An informative food article (‘Complements to the Chef‘) in The Australian this weekend by Simon Thomsen, co-editor of The 2010 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, caught my attention. (The first line: ‘I have a confession to make about matching wine with food: sometimes I choose a bottle for no other reason than it has a screw cap…’)
The piece reminded me of a number of important tips on matching alcohol to food, such as avoiding white-fleshed fish with big reds and dry wines with blue cheeses. And seeking balance in pairings by combining a heavy meal with a heavy wine, a light wine with a lighter meal, etc. But it also contained some information new to me, such as that foods high in Japan’s ‘fifth taste,’or umami, (such as tomato, tuna and chicken) are great with sake. Apparently, the Japanese spirit is also good with iodine-rich dishes and works well as a substitute for champagne and Riesling.
Thomsen also got me wondering whatever came of the great screw top vs. cork debate that was raging a couple of years ago in wine circles. It seems to have simmered down, but in case anyone is still interested, George Taber, author of To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science and the Battle for
the Wine Bottle did do an interview with Forbes at the beginning of this year on the topic. I was a little disappointed that Taber didn’t take a definitive stand on the issue, but it’s still a good read.