Wine Focus January 2024 - Wines for Comfort Food

[David M. Bueker]

Welcome to the 2024 Wine Focus series. This year we will be trying different sorts of themes, rather than always pinning ourselves to a single grape/region each month.

January is (in the northern hemisphere) a month where lots of folks hunker down, and make foods that keep the hearth and heart warm. It's a time where those bigger, richer wines find an easier place at the table to accompany braises, stews and hearty soups. In addition to the drinking part, it will be interesting to know what people are eating. What did you serve to accompany that mature Syrah or rich Cabernet.

Grab a glass, as well as a fork and knife, and let's tuck in to wines for comfort food.

[Robin Garr]

I like this idea!

[Jenise]

Me too!

Great..good way to post some TNs.

Huge steak and kidney pie fan here, check out Gary Rhodes recipe (UK). I added some lager instead of wine and cut the kidneys into smaller pieces. It was delicious and my wine choice from Austria worked quite well...Puszta Libre from Klaus Preisinger. Blend of Zweigelt and St. Laurent. Mid cranberry color, very fruity nose of red berries. Lighter bodied than I expected but guests appreciated that. Nice mineral streak on finish with sour cherries, raspberry and redcurrant. Terrific.

I should add that a more tannic wine would/might not have been inviting for my guest crew.

We had started with pan-fried pork dumplings with a terrific Saumur Blanc. Will dig out my notes for you all.

[David M. Bueker]

I came up with this idea for “comfort food” but my typical comfort food is nothing like what I described in the starting post. Since March 2020 Laura and I have gone largely meat free 70% of the time. She’s probably closer to 85%, as I like a turkey or ham sandwich for lunch on occasion.

Anyway, tonight it was Massoor Dal for dinner, which is warm and comforting, but hardly the stuff for a bottle of Chateauneuf. Instead I opened a 2006 Schloss Gobelsburg Ried Lamm Grüner Veltliner. The aged Grüner did a great job with the savory intensity of the Dal, and seemed largely youthful. It almost had a sweet edge to it, though I know it’s dry wine. Anyway, my last bottle of four, and right up there with the best of the lot at 17+ years old.

[Jenise]

David, I've noticed your change of eating habits without knowing to what extent you'd shifted. We have done likewise though not to the extent you have. I'd say we're 60-65% meat free now.

What I haven't seen so much of, in your case, is a change in your wine preferences. It's really affected us and why we hardly ever drink Bordeaux anymore, just to name one. We lean toward lighter reds and drink a lot of whites--when we drink wine, which we've cut way back on as well.

[David M. Bueker]

Does Riesling with Chana Masala count as wine for comfort food?

Does Riesling with Chana Masala count as wine for comfort food?

Of course!

I guess we all know what comfort food means in the US context, but of course it's all subjective. Most of the dishes that get called 'comfort food' in the US are neither comforting nor appealing to me!

[Jenise]

Let's be real: one person's comfort food is another person's special occasion. And any so-called comfort food can be deconstructed or transformed for fine dining by a clever chef, so it's not the item itself so much as the lack of embellishment or even the manner of dining. I would suggest that at its most basic, comfort food is usually food that doesn't require a steak knife, and often food suited for eating out of a bowl with a spoon on the couch. Doesn't have to include meat or be soup or stew--a bowl of buttered noodles, for instance, is high on my personal list of favorite comfort foods. For many it's the simple foods they remember from childhood, and I believe most people associate comfort food with cold weather which is why this topic is a January topic.

[Jenise]

Served this last night with duck-fat fried Chilean sea bass with a cherry-walnut gastrique. Not exactly comfort food but the wine qualifies for sure, and it was a great pairing:

2018 Château de la Négly Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape La Falaise Syrah Blend
Pomegranate and dark cherry fruit, some spice and earth, completely ready for current drinking. Was surprised to find that the majority component was syrah, I guessed grenache and carignan. Only paid $22 for this a few years back--what a bargain.

[David M. Bueker]

Those Southern French Syrah (or Grenache) blends do seem to be comforting.

[Jenise]

And delightfully flexible. Worked great with the fish because of the sauce, and would have been just as happy with just about anything else animal or vegetable. I wish American producers would strive to make medium-bodied wines like this. I realize that blockbusters are what sell in tasting rooms, but it's wines like this that we need. And even more, considering the price.

[David M. Bueker]

I wish American producers would strive to make medium-bodied wines like this. I realize that blockbusters are what sell in tasting rooms, but it's wines like this that we need. And even more, considering the price.

Price is an issue for sure, but some producers do make medium-bodied, food-friendly wines. ESJ was always a it of a poster child for that with the Rocks & Gravel bottling. Extradimensional Wine Co. stays firmly in the medium (or slightly lighter) bodied range, yet never lacking in flavor.

