WTN: Red wine with scallops

[Jenise]

Last night's dinner plan was scallops. That is, we're snowed in and I got some out of the freezer mid-day to thaw. I nominally had a pasta dish in mind, and then cellar inventory work somehow suggested we open a bottle of this 80-20 grenache/syrah blend from the same house that brings us Vieux Telegraf. It was after 6:00. So glass of wine in hand, hunger suggested we immediately open our meal with a hunk of Humboldt Fog, crackers and olives, which took additional carbs off the table and suggested more of a warm dinner salad for the seafood.

The wine was opening up beautifully, exceeding expectations on all levels with the peppery Grenache character in the fore in ways not apparent in prior bottles--last one 2015.

So I honed in that peppery quality by adding a few spoonfuls of pesto to a vinaigrette, and separately added some dried French basil, Lan Chi garlic-chile sauce, and white vinegar to some diced tomatoes, then scooped both over the seared scallops which I'd bedded on some frisee. A great pairing with the wine.

2011 H. Brunier & Fils Ventoux Megaphone Grenache Blend
Lots of change in two years, all good. Bright red color with a hint of orange now. No longer beaujolais-ish as were earlier bottles but accurately representing it's 80% grenache heritage. Still a lighter bodied wine as befits the vintage, but on point for strawberries and black pepper with some very light funk seeping in after an hour or so to make life more interesting. Bought a case of this a few years back and am so glad we let some age.

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting match.

Pairings are generally on the prep/sauce anyway, so about the only thing I would have been concerned about was burying the delicate flavor of scallop.

I like it!

[Jenise]

The key was that all the components were bright. Vinegar is NOT the wine-killer many believe it to be (if not mishandled), it's an enhancer. In fact, the biggest danger on the plate was the bitter frisee.

But that reminds me, Bob ordered a scallop dish at West restaurant in Vancouver last week. They came on a fat smoosh of "bacon jam" which was really a smokey beet puree and were topped with caramelized onions and a red cabbage slaw. Reading that on the menu I thought "Interesting! Didn't think that would work!" However we trusted that it would, because we were at West. And then I tasted it: it didn't work at all. They buried the scallops in flavors that were too big, not necessarily compatible, and had too little acidity. Bob ended up pulling out the scallops and eating those, then eating the rest.

Interesting. I've had my share of scallops with red wine, often when I'm out at a wine dinner and scallops are the most intriguing main course for me, while everyone else is eating red meat! But I don't often end up at wine dinners where grenache is being poured, usually something more northerly. Although I see you amped up the sauces/accompaniments and I could see how it would work in combination. Despite so many potential issues with the individual components (vinegar, tomatoes, garlic-chili sauce, pesto).

[Jenise]

Despite so many potential issues with the individual components (vinegar, tomatoes, garlic-chili sauce, pesto).

Comes down to, like so many things in life, that old axiom about everything in moderation.