I’ll give you your assignment.

“The good news in all this is that for any dish there are probably a dozen wines that will be splendid, a hundred wines that will work perfectly well, and only a handful that won’t do. And if you happen to end up with a mismatch, just put the cork back in the bottle and try something else.”

“That’s where having a cellar comes in handy,” Christian noted.

“Exactly,” William agreed. “Now, having said that, there are a few things you should avoid.”

“Muscat with hotdogs is one,” Aimee declared. “We tried that at a backyard barbecue once. Totally yucky.”

“And yet there’s probably someone who thinks the combination is fabulous,” William sighed. “Although I think I would agree with you. Now, what to avoid: vinegar in all its forms can kill just about any wine. Salad dressings and pickles are notorious culprits. Stick with fruit-based dressings or hold off on the wine. Olives, on the other hand, go very nicely with big red wines.”

“We found that Sauvignon Blanc goes pretty well with vinaigrette,” Aimee added.

“And for every ‘rule’ there are exceptions,” William replied. “So if it works, then you don’t need the rule. Now, in the same vein, watch out for citrus. That too can challenge a wine. Also eggs and artichokes, although I find that unoaked Chardonnay works nicely with eggs and, again, Sauvignon Blanc can partner well with artichokes. You should also watch out for smoked fish – kippers in particular. Smoked salmon is a bit more forgiving. Look for a white wine with high acidity. A dry sparkling wine or dry sherry would be a good choice. And while we’re on the topic of fish, be careful of the tannins in red wine. They can react with fish and cause an unfortunate metallic taste.”

“So that’s why Pinot Noir and Beaujolais work with fish,” Christian concluded, “because they’re low in tannin.”

“You seem to have quite a good handle on this subject already, ” William said. “Incidentally, Pinot Noir is one of the few wines that can co-exist with chocolate. And I guess that’s about all you should avoid.”

“That’s not a very big list,” Aimee declared.

“No, it’s not a big list at all,” William agreed. “Keep in mind that we’re merely looking for symbiosis, not food and wine combinations that cause raptures of ecstasy. Of course it’s always nice when you discover such a match. Now, I have another little trick that you can try. If you find yourself with a wine that’s a bit too tart for the dish, perhaps a racy Chenin with mild fish, try putting a bit of lemon on the dish. That can bring the two into balance. And if it’s a red wine that you feel is too bitter, a bit of salt on the dish can again restore balance.”

“But that’s only for when you don’t have something else you can open,” Christian pointed out. “I think I like the ‘try another bottle’ solution better. Besides, I almost never use salt.”

“As I said, it’s just a useful trick. Now, the next thing we have to cover is serving order.”

“Of the wine?” Aimee asked.

“Of the wine and the food," William emphasized. “Remember that we’ll have gone to a lot of trouble to create good pairings, so our goal is to avoid having any one item take attention away from the others, and to allow the meal to build to a climax. The general rules are: white before red; dry before sweet; light before heavy; simple before complex; and young before venerable, although some people say these last two should be the other way around. Also, select a wine that is somewhat heavier than the food. That’s because a heavier dish can overwhelm the wine.”

“That makes sense,” Aimee agreed. “And not too hard to remember.”

“Do you have any of this written down anywhere?” Christian asked.

“As a matter of fact, you’ll find that it’s written down in many places,” William answered. “And that’s the reason I’ve approached it this way. Most wine books will give you pages of matter-of-fact lists of what goes with what – Montrachet goes with Veal Cordon Bleu or Chateaubriand simply must have Pomerol. You end up thinking that these are the only acceptable matches, and that simply is not true. I want to give you general rules so you can make your own choices rather than hand down a long list of ‘approved’ pairings. That way you can approach pairing as a minor problem to be solved rather than a standard or ideal to be lived up to. Now, here’s one tip that I think will see you through any situation: Always match wine with people.”

“This sounds like an interesting approach,” Christian said. “What’s the objective there?”

“An important and often neglected part of the ‘wine experience’ is ambience,” William explained. “Where you are, who you’re with, the food on the table … they all play a part in how we interpret a wine, and how we remember it as well. The classic example is when you’re sipping the house carafe wine at an outdoor bistro in Provence. The wine is so delicious that you arrange to have a few bottles sent home. But when you open the wine in the glare of familiar surroundings, it just doesn’t measure up.”

“We’ve had friends complain about that,” Aimee said. “They thought the wine had gone bad in transit.”

“That’s possible, but I’d go with my ambience theory,” William said. “The situation can have a big impact on how the wine comes across. When you came over here for your first wine lesson, I chose wines I wanted you to try as much as wines that illustrated my point.”

“And I remember that tasting and those wines in detail,” Aimee agreed.

William smiled. “Choosing wine for people, by the way, can sometimes overcome a poor food-wine match.”