[Jenise]

Understood; there are some good buys here in WA too. But these we're mentioning are the exceptions, not the rule, don't you think?

[David M. Bueker]

Understood; there are some good buys here in WA too. But these we're mentioning are the exceptions, not the rule, don't you think?

I think there are more around. I can spin off a few more off the top my head. It’s not a huge number, but then Southern France also has its fair share of dreck.

We don't really change our diet between winter and summer.

So for my comfort wine I am nominating a wine and dish we have every week when we're home.
The grape variety is Montepulciano and the dish is penne pasta with a tomato/basil sauce with alternating between crispy slivers of aubergine or puttanesca accompanied with a side salad (chopped iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, chunks of cucumber, slices of radish, olive, sunflower seeds and sometimes slices of bell pepper or celery).

I bought 3 cases of this wine when it was on offer, previously we had the Wine Society's own label made by Roxan Co-operative

Montepulciano.jpg

2021 Azienda Agricola Contesa Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Vigna Corvino (Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo)

It's one day of the week I don't muse over Cellartracker choosing a wine to have with dinner, I just pull a bottle out from the ready-rack in the kitchen.

It's a drinking wine, inexpensive and not needing forensic examination. Deep red, full bodied, cherry and red plum fruits and all too quickly finished.

Last night it was Puttenesca's turn, and after dinner more comfort by watching the new series of Father Brown, where it's always sunny, the wrongly arrested person is freed after Father Brown deduces the villain and appeals to their conscience so they confess and hand themselves into the Police.

[David M. Bueker]

The pasta dishes sound very comforting to me!

[Jenise]

Last night friends had us over for Beef Bourgogne. Strangely--excuse me but does not the name of the dish include the word Burgundy???--no one but me brought pinots. The other reds were malbec, zinfandel and cabernet. Most of which were Chateau Ste Michelle products that our host has an inexhaustible supply of and that I don't think worth reporting about.

2021 TIME Estate Winery Chronos Rosé Okanagan Valley VQA
From syrah. Strawberry pie fruit with a round, malted finish and slight RS (served at room temp). Decent but very different.

2018 Smith & Sheth Pinot Noir Kawarau Central Otago
Full secondary development so more mature than expected for its age, light burnished red color with strawberry fruit, straw and leather. But we love mature flavors so were not unhappy with this result, just surprised.

2012 P. Dubreuil-Fontaine Père & Fils Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Les Vercots Pinot Noir
In full secondary-tertiary stage; light color and body, lusciously mature. Very nice.

[David M. Bueker]

Beef Bourgogne is a tricky pairing IMO. Yes the name implies Pinot Noir (did the host actually use Pinot in the prep?), but it stands up well to a wide array of wines. To me the driving factor is the leanness (or not) of the meat. Leaner cuts I go with Pinot. If it's a fattier cut that ends up in the dish then more heft/tannin is necessary.

Well, call it Beef in a Red Wine Sauce and fill it mushrooms and rosemary, and you probably have something better suited to syrah or one of the cabs more definitely have something that can handle a bigger wine, but if you eat Beef Bourgogne in Beaune every day for 6 or 7 days (which I did) you see a gamut of styles of the dish, some light and easy and some dark and structured (possibly spiked with coffee), and they'll all be served with red burgundies. I don't think there's any one right way. What our hostess makes (I've had it several times) is Julia Child's recipe which lands, for me, on the lighter side.

I don't think others made informed decisions. They just heard "Beef" and reached for bigger wines.

[Jenise]

A few days ago I opened up the freezer and out popped a pound of ground lamb. Having no other plans I turned that volunteer into a meatloaf with Turkish-Armenian flavors--a lot of onion and allspice, and paired that with grilled baby confetti eggplants and spinach wilted with garlic. A great combination, and meat loaf's as 'comfort food' as it gets in my book. Remembering that Armenian reds that we had and loved a few years ago, I went to the cellar for something that would be similar--red fruited and spice-friendly. Coincidentally when I went into the cellar, a brunello popped out of its cubby. Such volunteerism here at Chez J--could I refuse? Here's the wine.

2016 Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese
Decent fruit, earth and leather. Texturally: decent acidity and soft tannins. Decanting not required. Overall an above average sangiovese but not in the league one expects from Brunello. Great with the meat loaf, however.

[David M. Bueker]

You must have good hands to catch both meat and wine that were jumping to their deaths.

[Jenise]

Who said I caught them? Actually, I did catch the wine and it was in a low area so would have survived anyway. But the lamb: it nailed my big toe (I am forever barefooted).