Recently I accepted a job at a local Poblano-Italian restaurant. Beginning next week I will be El Barzon's new beverage director. This means I will have to remaster the tricks of tending bar, and I invite your disorderly advice and tips on the subject. This is a picture of my take on an ungarnished Sazerac cocktail using Wild Turkey Bourbon, Ricard Cassis and Peychaud bitters. I like it better with Chartreuse as a substitute for Absinthe, but I am on a budget and the Ricard pastis goes a lot farther. I hope to stock Carpano Antica vermouth too, both for serving with soda and in Manhattans.
My buddy John S. is thinking about opening a bistro on Detroit's east side. The other day he came over with a salmon filet. I was shocked to discover that a 2005 Haut Medoc du Beyzac (sp.? - a Handpicked item) didn't go "well" with raw salmon, wasabi and soy sauce - it went OMFG amazing with it. I'm still puzzled about how to fit this in my food-wine pairing conceptual schemes. We steamed the rest of the fish over a broth infused with mirepoix, cinnamon, cumin, anise, tamari, curry and shrimp stock. We had two different wines with it:
2008 Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon, something I've been binging on lately, has lots of ripe flavor and texture. At least one diner at the barbeque restaurant where I work sent a bottle back. I suppose it doesn't resemble "Sauvignon" very much, rather it tastes more like dry "Auslese" made out of Sauvignon. It paired well with the salmon. We also drank 2006 Gamay Pouille (Thierry Puzelat.) The exotic food flavors brought out the elegant dry structures in the wine. The tannins were soft textured while they determined the grand pace of mineral, spice and fruit flavors.
At some point we cobbled together a pork and bean soup made with smoked ham hocks, pinto beans and celery. The dish probably cost less than $1.
Moving backward in time, I spent an evening recently with Steve K., Jerry B. and families on an island in the Detroit River. There was one dish: Italian sausages, peppers and onions fried in a large iron skillet. The aperitif was Aleks Simcic's 2008 Pinot Grigio from Brda, which was fresh faced and even interesting despite its polish. Lots of fruit. Nothing forced. There were two reds. Steve and Jerry loved the Pouille Gamay (same edition as above.) So did I, but the surprise was a bottle of 2007 Lang and Reed North Coast Cabernet Franc. Recognizable. Plush. Not a come on, just comfortable red wine with some adult flavors, currants in particular. At their best California Bordeaux varietals remind me of a warm wood cabin after coming in from the cold.
Dessert was liquid: 2005 Mueller Catoir Haardter Buergergarten Riesling Auselse. I haven't ever drunk a MC wine more than 10 years old and from the evidence I'm not sure I would want to spend a lot of energy finding one. This wine was balanced, complex with flavors of marmelade, honey, fresh fruit juices and herbs, all morphing spontaneously in a beautiful way.