“I’ve read a couple of items about ‘food friendly’ wines – wines that will match anything,” Christian said. “Is there any truth to that?”

“That would be nice,” William said, “and there are some very food friendly wines, but a wine that will go with almost anything? Mostly these are somewhat neutral wines – unoaked Chardonnay, Kerner, Beaujolais, Italian whites. They’re all safe bets, but who wants to always stick with the safe choices? And again we have a limitation because neutral wines sometimes can’t stand up to more expressive foods. If I were to pick one wine that goes with anything, it would be Pinot Noir. It’s the only wine I know of that can go from salad to dessert without a hitch.

“Here’s one more point, and it’s the last one, I promise: You should always match by price. Never serve a cheap wine with quality food, and vice versa.

“Now, I do have something for you in writing.” William passed over the books that he’d set aside, and gave each of them two pieces of paper. “Here is the menu for the party, along with a list of the wines that I have available. Your job is to select a wine to go with each of the eight hors d’oeuvre on the menu. I also selected these books for you to refer to. This first one is written by a good friend and it contains the recipes for these dishes. The recipes and ingredient lists will help you with identifying the dominant character. There’s a bit of regional background as well, plus some wine matches, but I know you’ll want to come up with your own. These other two are on wine and food matching in general.”

“This author looks familiar,” Aimee teased as she picked up one of the books. “Some fellow named Kensington.”

“Well I couldn’t let you get away without showing off at least one of my books,” William replied. “Now, these books will give you lots of review of the techniques we’ve been discussing, and a lot of cross references. For example, this one has a section on finding a wine to go with a particular food and another section on finding food to go with the wine. What I’d like you to do is get your list of wines to me a couple of days in advance. And don’t hesitate to include a wine that’s not on my list if you feel strongly about it. Any questions?”

“Looks straightforward enough,” Christian replied. “As always, you’ve been very thorough.”

“Good. Then we’ll see you on the 18th, and I’d like you to arrive 10 or 15 minutes early so we can discuss your homework.”

Christian and Aimee found the food and wine matching exercise a lot less intimidating than they’d expected. In fact, once they discovered William’s formula buried in the menu, the task suddenly became quite easy, and they delivered their list of wines well ahead of the deadline. Still, they were nervous when they approached William’s front door the afternoon of the party. They rang the bell and were greeted by a familiar face.

“Look who it is,” Ernst beamed, “ … my very good friends! Come in, come in. I’ve been assigned door duty. Here, let me take your coats.”

“We didn’t expect to see you here,” Aimee commented, handing her jacket to their elected greeter.

“You’ll find we’re a pretty close-knit bunch. I believe that William has a small job for you in the kitchen. This way.” Aimee and Christian followed Ernst to the kitchen where they found William busy with food preparation.

“Ah, here are my guests of honour,” William chimed. “I’d like you to meet Marla. She’s in charge of all the food. You may also recognize her as the creator of one of the books I gave you. The hors d’oeuvre recipes are hers.”

“Those recipes are wonderful,” Aimee said, turning to Marla. “William asked us to pick wines to match, and knowing the ingredients really helped.”

“Well then, here,” Marla said, handing Christian a plate of hors d’oeuvre. “Try the salmon tartlets.”


“And to go with it, the Cava you requested,” William said as he handed Christian and Aimee glasses of the sparkling wine.

“Delish,” Aimee cooed. “And the Cava really works!”

 “Hey, these are good,” Christian exclaimed as he downed his second canapé. “These are really good!”

“Glad you enjoy them, but tell me, how did you come to choose Cava?” Marla asked. “It’s not what most people would think of.”

“We cheated!” Aimee confessed. “William gave us the menu and a list of wines, and as we were working on it we discovered his pattern.”

“And what pattern is that?” William asked.

“The one you used at our second lesson,” Aimee answered. “First, a sparkling wine, then the three ‘archetypal’ whites, then three reds, and wrap up with a ‘sticky’.”

“I told you they were good,” William said to Marla. “Now, the Cava ... why?”

“Always start with a sparkler,” Christian answered. “It helps to set the mood, and creating the right ambience is half the battle.”

“Plus we chose as much for our host as for the dish,” Aimee added. “We also wanted something that would cut through the salmon and the cheese, and Cava is quite dry.”

“And the acidity makes it a good palate cleanser,” Christian added.

“Very good,” William responded. “Let’s go through the rest of the list and then we should join the other guests.”

“People are here already?” Looking out into the backyard Aimee saw a cluster of people inspecting the garden.

“The invitation said 5:00, so naturally people began arriving last night,” William said with a smile. “Wine people are like that. Now, you selected an Ontario Chardonnay to go with the quiches.”

“That’s the ‘Hearty White’ group,” Christian answered. “You told us that Chardonnay was a good foil for egg, so it was a pretty obvious choice. But no oak. And the Ontario Chardonnays have a nice freshness to them.”

