Last week, Chef Matt was serving a dish of pappardelle pasta with braised rabbit, wild mushrooms, provolone picante, and shaved green onions.  This dish is packed with rich, savory flavors accented by little bursts of freshness from herbs and shaved green onions.  The cheese, Mandarone Provolone, is a three year aged provolone cheese made in the mountainous Varese province of Northern Italy.  It’s nothing like the common provolone cheese found in most delis. Mandarone Provolone is much dryer, nuttier, sharper, and way more complex and delicious than any run of the mill deli provolone.

Hand Cut Pappardelle- braised rabbit, mushroom, Provolone Mandarone Pairing- Shinn Estate Vineyards Pinot Blanc, N. Fork NY ‘13 – photo by JWessel Photography

In spite of not wanting to be too “matchy matchy” with the wine pairing, I decided to go against the grain on this one. The wine is Shinn Estate Vineyards Pinot Blanc from the North Fork of Long Island. This is a very cool wine! It’s unique because it is fermented in open barrels. This open exposure allows the juice to oxidize slightly, taking on a nutty flavor similar to that of an oloroso sherry.  

The body is rich and almost unctuous, just like the rich pasta. There is a touch of refreshing acidity to contrast the fat in the dish.  But, rather than pair this dish with something full of tropical notes, like a big new world Chardonnay, thus adding flavor contrasts, we decided to go with something that has just as much savory flavor as the food. And here you have this beautiful, nutty, herbaceous Pinot Blanc.  

There are subtle contrasting flavors in the food and the wine.  But the primary flavors are all very savory.  But what’s not to love about that?  It’s a very “comfort food” approach to food and wine pairing.  Savory flavors remind me of my mother’s cooking.  Salisbury steak, meatloaf, buttered noodles, and lots of gravy; these are all delicious and all very straightforward in their savory flavors.  The same idea works with this food and wine pairing.  

The nutty, savory flavors in the wine give the flavors in the food an added kick of savory deliciousness.  The complexity that comes from the combined food and wine is subtle.  There are faint apricot flavors in the wine that are so subtle and delicate.  These flavors are where the contrast and variation come into play.  The fruit and juiciness in the wine add another dimension to the entire experience.  The overall experience is death by savory. However, if that is to be my fate, then I will surely die happy and satiated.  

The post Savory with Savory: Pairing Wine and Food first appeared on Gracie's Providence.

The post Savory with Savory: Pairing Wine and Food appeared first on Gracie's Providence.

This week’s food and wine pairing focuses on one of summer’s most delicious treasures; the melon. Its succulently sweet flesh and perfumy aroma sets the perfect backdrop for another of the food world’s most delicious offerings; ham! The combination of sweet, juicy melon and salty, fatty ham is truly a magical experience for the mouth. This combination is classic, and for good reason, it’s freaking delicious!

Compressed Melons- whipped ricotta, shiso, salty ham, radish, cucumber, garden herbs Pairing- Heinz Eifel Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, DE ’11

Executive Chef Matt Varga prepared a salad of various melons with salty ham, whipped ricotta, cucumbers, and garden herbs. It’s featured as the first course on the current chef’s tasting menu.

When thinking about wines to pair with specific dishes, there are rules to follow. Are the food and wine balanced in body, acidity, intensity of flavor, and sweetness? If not, something is going to overwhelm the other. Also, are the flavors complementary without being too matchy-matchy? A wine pairing must be refreshing after a bite of food but do so without upsetting the flavors in the food. The food should play off the wine in an equally beautiful way. It’s a balancing act and when it is done right, everything tastes better and everything makes sense.

The flavors in this dish are very straight forward. Salty ham and fruity melon are accented with the subtle flavors of fresh mint and hyssop, refreshing cucumber, and a creamyness from the ricotta. The flavors are so perfect together that the addition of a wine with too much contrast will overcomplicate the whole experience and literally leave an unpleasant taste in your mouth.

Choosing a wine 

What wine has enough sweetness, freshness, fruitiness, and juiciness to refresh the palate after a bite of this already refreshing salad? Well, Riesling, obviously. And not just any riesling, seek out a German Spatlese Riesling. The term “spatlese” denotes the ripeness of the grapes when they are harvested. A German Spatlese Riesling is sweet but not so sweet that you should reserve it exclusively for dessert. They bridge the gap between dry wines and dessert wines. This level of sweetness makes them a perfect pairing for foods that similarly live somewhere between sweet and savory.

