Thursday, December 01, 2005

Salad & ... Syrah???

Went to a great lunch today at Calago, a restaurant that always seems to do food deliciously, but with spotty service.

We have been tasting through the 2004 Rhone variety wines; some amazing pieces here that we will have to reassemble back into a coherent whole. They run the gamut from Bacon-fat and smoked meat aromatics to more simple, but solid structural components with dried spice and grapey fruit flavors. So when "B", one of the owners suggested lunch, we all went; myself, "E" the senior winemaker, "L" our really great consulting winemaker, and "B".

The restaurant was a bit slow on the cadence for lunch, with more of a leisurely dinner pace to their service, and they had trouble figuring out which of our wines we had ordered from the list, (they kept thinking we wanted the Chardonnay, but in fact we were after the Syrah, a previous bottled vintage.) It took a bit to get the proper selection, but they must be doing a great job of selling our wine, because the next table had a bottle of our Chardonnay, (iced down below the point at which anyone had a chance of actually tasting it, I am afraid!) Overall it was a very good lunch, with small portions of well-prepared, reasonably authentic Italian food.

We were drinking a 2003 Syrah, one of our Estate wines, so very solid, cool-climate Syrah texture and aromatics, with white pepper, even a bit austere at first, and opening well, richening on the table.

As I bit into my arugala and goat's cheese salad, it was a bit of a revelation to have the spicy, woody, almost smoky bite of the Arugala compliment the Syrah so completely. I commented on this aloud.

"Yeah, a lot of people tend to discount how well Syrah and Zin can match up with salad," 'L' said. There was no question that the salad, lightly dressed with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt was having a wonderful synergy with the wine.

I have always enjoyed the more European menu sequence, with a salad served after the main course. A bit of refreshment and contrast before the richness of the cheese course, or the sweetness of dessert. And it makes very good sense to use a Syrah, or perhaps a Tempranillo to bridge the salad and move into the cheeses. One caveat; the salad must not be too acidic, or it will rob the wine of it's richness and aroma. Preferrably the slightly bitter greens, such as raddichio, mustard, and arugala, and dressed simply; just a splash of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of fleur de sel, and perhaps some toasted hazelnuts, or pignoles.

I am starting to feel quite hungry suddenly! It is time to hit the Farmer's Market, to lay in a supply of greens and vegetables for the weekend.

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