“Not bad. Wine number three is another unusual choice,” Marla said, picking up their list with one floury hand. “Orvieto ... how is that going to work with my asparagus? Or the prosciutto?”

“Well, once we discovered the formula, we just went to William’s style lists,” Christian began. “So this is the Sauvignon Group, but we didn’t want a lot of grapefruit.”

“Or cat pee,” Aimee added.

“… or cat pee,” Christian continued. “We’ve had this Orvieto before and it’s more lemony, and I think it has enough body to work with the prosciutto.”

“Well thought out,” William said. “On the other hand, you may have to sell me on this next one. Aimee, your turn.”

“We weren’t too sure either,” Aimee began, “Riesling seemed too obvious. We thought that the Grüner Veltliner would give us the stone fruit aromas of Riesling, and that would work with the mango. And pork is a ‘white’ meat so it should go with a white wine, and your notes said this one was off-dry.”

“Well, we’ll have to see if the adjudication committee agrees,” William kidded.

“Adjudication committee?” Christian asked.

William laughed. “Oh, it’s just the 30 or so people who will be sampling your work for the next few hours. Nothing serious, I promise. Now, what led you to this next pairing?”

“The Beaujolais and tuna,” Aimee began. “Well, we thought this might be a ringer so we checked in the books you lent us.”

“But first we had to look up cloudberries,” Christian interjected.

“We thought the Beaujolais would have very little tannin in it, so it wouldn’t conflict with the tuna, and cloudberries are raspberries, which is what I always smell in Beaujolais,” Aimee summed up.

“Full marks,” William said proudly. “Now this next one will probably get a lot of favourable comments from our guests.”

“Well this one is driven by the Hoisin sauce,” Christian explained. “It’s pretty sweet and gooey, so I immediately thought Shiraz, but Aimee suggested the Zinfandel. It should also match up nicely with the spices in the chicken saté.”

“This last red wine match seems nicely focussed to me,” Marla observed, handing Christian another plate of hors d’oeuvre. “Looks like you don’t want just any Cabernet. What were you looking for here?”

“I think Cabernet and beef are just made for each other,” Aimee said. “But we didn’t want something as serious as Californian Cabernet or Bordeaux. Australian Cab is usually a bit lighter and more fruit forward, so it won’t overwhelm the burgers or the Portobellos.”

“Nicely done,” William affirmed. “And you’ve managed to pick one of my favourite sweet wines as a finisher.”

“It’s all about the figs and almonds,” Christian said. “I read that some Italian white wines have an almond aroma, so we looked for an Italian dessert wine, and this was the only one on your list.”

“Oh, right ... well, that certainly made it simple,” William confessed sheepishly. “So in general, how hard was it to create eight food and wine pairings which, I might add, you have done here with aplomb?”

“We had a lot of fun doing it,” Aimee replied. “And the tip about trying to imagine the combinations was really helpful, even though we had to improvise on a couple of them.”

Just then the door to the back yard opened and the garden inspection committee noisily made their way to the Cava and the hors d’oeuvre. Then their attention fell on the newcomers.

“You must be William’s new discoveries,” said a slight, elfish man, hand outstretched. “Top rate job on the wines. Marla, let me take one of these plates off your hands.”

“Thanks, Dr. D.,” Marla replied. “In fact, all of you, grab a plate and get out of here. Shoo. We have work to do.”

Marla and William handed out plates of hors d’oeuvre as the guests filed by, glasses of Cava in hand, until only one remained. “Aimee, Christian, I’d like you to meet Ann.”

“So you two are the ones who have been keeping William out of trouble,” Ann said with a broad smile. “I’ve certainly heard quite a lot about you.”

“It was pretty easy, really,” Aimee said. “Your husband is a very good teacher. He’s also very good at keeping secrets. We had no idea he had any family in the area until recently.”

“I may be the professor, but he’s the absent-minded one,” Ann replied. “And thank you for helping him to get settled in. Having you two as a project helped him focus, and it also helped me to not worry about him so much.” Ann reached out and took Aimee by the hand. “I think we should get out of Marla’s way. Come along, I’ll introduce you to the rest of our guests.”

“I’ll be out to join you shortly,” Marla said. “William, you’re not going anywhere. Here, put these on a plate.”

With that, Ann, Aimee and Christian left the cooking crew to complete their tasks.

“Well,” Marla said, “they certainly are a nice couple, and so keen. Did you invite them to join our tasting group?”

“Not yet. I thought I’d see how they react to all those old fogies first,” William answered.

“And how’s the new book coming along?”

“I finished the research just minutes ago,” William said, arranging canapés on a platter.

“And did you get what you needed?”

“I did,” William said with a satisfied smile. “Yes, I think I have just about everything I need.”  - tfo