Dr Vino's wine blog

What follows below is an actual reader mail that crossed the transom last evening. Laver, similar to nori, is an edible seaweed high in sodium and iron found on rocks off the coast of Scotland and Wales. Mmm, it really is an impossible food-wine pairing! But her relationship is apparently at stake! Roll the tape:

Dear DR. Vino:
I’m a korean girl, and I have a boyfriend from france. Everything was fine until recently,we fought several times–upon my favorite
sneak — laver (dried & seasoned seaweed). Each time i eat it,he thinks i’m eating a piece of paper. And when i asked him to try some,he just stuck his nose up in the air and replied,” French people never eat anything that couldn’t pair with wine!”So i tried and tried,but no matter it’s a red or a white,it seems to just bring the “fishiness” or “sea stink”out of laver instead of its deliciousness. Is it really an impossible food to pair with wine? Or is our relationship unable to overcome our cultural differences?
-A frustrated girl that desperately needs your help

Help out this reader with your comments below!

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A friend called me from supermarket the other day. No, it wasn’t a “Help, which wine!”-style emergency.

Instead, he said that the shelf talker gave the number of a global wine company to text to resolve your own wine-food pairing emergency. Just for the sport of it, I sent an SMS to the number with our own “impossible food wine pairing” of chips and salsa! And what did the computer reply suggest?

Two of their own-brand sauvignons blancs, one from NZ and one from California. A third suggestion was a zinfandel.

So how did this stack up to our collective genius? The most popular choice was to go for a slightly sweet; bubbles were also a popular option. Four people suggested SB; one person suggested zin and as one choice among six wines he liked.

So I shot them another SMS about falafel sandwiches. The reply: two California chardonnays or a California merlot. Only one suggestion in our discussion of this pairing yielded a chardonnay (unoaked, unlike the ones suggested) and no merlots came up. Ha–California merlot under $20! One last, related query: hummus. Result: two under $10 Australian pinots noirs. Ack!

Net-net: while a neat idea with virtually instantaneous delivery, this service appears more intent on making suggestions from the existing portfolio of their wines rather than ones that consumers might otherwise suggest. We’d better keep churning out our own suggestions! (for your in-store browsing on your iPhone.)

Continuing our fine, week-long tradition of “impossible food-wine pairings” (see chips n salsa), we pick a food that we eat here in Amurrica and you decide what to pair with it. And today’s contestant is:

Falafel sandwich!

Two reasons. First, I had a such a terrific falafel in Paris a short time ago at L’As du Falafel in the marais. Great street food. So great that I thought (in one of those delusional traveling daydreams) about opening a chain of falafel shops back home.

Second, it turns out I was not the only one having such daydreams. In the Financial Times last week, James Altucher threw out a business idea of his, which is to open a national chain of falafel shops to capitalize on the phenomenal demand for good falafel seen in NYC. So we’re clearly on the front end of this food trend. Which means…we have to know which wine to pair with it!

Comments are open for your suggestions (and which falafel joint is your fave?). Please note this is not a meaty shwarma but the fried chick pea, hummus, lettuce or purple cabbage, chopped tomato, possibly eggplant, possibly onion, and white sauce version in a pita. Wow, after writing that description, I’m in need of lunch!

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We pick, you decide! That’s right, people, this is more fun than Fox News. I pick a wild and crazy food that we eat here in Amurrica, and you decide the wine pairing!

And if you think I’m going to lob a softball at you with some sorta cheese or bacon no brainer, forget it. We’re swinging for the fences here. There are no right answers, of course. So which wine has worked for you with…

Chips and salsa!

Comments are open.

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We just finished up another session of my wine class at NYU this week. As part of an assignment, one student decided to present an “impossible” food to pair with wine to a wine shop. She made some homemade peanut brittle, went to Chambers Street Wines, presented the challenge to the staff there who–lo and behold–had never been hit with this precise challenge before. But they rose to it! A few ideas came up but the student had budgetary and practical considerations (had to be cold right then and there if it needed to be). So the suggestion was…a Felsina Vin Santo with 14 years of age on it! Although it wouldn’t occur to me to even pair peanut brittle with wine, the nuttiness of the mature wine and it’s richness worked well. And the brittle was darned good.

So, if some peanut brittle is in your near future, how would you pair it with wine if you had to? Or is it…impossible??

A couple of nights ago I had one of the storied dishes of Napa Valley. And no, Thomas Keller, I’m talking about the fish tacos at Taylor’s Refresher, a roadside joint in St. Helena!

The horrendously bad cameraphone pic does not to the food justice but it is a piece of grilled mahi mahi, shredded lettuce and a hot sauce that has an arc like a wine, really kicking in on the finish.

Is pairing fish tacos with wine…impossible?!? Hit the comments with your suggestions!

President Obama just wrapped up a four-country swing through Asia. There was lots of diplomatic talk, to be sure, but inquiring food minds want to know what of the local cuisines Obama got to sample. Thanks to the official food feed (?) of the White House on Twitter, Obamafoodorama (aka Eddie Gehman Kohan), we have some of the foodie details of his trip. The real culinary highlight must have been dining at Sukiybashi Jiro where owner and sushi master Jiro Ono served Obama and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. Must have been tough to score that rez!

We always enjoy taking a look at the wines poured at state dinners at the White House. But at the state dinner in Manilla, we have the official menu but no wines listed. You know what that means: “impossible food-wine pairings” meets “leaders and liters”! Readers new and old are no doubt salivating as if it were grower champagne and kumamoto oysters! In the absence of word on the actual wines served, here is a combination of two of our favorite themes and the chance for you to play sommelier! Un, deux, trois: voila! The menu from the Philippines: Read more…

It was just an aside from the podium during Danny Brager’s talk on the state of the wine industry. But the Nielsen wine guru said that wine is closing in on beer among viewers of the Super Bowl. According to their polling, 71% of viewers will have carbonated beverages (aka soda), 42% of viewers will have beer, 35% will have bottled water, 32% will have wine, and 22% will have spirits. I’m not a math whizz, but I think that adds up to a whole lot of bathroom breaks!

The survey info came out yesterday and included information on food consumed during the Super Bowl. As you might expect, it included many of our “impossible food-wine pairings.” So, from the archives, here they are:
* Chips and Salsa
* Buffalo wings
* Seven-layer dip
* Pizza

Bonus: “Betting wine for football”
Bonus bonus: “How and why did light beer come to be the choice of NFL viewers?”