Wine pairing ideas for this menu

[lilrhodywb]

A friend is having a dinner party next week - this is the menu. I'm trying to nail down some pairings - a white and a red that would go well with all/most of these courses - and would love some help.

1) sweet potato soup
2) arugula salad
3) grapefruit mint sorbet
4) Vegetarian spring rolls
5) Mushroom risotto
6) chicken breast stuffed with spinach cream
7) cheese plate

Ideas please?

[henmonster]

dry riesling for the white (or torrentes from argentina), sparking white would work -- try something different like a sparkling pinot blanc if you can find it.

for red, go with light or slightly smokey. young pinot noir, a beaujolais or tempranillo

[Ricardo Malocchio]

The red selection provides the most difficulty here. Yes, Piedmont wines are amazing with mushrooms, but a bit too big for most of the other dishes. Pinot noir seems a safer bet, but I'd suggest a gamay. It will be wonderful with the sweet potato, likely pick up the peppery note from the arugula, won't overwhelm the spring rolls, and the acidity will cut through the cream on the chicken breast.

Cru Beaujolais is the obvious choice - and the 2009 vintage is being heralded as spectacular - but I came across an inexpensive Loire Valley gamay this summer that I positively love: 2009 Jean Francois Merieau Touraine Gamay "le Bois Jacou". For $15, worth adding to the table.

[ChefJune]

Well, after reading your menu and thinking a bit, I suggest Champagne for the first 4 courses, and then a white Chateauneuf-du-Pape. If moving to a red is a "necessity," I'd choose a Barbera, but I really like the white CduP better.

[whiner]

Off dry Austrian Riesling; Barbera

[maria lorraine]

1. The sweet potato soup I've had is just like butternut squash soup, in which case Pinot Noir is superb. However, I don't think this should be the first course. I'd start with the spring rolls.
2. Pinot again, something light and red. However, we need to know your other ingredients.
3. nothing with the sorbet
4. Vegetarian spring rolls: Any number of white wines (Riesling, Gruner, Pinot Gris, etc.) Change this to course #1.
5. Pinot again with the mushrooms
6. Both white and red work -- whatever you already have open.
7. Depends on the cheeses. Again, whatever you already have open. Some cheeses are better with white wine than red, others seem better paired with red. A Sauternes for blue cheese would be lovely.

[Chinon00]

Courses 1 - 4: Champagne or other sparkling wine
Courses 5 - 7: Red Burgundy, Cru Beaujolais, Cabernet Franc, or Brunello.

[PolarBear]

Interesting, I would have guessed that a Cab Franc, which I love, or a Brunello, which I have minimal experience with, would be overpowering. Any recos off hand that you'd choose, esp. for the Cab Franc? TIA

[Chinon00]

For the Cab Franc: Vignoble Gasnier Chinon Les Graves.
As for the Brunello it's a roast pork wine generally for me admittedly. I friend made that with a spinach gnocchi starter for me a while back. I still think of that meal often. The Brunello was round but light yet assertive. There was a man in armor on the label; and Sonny Rollins on the radio.

[chefdilettante]

1-5: Sparkling, as suggested previously, Riesling, Fino Sherry
5-7: Like Barbera, as previous suggested, Dolcetto, Cru Beajolais, Chinon

[Brad Ballinger]

Chinon. Good suggestion.

[Brad Ballinger]

I think you need three wines, if your sorbet is meant as a palate cleanser. You can go with two wines if you move the spring rolls to your first course. If you do that, then you can pour sparkling wine, riesling, or Vouvray.

And I disagree with Maximilien. You can pair red with the rest of the menu succesfully. Consider Cotes-du-Rhone, pinot noir in any form, or even Barbera.

[zin1953]

Agreed.

[jock]

agree except i think pinot noir may not be a good choice. i would go with the earthiness and tannins of the cdr or the barbera.

using a red will require you to choose the cheese carefully as there are many cheeses that fight with red wine.

[Bill Hunt]

Jock,

I agree re: the cheese. In general, if we have moved to reds, I limit myself to Manchego, dry-aged jack, and other hard cheeses, that are more friendly with reds.

If I have some more "white-friendly" cheeses, that I want to serve, I will bring out a white Burg, to go with those. Here, I would do the palate-cleanser after the mains - I know that is not the traditional placement, but it can help the diners get ready for the white.

A lighter PN works OK for me, until the chicken (really love PN with mushroom risotto), and then we hit a snag - possibly. The spinach element can be pretty earthy, at least some that I have had, and the chicken could be very neutral. Or, the main could be the "bridge" from a lighter, more earthy PN to a bigger white Burg, to also go with the cheese plate.

Hunt

[jock]

mushroom risotto is so good that anything is ok with me but my choice is barolo. i frequently go back to white when i am doing a cheese course - seldom does anyone complain.

[Bill Hunt]

Now, I could break with my "tradition" and go with maybe a nice blanc Rhône, for that earthy elegance.

To date (gonna' jinx myself with this, but here goes), I have never had any complaints either. I encourage each guest to try each cheese with each wine. If the event is not too formal, then I often ask for comments. There is almost always an agreement that the selected whites went with cheese X, but the reds went with cheese Y. Still, even for those pairings that do not quite work, it's great fun.

Next mushroom risotto, will definitely have to break out some logical whites.

Thanks.

Hunt

PS - anything in the future, that we should know about?

[Maximilien]

(sorry no red)

Champagne/Sparkler up to #5 and then a good white burgundy.

[invinotheresverde]

I'm with you. I don't like red with any of those courses, other than MAYBE the risotto.