Food and Wine Matching

My favorite red grape is Pinot Noir - made famous by the movie 'Sideways' (starring Sandra Oh, from Grey's Anatomy!). We know from the movie that Pinot Noir is hard to grow since its skin makes it easily susceptible to rot. It is also super sensitive to light exposure, soil and fermentation techniques. It is just plain fussy. I like the wine for its lightly bodied, gamey nature. The wine when mature is at its best complex, sensual, intense, succulent all at the same time. Most of all it makes duck taste like absolute heaven. Duck and pinot noir, the best match ever. 


My food and wine match at dinner tonight was a disaster. I was indulging by making pasta puttanesca for dinner to cap off the week. The only wines I had were Jean Luc Colombo Les Gravieres Crozes Hermitage 2008 and Les Grands Cypres Vacqueyras 2007 - North and South Rhone - both bought from the wine section at Waitrose. The northern rhone wine was mostly characteristically Syrah. The Vacqueyras was really nice tasting of red fruit and quite a pronounced round taste of Grenache which I liked.




Lines from Sideways the Movie:

Maya: You know, can I ask you a personal question, Miles?

Miles Raymond: Sure.

Maya: Why are you so in to Pinot?

Miles Raymond: [laughs softly]

Maya: I mean, it's like a thing with you.

Miles Raymond: [continues laughing softly]

Miles Raymond: Uh, I don't know, I don't know. Um, it's a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.