Florida Jim
Florida Jim
This is a pairing that I would hope to repeat often.
First course: peeled navel orange slices topped with diced oil-cured black olives and fennel seeds.
Second course: homemade lobster ravioli in a roma-tomato cream sauce.
Our wine was the 2005 Dom. A. et P. de Villaine, Borgogne (blanc) Les Clous. Outside of Chablis, I havent tasted a better-quality chardonnay this is rich but also crisp and bright, complex and layered, intense but balanced and, even though immensely long, very clean on the finish. It is still an infant but it is obvious that it is very fine wine. (About $25)
With the first this was very suave; it seemed to stay in the background and just flit in and out of the overall taste experience. But a sip at the end of the dish cleansed the palate.
With the second, it became more assertive, cutting through the cream sauce and the richness of the lobster with its acidity but also providing an almost buttery element to the dish. There is nothing buttery about this wine on its own, only in the company of the ravioli did it make that transition. And that seemed to amplify the sauce such that it balanced the lobster flavors and texture.
These kinds of pairings, where the food and wine are both enhanced by the other and seem to fit together like they were made to, are things to remember.
Best, Jim
First course: peeled navel orange slices topped with diced oil-cured black olives and fennel seeds.
Second course: homemade lobster ravioli in a roma-tomato cream sauce.
Our wine was the 2005 Dom. A. et P. de Villaine, Borgogne (blanc) Les Clous. Outside of Chablis, I havent tasted a better-quality chardonnay this is rich but also crisp and bright, complex and layered, intense but balanced and, even though immensely long, very clean on the finish. It is still an infant but it is obvious that it is very fine wine. (About $25)
With the first this was very suave; it seemed to stay in the background and just flit in and out of the overall taste experience. But a sip at the end of the dish cleansed the palate.
With the second, it became more assertive, cutting through the cream sauce and the richness of the lobster with its acidity but also providing an almost buttery element to the dish. There is nothing buttery about this wine on its own, only in the company of the ravioli did it make that transition. And that seemed to amplify the sauce such that it balanced the lobster flavors and texture.
These kinds of pairings, where the food and wine are both enhanced by the other and seem to fit together like they were made to, are things to remember.
Best, Jim