A Wine divide
A conversation about wine bottles and wine pairings with fellow Substack Author Cris, of Querid@ coleccionista. If I say wine, you say...pairing, bottle, or cheese?
A couple of weeks ago, together with my Master’s colleagues, we attended a compelling seminar by Raquel Pardo, a Spanish wine storyteller.
We discussed the language, narrative, intentions and achievements of wine journalism through time and across authors. It was a beautiful seminar, made even more relevant by an interested audience of barbarian gastronomers from all over the world.
The talking expanded into a discussion about food and beverage pairing, where our colleagues from Ecuador and Mexico brought their important input in a discussion - and where I discovered the presence of European varietals across the ocean.
Inspired by this, I would like to launch an inter-newsletter dialogue together with my preferred wine expert and barbarian gastronomer Cris from .
We will be doing these tandems regularly, so stay tuned, today, we start with a very poignant question.
Cris is a fellow Master's student that will soon graduate too.
She is a brilliant and inquisitive mind, and you can find her marvellous article about Maigret published in The Foodie Studies Magazine. She owns a true library of ancient wine vintages, she is a Sommelier by trade but to me, she is the Sheherazade of wine.
Wine is as interesting as a plate: reading a bottle means immersing oneself into a vintage, a climate, a terroir, a producer. But not only: as with food, wine is in itself thought-provoking and memories-eliciting.
We consciously choose our glasses and bottles and in many cases, their memory is long-lasting.
This is why this week I want to ask her the following:
Imagine you have a very large and allowing budget that you must spend on wine. If you had to choose, would you:
Open an incredible bottle (or two) to pair it with some cheese and breadsticks?
Opt for taking your bottle to the restaurant and pairing it with an excellent meal?
Splurge on a wine flight in the form of a ride-or-die wine pairing?
I had this same discussion recently with my local wine dealer in the village that is the cradle of Teroldego. He was adamant in saying that he would rather drink than eat, and for him, the maximum expression of wine drinking is a quiet night, special glasses, and a special bottle.
And perhaps, I would add, a special person to share it with.
A wine-loving friend, posed before the impossible choice between relinquishing bread or wine, said he would alas opt for bread. But just on such extreme occasions: he is one of the persons with the most emotional memories connected to wines I know. His tales about ordering and drinking an Échezaux with his best friend, and sharing a cigar on a starry rooftop in Sweden are legendary. He would surely opt for getting the best bottle and pairing it with a delicious and unforgettable meal, though.
It is a tricky dilemma, the one about the choice of wine.
And not just when we are served a monumental wine list, like the one, larger than an encyclopedia, that we had to run through at the long-gone restaurant by Norbert Kiederkoefler. It caused a delay in service because we literally couldn’t finish reading, let aside choosing.
It’s the dilemma we always face: will the wine overpower the food? Is the wine pairing too ambitious?
And so on, ad infinite.
Personally, I would never choose a wine pairing.
Unless it is one of those pop-up special nights, where menu and wines are predefined and it’s really a special occasion, such as the legendary InResonance dinner event hosted in May 2023 at the opulent Varanda Restaurant of the Ritz Four Season Hotel in Lisbon with Chef Pedro Sanchez of equally legendary Bagá restaurant of Jaén.
An event that is already provoking ripples in the fabric of gastronomic reality.
I am also one of those customers that only let a very small array of selected sommeliers fill my glass with other wines than the ones I chose.
One is to be found at DiverXO as Miguel Angel Millán, Head Sommelier: his kindness and attention break all my barriers and I cannot say no to any of his suggestions, especially when they lean towards the Barolo side. He is still kind enough to let us have our own bottle, and only tops it up with a couple of unmissable sips from the pairing, and does so in a very gentle and kind manner.
Another one, completely different in style and attitude but equally warm and welcoming is Juan José Pérez of TOHQA. His warmth and kindness combined with his absolute enthusiasm for his incredible wine region (Jerez) have me holding out my glass for him to fill. Moreover, it is very difficult to actually chug an entire bottle of Jerez: the pairing here is welcome, especially if designed around our drink of choice: Champagne.
With my better half, we frequently bring special bottles and pair them at restaurants.
There are beautiful eateries whose food is absolutely stellar, but their wine cellar is abysmally deluding. So we opt to bring our own bottle. Another special kink we have is to go to a very homey and humble place (like a Tasco, or a Trattoria) and bring a very special bottle. Pairing excellent wine with earthy, traditional food feels festive and adaptable to any occasion.
Ultimately, if I would really have to choose, I would choose one great bottle, and pair it with something special but simple: cheese (something akin to Olavidia (ES) or Parmigiano 36 months (IT), or Chabichou (FR), and plain toasted bread (not of the sourdough type, more of the Alentejo type).
If the focus is on wine, food can sometimes get noisy. What would be the wine I’d choose to overcome all noise?
In some years, I will surely choose La Tâche 2021: in the calmness and emptiness of the pandemic, we had the luck to be able to walk those iconic vineyards, touching the soil with our hands and letting our skin be kissed by the first spring sun. A special vintage, for sure. While waiting, I’d probably choose an old Barolo, perhaps Voerzio, Roagna, or Mascarello.
Or another La Tâche, because it is a wine that speaks directly into my heart.
O ask you, dear reader, the same question I am asking to
.If you had to choose, what would YOU choose?
Cast your answer, or comment below. I am interested! And do not forget to check what Cris will say on her blog. We are starting this intra-Substack dialogue that can be followed easily.
Stay with us!
And as we explore this theme, another question arises: do we actually need wine for a great dining experience?
Having a pregnant friend and a breastfeeding one whilst planning a weekend getaway means having to deal with the need to ensure a solidarity-based weekend, of course with little to no alcohol.
The idea of being subjugated to a juice pairing or another non-alcoholic pairing makes me physically sick.
No, thanks. I stick to water.
Deprived of wine, water is food’s best companion. It does not get in the way. Especially for a person that like me is extremely sensitive to smells and flavors.
The only exception is tea.
It is my preferred choice when eating sushi, sashimi, and Japanese in general. I even prefer it to wine: when eating Japanese on my own, I frequently opt for tea - for which I truly have an obsession, and quite a home collection.
I would say that wine if in itself is a complete gourmandise moment, enhances and gets enhanced in most situations by food - even by just a piece of cheese. Having to forego wine though does not subtract from the food experience.
After all, not every culture in the world consumes wine with their food, and food with their wine.
This brings you to my next, and last for this newsletter, theme of the day. My absolute disgust for those splurging wine pairings where you see a gargantuan amount of bottles being opened for a hefty price.
For me, not worth it.
What is the pleasure of having a small sip of great wine, competing in my mind and senses with another dozen equally interesting wines?
For me, there is no pleasure in this orgiastic approach to wine. One fully enjoyed glass for me beats a thousand times a plethora of tiny sips of different wines.