Monthly Archives: April 2017

Trader Joe’s Tuesdays: Spelt Risotto and Panilonco Chardonnay/Viognier Reserva

A number of my students have asked me what I think of the wines from Trader Joe’s and honestly, I had never even walked into the store despite living about a five minute walk away from the 14th Street Manhattan store. Too crowded.

Now I’m living in south Florida with my man who loves the stores (and not just because his name is Joe). We went to our local one down here and I was surprised by the wine selection (it’s not Two Buck Upchuck afterall!) Encouraged, I started perusing the grocery store and was impressed with their own-branded foodstuffs as well.

The idea struck me to pair one of their value wines with one of Trader Joe’s own meals. We started with Spelt Risotto with Vegetables and Chickpeas, and Panilonco Chardonnay/Viognier Reserva 2015.

Trader Joe’s Spelt Risotto

About the Dish

Spelt, before

So it turns out that spelt (aka farro) has something to do with wheat. Of course, my wonderfully athletic boyfriend knew that and was already familiar with spelt – I’m not sure I’ve ever consciously had it. Unless this is the stuff that they make Honey Smacks out of. Am I right?
So we went with the stove top instructions (microwave instructions were also available).

Out of the bag it’s an interesting blend of pumpkin, zucchini, turnip greens, chickpeas and provola cheese. See those big chunks? That’s the cheese. In a traditional risotto, the rice starch released during the cooking helps to make the risotto amazing creamy. Spelt, which is a species of wheat, has the chewy texture expected in an excellent risotto, but doesn’t release much liquid on its own. Enter: cheese. The chunks melted into a sauce that glued the ‘risotto’ together without completely overpowering the veggies. Brilliant.

Spelt, after

Despite the title, there were only a few chickpeas in the mix, but those little guys played the important role of adding a more tender texture to the chewy bite of the spelt. The chucks of veggies also provided a (slightly more watery) point of difference from the chewy spelt.

About the Wine

Panilonco Chardonnay-Viognier

80% Chardonnay, 20% Viognier from Colchagua Valley, Chile; 13.5% abv; $3.99

Viognier can show some pretty exotic aromas and is relatively full-bodied, which is what I had in mind to a) contrast against the fall vegetable mix and b) match the weight of the spelt.

Pale yellow color with an expressive nose of peaches, apricot, and exotic musk (like ginger and maybe cheese rind). It really had a fuller body with round acid well-integrated 13.5% alcohol and a moderate finish of fresh, ripe orchard fruits. Overall it was more expressive on the nose than on the palate, but the clarity and freshness of the fruits made this a pretty darn good wine for $3.99!

About the Pairing:
I don’t want to brag or anything, but this pairing worked out pretty well.

The dish on its own is a bit woodsy overall, with some bitter bites from the turnip greens. If anything, it was lacking a bright (acid) note. Interestingly, the acid in the wine (likely due to the climate and addition of Viognier) was only moderate at best, but that moderate was just enough to play nice with the dish. What I mean is if the acid was any higher in the wine, it would have been too much of a contrast with the dish. As expected, the relative full body of the wine really echoed the toothsome chew of the ‘risotto’.

My original thought for pairing was an Alsace Pinot Gris, but that fresh, fruity contribution from the Viognier was just what this dish needed.

Note:
As a girl from the Midwest, I pretty much require an animal protein at every meal. We tossed in lamb merguez from Smitty’s, which I thought would pair with the exotic Viognier and veggies in the risotto. The merguez was spicy (exotic) and spicy (heat!) and while amazing on its own, it did stick out in terms of its concentration of flavors relative to the risotto and wine. I think I would crumble the sausage and incorporate like that next time (or really, find a more mild sausage).

Why should you learn about wine?

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(Cliff’s Notes version of wine tasting)

Ok, no, you don’t have to. You don’t need to learn about wine in order to enjoy it. I mean, you didn’t need to take a course on potato chips in order to be able to distinguish kettle cooked chips and BBQ Lays. I know you can tell me — with certainty — if a wine you’re drinking is delicious to you or not. I get it.

