Big
Chardonnays
California
Chardonnays Make a Splash with Food
by
Randal Caparoso
The
popularity of California Chardonnays exploded with the emergence
of sensibly priced bottlings by Glen Ellen, Kendall-Jackson, De
Loach and other wineries in the late 1980s. But critics, especially
those accustomed to refined French wines, were quick to pooh-pooh
the big and thick fruitiness of the California wines. They said
the wines were not subtle and too acidic.
That people have different tastes in wine is no surprise. But what
I find surprising are the comments. Acidity, subtlety—who
cares? Everyone knows that warm climate California Chardonnay is
never about acidity, but about rich, round, opulent fruitiness.
What about simpler, more meaningful standards, like: Does the wine
taste good? Is it pleasingly smooth, impressively flavorful? This
is, after all, how people who actually enjoy Chardonnay would rate
them.
Like it or not, great California Chardonnay is now, almost by definition,
something very full in alcohol (at least 13 to 14 percent), and
filled out with enormously intense, juicy apple or pineapple fruitiness.
Nor are they shy in the creamy, vanillin and/or smoky oak department.
Just like all wines, the Chardonnay pairs well with certain foods
and not so well with others. This may be hard for judges of continental
taste to swallow, but it certainly isn’t for the huge number
of Chardonnay drinkers around the world!
THE IDEAL CHARDONNAY FOOD
MATCHES
As full and sumptuous as a California-grown Chardonnay gets, there
are a number of foods it works very well with. Some useful guidelines:
•
Fleshier
white meats (from deep sea fish and lobster to game birds, pork,
veal and sweetbreads) with use of butter, oils (ever try it
with truffled popcorn?), cream, mild aiolis, or when the dish
is replete with its own natural fats and juices
•
Balancing
these meats with moderate use of contrasting ingredients such
as lemon (acidity), mustards, garlic, and all varieties of mushroom
(earth tones), and fresh vegetables (like corn and carrot),
fruit (peach and apple), or caramelized onions (touches of sweetness)
and perhaps smoked white sausages or bacon
•
Playing
up smoky oak qualities by wood grilling, smoking or slow roasting,
and use of toasted nuts (like pistachio, sesame seeds and pine
nuts)
•
Accenting
Chardonnay fruitiness with flatteringly scented herbs (especially
chives, sweet basil, parsley, and—more moderately—dill,
sage, tarragon and rosemary)
•
Moderately
soft, milky cheeses like Havarti, most Mozzarella and Bricks |
On
the other hand, just as orange juice is not ideal with a scoop of
ice cream, use of sharp ingredients like vinegars, sauerkraut or
raw tomato, more lethally scented seasonings like ginger, cilantro,
kaffir lime or raw garlic, salty tastes like shoyu and salted fish,
and hot tastes like curries and chili pastes, are all likely to
take the stuffing right out of an expensive Chardonnay’s well-oaked,
high-alcohol fruitiness, making the wine taste flabby, paper-dry
or bitter, and causing the dishes to taste too acidic, salty, fiery,
or just plain weird.
In other words, aggressive fusion style dishes, or even traditionally
soured, salted or chili spiced foods, are not Chardonnay’s
forte, and you shouldn’t ask it to be.
Finally, although Chardonnay falls into the realm of “other
white meat,” I see nothing wrong with the enjoyment of this
wine with leaner cuts of beef (like filet sizzling rare in a pool
of butter), or with use of thin strips of beef or lamb in the Asian
tradition (like classic tataki with cucumbers and chiso).
MY TOP TEN FAVORITE CHARDONNAY
DISHES
Over the years I have compiled a list of favorite, tried-and-true
matches for Chardonnay; dishes that harness the wine’s gleeful
girth of fruit, smoke, and creamy or buttery textures to delicious
effect. Not surprisingly, many of these dishes involve butter and
other ingredients that play up the grape’s positively lush
qualities.
Listed along with their original sources or inspirations, the following
should give you plenty enough ammunition to do your own thing in
the kitchen:
•
Julia
Child’s roasted chicken with tarragon
•
Harvey Steiman’s veal osso buco in dill Chardonnay
jus
•
John
Ash’s wild mushrooms sautéed in fennel
butter sauce
•
Julia
Child’s sweetbreads sautéed in butter
•
Chris
Gesualdi's herb crusted moonfish with summer vegetables
in lobster coral butter
•
Roy
Yamaguchi’s seared mahi mahi (dolphinfish) in
roasted macadamia nut lobster butter sauce
•
Richard
Olney’s truffled white sausage with pistachios &
court-bouillon
•
Cory
Schreiber’s seared salmon in sweet corn broth
with leeks & chanterelles
•
David
Rosengarten’s grilled white fish with roasted
sweet pepper, tropical fruit and cilantro salsa
•
Charles
Saunders’ white fish tamale in banana husk with quebrada
masa harina and mildly spicy mango salsa
•
Yours
truly’s Smoked Mozzarella pizza with kalua (Hawaiian
smoked) pig & lomi lomi (chopped) tomatoes |
Whoops,
that adds up to eleven—just couldn’t stop. This goes
to show that there is a lot more to Chardonnay as a classic “food”
wine than many people might think.
©
Randal Caparoso
|