When I drink the wine with the food, the wine acts as sort of a dressing for the salad. The German Spatlese Riesling is tart and bursting with flavors of grapefruit, yuzu, and a beautiful underlying minerality that balances out the fruit flavor with a clean flinty finish. This minerality adds a subtle extra layer to the flavor profile of the wine taking it from basic and straight forward fruity to dynamic and complex.

That flinty, slate, wet river rock minerality also enhances the melon in the same way it does the fruit flavor in the wine. It does not overwhelm the delicious flavor of the melon, rather, another subtle layer of flavor adds a delicate complexity to the entire experience. The citrus flavors in the wine add an extra burst of freshness to the flavors of the melon. Again, the wine doesn’t overpower the food, instead, the flavors in the dish are enhanced by the wine.

Balancing the German Spatlese Riesling

It is important to keep the sweetness level of the wine balanced with the sugar in the food. Otherwise, one will seem incredibly sweet and the other will seem nearly flavorless. Balance is key.

There is more to this salad than melon so the other components must also be given an opportunity to sing. This is where contrasting flavors come into play. The ham adds a saltiness and savory flavor, while the herbs bring a pop of freshness and complexity. The wine then adds another level of complexity that enhances the flavors in everything.

Compressed Melons- whipped ricotta, shiso, salty ham, radish, cucumber, garden herbs Pairing- Heinz Eifel Riesling Spätlese, Mosel, DE ’11

When you reflect on your favorite flavor combinations, there is a balance of flavors that creates complexity and makes the food interesting and delicious. Bar­b­eque, for example, combines the sweetness and tang of the sauce, the smoke from the fire, and the savory flavor of the meat to create a deliciously complex balancing act of perfection.

Chocolate and sea salt is another example, this time there is bitterness, saltiness, and sweetness. It’s all about contrasting just the right amount to create an end product that is interesting and delicious. The examples are as limitless as delicious foods.

This is a call to everyone to think about what you drink with your food. A little bit of extra thought and planning will enhance your dining experience. It will help you to explore wines and or foods that you might not consider as part of your culinary repertoire. Explore, grow, learn, excite and enjoy.

The post German Spatlese Riesling: Delightful with Summer Salad first appeared on Gracie's Providence.

The post German Spatlese Riesling: Delightful with Summer Salad appeared first on Gracie's Providence.

It is a rare occasion, however, when we get to host the maker of “the best riesling in the world.” This wine tasting dinner will be hosted by none other than Stu Smith, of Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery. 

Courtesy of Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery

The winery, located in St. Helena, California, in the Napa Valley region, was founded in 1971 by brothers Stu and Charles Smith. As it turns out, though, there is evidence of vineyards on the property dating back to the late 1880s, when George W. Cook received the land from the United States Land Office. 

The vineyard is situated on rocky, volcanic-based soil, with steep slopes, groves of olive trees, and an array of wildlife. 

Courtesy of Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery

As for the wines, T.J. Jones, in the Bach to Bacchus blog calls them “totally genuine, the real thing, if you will. Honest, no pretensions, devoted to truth in a down to earth way that is not just admirable but inspiring.” He went on to say, “I think of Smith-Madrone as a triumph of the human spirit. Meeting people like this and tasting wine like this are part of what makes life worthwhile.”

If that isn’t enough, The Daily Meal awarded Smith-Madrone the 2014 Winery of the Year, noting the “quality of the wines and the winery’s industry leadership.”

The Smith brothers describe their process on their website, stating: 

all wines [are] made entirely from the winery’s dry-farmed estate vineyards surrounding the winery on top of Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Stuart Smith chose specific slopes with different exposures for specific varietals when planting the vineyards: eastern exposure for Riesling, southern and western exposures across flat stretches for the Cabernet Sauvignon and the coolest north-facing slopes for the Chardonnay.

Courtesy of Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery

Now, thanks to Sage Cellars, in Warren, Rhode Island, and The Savory Grape, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, Stu Smith will be at Gracie’s for an exclusive wine tasting dinner on Tuesday, June 23. 