But hear me out – the world of wine keeps getting larger, not smaller. The United States represents one of the largest wine markets in the world so we benefit from a unending parade of new wines from the New World and rediscoveries of Old World favorites. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to distinguish between all these wines? Or at least, wouldn’t it stir you a little to describe why you like a certain wine? Have the confidence to describe what you like about a wine so you can find new ones to try?

Not only is learning about wine a delicious way to spend your time, but this education will be a never-ending journey. Or as my friend Rodolphe says “Wine education is like barbecue, dessert, information and credit – it’s impossible to have too much”.

So whether you are looking to change careers, are already in the trade, or just have wine ~~addiction~~ hobby and you’re ready to take it to the next level, here’s a list of (admittedly, NYC-centric) places I recommend where you can learn more about wine recreationally and professionally:

Resources around New York City:

Astor Center – Focuses on wine, spirits/cocktails, saké, and food!

Brooklyn Winery – An actual working winery that has affordable and fun courses aimed at the budding wine enthusiast

International Wine Center – they are the local provider for the WSET courses (see Wine & Spirit Education Trust below).

Amanti Vino – (in Montclair, NJ ) also conducts WSET classes as well as a whole host of classes that last just one evening.

TheThirstyRedhead.com – this is where you can find upcoming classes led by yours truly.

Other resources to check out:

LocalWineEvents.com – just like it sounds. I love this site.

Society of Wine Educators – awards a number of certifications after passing exams in both wine and spirits (held all over the country). Excellent study guides.

French Wine Society – yes the focus is French, but the online continuing education workshops (members only) are focused on a broad variety of useful topics (like the ‘Science Behind Food & Wine Pairing’ or ‘Soil & Wine: what do we really know’).

Internationally recognized wine educators (for more professional training):

Wine & Spirit Education Trust – based in the UK, they provides courses and qualifications to both consumers and trade. This is an excellent grounding that is best for really engaged consumers or professionals looking to hone their wine skills.

Court of Master Sommeliers – clearly more emphasis on the restaurant trade, but they provide entry-level courses that I think are appropriate for a wide audience. Their highest designation is the Master Sommelier, of which there are only 220 worldwide (as of this writing).

Institute of Masters of Wine – considered the most rigorous wine exams, consisting of ~~four~~ five days (beginning in 2015) of essays and blind tastings followed by a dissertation. As of this writing there are 312 Masters of Wine, living in 24 different countries. I’m crazy enough to be a candidate in this program.

Of course the best way to learn about wine is just to get out there and taste with an open mind. Tough work, but I’m sure you can manage.

Food and Wine Pairing Basics

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I think of wine as its own food group like vegetables or meats. It can certainly be enjoyed on its own between meals, but wine really belongs on the table with other food. When paired appropriately, a wine partnered with a particular dish can elevate the meal to taste even better than when it was on its own.

That said I don’t believe there is one SINGLE perfect pairing for any given dish. I don’t always pay meticulous attention to pairings and who has time and brain space available to follow rules!

Eat what you like and drink what you like! I’m all for it…except there might be a better pairing out there.

For instance, I love rich dark chocolate…the more silky and bitter the better. And I love scallops…tender, slightly caramelized and sweet. But while I love both of those foods, I just can’t picture that chocolate and scallops would make really good…pairing. Granted I’ve never tried it, but I have a feeling that there may be a better recipe out there than dark chocolate-covered scallops.

So now what? Let’s keep this simple. Here are two basic guidelines for more harmonious food & wine pairings:

Match the weight of the food with the weight of the wine
Echo flavor characteristics of the food and wine

Matching by weight

This is easier than it sounds, intuitive really. When choosing a wine, aim for matching delicate to delicate and robust to robust. Hearty food like braised short ribs paired with a delicate aged red Burgundy would make the wine seem thin and watery. Similarly, a lightly poached salmon would be flattened by a massive spicy red Zinfandel.

