Cheers

July/August 2014

Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.

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www.cheersonline.com 38 | JULY/AUGUST 2014 easy to pair fruits and vegetables in the late summer season. e 2012 Von den Terrassen grüner veltliner Weingut Sepp Moser ($39 a bottle) from Austria's Kremstel region works well with mussels in a tomato-saffron broth, with peppers, eggplants, onions and fennel. A Provençale-style stew with tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, fennel and olives with fresh herbs and a basil emulsion finds its match in the 2012 Bernard Baudry "Les Granges," ($40 a bottle), a cabernet franc-based red from Chinon in France's Loire Valley. "e squash, melons and apples [in the late summer to early fall transitional period] are great with French unoaked chardonnays from Pouilly Fuissé and chablis, or with Loire Valley chenin blanc-based wines like Vouvray Sec and Savennières," he says. ADD SOME SPARKLE Kroll extols the versatility and extra refreshment sparkling wines produce—especially during the dog days of late summer. "Something like a rosé [bubbly] works with tomatoes or strawberries, or barrel-aged sparkling for corn off of the grill." e crispness in the Dumont Demi-Sec Champagne ($45 a half bottle) matches that of acidic sorbet, while the Shafer Frolich, a Blanc de Noirs Trocken from Nahe, Germany ($64 a bottle) cuts through the fat of a whole pig's head. e Partisan and the adjacent Red Apron Butchery's menus are charcuterie-heavy. Kroll likes to pair them with a classic yet oft-maligned dry red Italian sparkler, lambrusco. Kroll recommends the Fiorini lambrusco from Emilia- Romagna, Italy ($40 a bottle) with mortadella; it would work equally well with grilled salmon, or fried or grilled chicken. Modern versions of lambrusco are not like the treacly sweet versions of yesterday, he notes. And the bubbles cut through the richness and fattiness in salume and other cured meats. FORK AND CORK TEAMWORK At Coppervine, a 62-seat contemporary American restaurant in Chicago, beverage director Don Sritong and chef de cuisine David Wang collaborate for months before releasing the next season's menus. "I'm inspired by the cuisine and what's available to me," explains Wang. "I create a dish that 'tastes' like spring, summer, fall, winter, and pairings help to refine the flavors of the food and help to focus what the dish's intent is." To bridge the summer-to-fall season, Sritong serves slightly chilled Cru Beaujolais, fresh barbera and sparkling shiraz with dishes including heirloom tomatoes, fresh figs, gooseberries, cherries and soft shell crabs. Each menu item at Coppervine has a suggested wine, cocktail and beer pairing, and both Sritong and Wang have been pleasantly surprised at how well guests have taken to it. "Over seventy-five percent of our guests experience at least one course with a suggested pairing, with many others trying pairings throughout the night," Sritong says. Sritong likens the experience of a great culinary pairing to enjoying a warm chocolate-chip cookie with a cold glass of milk—a combination of physiological, psychological and nostalgic pleasure. TAKE THE TEMPERATURE Of course, geography does play a part in what's available seasonally—and for how long. "e end of summer here in the Lowcountry is the hottest part of the year—we are still eating peaches, melon, berries and crab, clams and shrimp from the sea," notes Matt Tunstall, sommelier for Husk, a 137-seat Southern-focused, restaurant in Charleston, SC. "e style of food is clean and crisp because of the intense heat outside that stays around well into the evening." Tunstall also treats his 50-bottle wine list seasonally, and bottles geared for the season mirror the cuisine's freshness. "In the late summer, many selections are clean, crisp, energetic whites and aromatic, thin-skinned red wines that want to be refreshing and are light on their feet." For instance, the sweetness and acidity of the 1998 Kruger- Rumpf "Münsterer Rheinburg" Spätlese riesling from Nahe Germany ($15 a glass) matches that of the South Carolina ANTHONY TAHLIER Coppervine's Classic Ahi Tuna Tartare with a Hen Egg and Crostini is a match with a 2013 Sabine Bieler Pere et Fils rosé.

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