This four-course paired wine tasting dinner begins at 6 p.m. with complimentary drinks and passed canapes. Tickets are $95, exclusive of tax and gratuity. For reservations, call us at 401.272.7811, or email tenneal@graciesprov.com. 

You won’t want to miss this!

The post Don’t Miss this Exclusive Wine Tasting Dinner first appeared on Gracie's Providence.

The post Don’t Miss this Exclusive Wine Tasting Dinner appeared first on Gracie's Providence.

One of my favorite things to serve after a meal is a block of blue cheese, some crackers, and a bottle of delicious dessert wine. Serve your loved ones a sweet wine and blue cheese dessert; if they aren’t blown away, then you should probably check their pulse.

This is such a simple course to execute and it’s sure to be the talk of the dinner table.  If you love to hear your guests talk about how awesome you are, please try this immediately if not sooner.  

A Hannabells, Tarentaise, and Middlebury blue cheese dessert

The Why, the What, and the How of a Blue Cheese Dessert

My circle of friends is mostly comprised of judgemental food snobs, Food Network wannabes, “Chopped” enthusiasts, frequent fine diners, and ride or die hospitality professionals. That being said, if I bring a B-lister dish to an A-lister supper, I will be ridiculed and scoffed at for months. There are rules that should be considered in order to avoid boring and or gross wine and food pairings.

One of those rules states that matching the intensity of flavor of the wine with the intensity of the flavor of the food will result in fabulousness and delight. Not doing so will cause one to overwhelm the other. Blue cheese and dessert wine are equally intensely flavored.  

Contrasting different flavors creates surprise and complexity in your mouth.  The salty, pungent, and sometimes barnyard-esque flavor of blue cheese creates a contrast to the richly fruity characteristics of dessert wines. The stars are aligning.   

Have you considered acid and richness? Acidity in a wine will help cleanse the palate of rich, fatty, mouth-coating food. The refreshing wine washes away the cloying fattiness of the food and, once again, a dimension of contrast is created. Elation ensues!   

With so many different options for a wine and blue cheese dessert, how do you know which will go together?

Different varieties of blue cheese have different levels of flavor intensity. To me, Valdeon from the Spanish Pyrenees and Roquefort from France are two of the most pungent blue cheeses available. On the other end of the spectrum, Gorgonzola Dolce from Piedmont and Lombardia in Italy represents a much milder style of blue cheese. 

The same can be said for dessert wines. They range from slightly off dry and subtle to syrupy sweet and intense. Match the intensity of flavors in the wine with that of the cheese. Also, pairing a blue cheese with a dessert wine from the same region will almost always be a magical choice.  

An experienced, good wine shop should also be able to help you with pairing ideas. Likewise, you could join us and try our paired tasting menu. 

Wine and Blue Cheese Dessert Pairing Suggestions

Gorgonzola Dolce with Moscato d’Asti

Roquefort with Sauternes, Lupiac and/or Barsac

Valdeon or Cabrales with Pedro Ximenez Sherry

Bayley Hazen Blue with late harvest Riesling or Gewurtztraminer

Dessert doesn’t have to involve baking. Make life easy on yourself and blow the minds of your dinner guests. Feed your family and friends blue cheese and dessert wine after dinner.

You’re welcome.  

The post Blue Cheese Dessert! first appeared on Gracie's Providence.

The post Blue Cheese Dessert! appeared first on Gracie's Providence.

At Gracie’s, one of our featured dinner choices is the five or seven-course chef’s tasting menu. Our guests can enhance their dining experience with the addition of wines selected specifically to complement the food. Wine and food pairings are an excellent way to try new flavor combinations, and the results can take your dining experience to a new level of enjoyment.

Photo by JWessel Photography

What comes first, though? There is no right or wrong way to start the process. We are all in favor of planning a meal around a great bottle of wine. However, Gracie’s Beverage Director, Jason Wessel (who is also the featured artist on many of the photos on this blog) prefers to start with the food. In this video from Steer Films, Jason discusses his approach to wine and food pairings.

Do you have a favorite approach to wine and food pairings? Let us know in the comments!

https://vimeo.com/95912123

The post Wine and Food Pairings first appeared on Gracie's Providence.

The post Wine and Food Pairings appeared first on Gracie's Providence.