Hearty dish…full-bodied wine.

Delicate dish…light-bodied wine.

But be careful to identify the dominant character in the dish – hint: it’s not always the protein. The old culinary claim of red-wine-with-beef doesn’t apply when the beef is part of a creamy stroganoff (in this case I might reach for a full-bodied Alsatian Pinot Gris or richly-styled Chardonnay). Similarly, chicken does not always mean white wine if that chicken had been charcoal grilled and slathered in a BBQ sauce.

Echoing the flavors

Paying attention to the dominant flavors of the dish will also guide you to a more delicious pairing.

So let’s consider two different chicken dishes: chicken Marsala, which is sautéed chicken finished in a dark Marsala wine sauce with browned mushrooms and onions, versus a plain chicken breast simply poached in a creamy lemon sauce. The caramelized, earthy flavors of the chicken Marsala can be echoed by the earthy notes of a red wine made from Pinot Noir. The zesty citrus flavors of the latter dish would be harmonious with a refreshing citrus-driven white wine like a Pinot Grigio.

This shrimp could work with red wine here if that sauce has some Cajun spice to it.

Now don’t get stressed about getting it ‘right’. No pairing is not going to make you enjoy a despised dish any better or vice versa (but you don’t really have any wines you hate, right?). I hate tripe and as far as I can tell there is no wine on planet earth that will make that mess of a dish palatable.

But let’s start there. I hope these two basic guidelines will help you start to take the mystery out of wine pairings. We’ll dig into chemistry of food & wine in a future post – stay tuned!

Welcome to my blog!

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If I had a dollar for every person who’s ever said to me “Wow! You have so much passion and knowledge about wine! You should write a book/own a wine store/ be on TV/buy vineyard/maybe find another hobby not based on a controlled substance”…ok, I wouldn’t be a millionaire. But I would certainly have enough money to buy a 1er Cru level Burgundy. From a decent producer.

My first “ah ha” wine moment was back in 2003 over a bunch of cult-ish California Cabernet Sauvignons: Opus One, Heitz, Cain Five, Caymus, and Dominus. It was a work event, but these wines caused me to lose interest in schmoozing with my clients. I was far more interested in writing down the names of the wine and trying to figure out why I thought these wines were so much more special than anything I had tasted up to that point in my life. I mean, really, I had always noted whether a wine what white or red, but why did these stand out? Was it the smell (I think I read something once about how you should smell a wine)? Should I be paying more attention to legs – is that the clue? (Don’t you feel so fancy when you swirl?) Where can I get more wines like this?

That little episode pushed me to my corner liquor store that weekend and found out I couldn’t just buy these particular wines off the shelf. ‘Allocations? Well, why don’t they just make more?’ My widget-driven brain didn’t think it could be all that tough to reproduce a wine…right? Just get more grapes.

Wow. I had a lot to learn.

Work, work, work…

I started my own wine education with Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Wine School. Being the masochist that I am (I mean, I’m not an athlete, so I feel have to achieve something), that was shortly followed by a tour through the successive levels of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Society of Wine Educators, and Court of Master Sommeliers, with side trips to University of California Davis Extension and Culinary Institute of America.

Yep. All this while keeping my ‘normal’ day job as a sell-side research analyst on Wall Street.
In 2008 I left my lucrative career and embarked in wine. Tentatively at first, but after a brief stint in wine retail and working a harvest on Long Island, I jumped in full time. First as a sommelier and now as a wine importer/distributor. I also teach wine classes around the New York City area and am studying for the Master of Wine exams (see? Masochist).

The feedback I get from a lot of the classes I teach is “where can I learn more”. Well, this blog could be a starting point. I want to use this blog to be a modest resource in your wine education as well as selfishly exercise my writing muscles.

Thanks for stopping by!