Luke checked in with us ahead of the impending North American harvest for 2011 in Oregon. While in Portland, he met up with some of our campmates from Burning Man 2011 who offered up a home-cooked meal of Madras curry & vegetarian samosas from scratch. These are the wines he paired with that meal.

WHITE WINE
WHO: Domaine Eugène Carrel
WHAT: 100% Jacquère
WHEN: 2010
WHERE: Jongieux in the Savoie/Savoy AOC of France
HOW: Stainless Steel Fermentation, No Malolactic Fermentation
WHY: Slight yellow straw color for this Savoy white. While it didn’t really fit what I was looking for, it ended up being a nice acidic white that paired well with the yoghurt-based dough of the samosas. Grapefruit rind was the main note for the nose with a bit of honey hanging out in the back. The palate showed light lemon, slight crème brûlée and sweet pea. For $12, it was just fine, but the food pairing might’ve benefited from a wine with more oxidative characters like those of the Jura..

RED WINE
WHO: Mas de Libian
WHAT: 75% Grenache 25% Syrah
WHEN: 2010
WHERE: VDP Coteaux de l’Ardèche in the Rhône Valley Wine Region of France
HOW: Grenache & Syrah are fermented together & undergo malolactic fermentation.
WHY: Did some digging and found out that this is a 100% biodynamic wine named after the game of petanque played in provence. If you’ve followed Hipster Enology for any length of time you know how enamored we are with bocce ball, a close relative of petanque. The Vin de Petanque had cherry and earth in the nose; expressing a lot of what one would expect from a Grenache/Syrah blend. Candied dust, ripe plum and green bean are the notes for the palate. This wine should be served chilled and was excellent with both the Madras curry and the Samosas. Given that the holidays are right around the corner, this will be a go-to wine for my holiday fare since I quite liked it. The only problem: finding it.

Luke put together a food and wine pairing wrapped around the theme of “Occasion Wines.” Many of us have wines that are traditional for certain occasions, so Luke kept those moments in mind when creating this flight.

Champagne

First, Champagne seemed apt for toasting the start of a new year and to kick off the tasting event. NV Laurent Perrier Brut L-P stepped up to the plate. Crisp green pear and citrus zest on the nose with just a touch of toast made this wine a nice fit for whitefish caviar on crème fraiche atop steamed then chilled fingerling potatoes.

Beaujolais Nouveau

For wine lovers around the world, a humorous annual occasion is the third Thursday of every November. On that day the new vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau pulls a Santa Claus and shows up in every town around the world. While most Nouveaus are rarely taken seriously, Kermit Lynch has a 2010 that should be respected. The wine is light and fruity, but grips with good acidity and body. This wine was paired regionally with Persillé du Beaujolais bleu cheese and Luke’s Port, red onion & heirloom Arkansas Black applesauce.

Amarone

Coppa shared the plate with the bleu cheese to serve as the evening’s third pairing for the celebrated Italian wine, Amarone. The cured ham with the Arkansas Black applesauce made a complementary sweet and salty combo for the 2006 Cesari Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. Traditionally, a blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara varietals, grapes for Amarone spend several months drying on racks after harvest. This concentrates the remaining juices and increases the skin contact of each grape lending to softer tannins and richness in color. This depth of character is present in the 2006 Cesari, making it a suitable addition to formalities like meeting the parents.

Mead

Another famed and oft overlooked wine made its way into the tasting but seemed more fitting for an occasion where one might have slain a dragon. NV Rabbit’s Foot Dry Mead was paired with crème fraiche and blackberries topped with drops of kirsch and sprinkled with brown sugar. The kirsch added just enough bitterness to make the sherry-like mead seem sweeter, while the crème fraiche accentuated its nuttier flavor components.

Late Harvest Dessert Wine

Ending a great meal or occasion often means breaking out a good bottle of dessert wine. To complete this flight, Luke paired the 2006 Rosenhof Welschriesling Beerenauslese with a bite of gorgonzola dulce and fresh whole honeycomb. Second only to Trockenbeerenauslese, this qualification of wine for Germany and Austria is amongst the most sought after wines of each good harvest. Affected by noble rot, the fruit used in Beerenauslese is hand-harvested, grape-by-grape creating a lengthy and laborious harvest. A wine this hard to make usually costs a mint, but not the Rosenhof at around $20.