Wine and Camping: A food and wine pairing experience.

One of my coworkers is a pretty serious outdoorsman and heads out camping with his wife and friends most weekends. The kind of camping they do (coming from a person who last camped with their Brownie troop in elementary school) is somewhere in between sleeping bag in a tent and functionally glamping. Actually, its pretty amazing in that he developed a travel kitchen that he has with him in the bed of his truck at all times. It has running water, storage and most importantly a stove.

Well one day while summing up our weekends, mine filled with wine tastings and his with stories of his new business venture (PullKitchen) as well as all the glorious food he prepared on his camping trip, we decided to do a wine pairing party themed around camping. I instantly thought of hotdogs and s'mores roasted over a camp fire but was reminded that they routinely made pasta and scallops in addition to the expected steaks and such. Ultimately we decided to set up a wine party / lecture for his camping buddies with wines paired to 6 food items they commonly eat. He humored me and gave me hotdogs, smores and fried chicken although he threw me a curve ball, on purpose, stating that they have their dogs with sauerkraut and mustard. In addition, we paired bacon wrapped scallops, chicken sausage with farfalle in a tomato, pepper, basil sauce and ribeyes.

Most of the guests at the party were sometimes wine drinkers with a few regulars mixed in. The knowledge level varied tremendously. I tried to keep the wines in a reasonable price range (the most expensive was $32) and readily available to them for purchase if they wanted.

~~~The Pairings~~~

Fried Chicken

For wine aficionados it is well known that fried chicken and champagne is a classic pairing, but for the average Joe this seems unexpected. I actually remember the first time I ran across an advertisement for this pairing thinking that it was super ghetto chique. Turns out that this is a match made in Heaven because Champagne is very high in acidity which cuts through the fat quite well. The bubbles are a nice touch too, kind of like beer and wings... Now, not all sparkling wines are Champagne and are not created equally, but dry sparkling wines with high acid are the key. Their fried chicken was matched with a $10 sparkling colombard out of Weibel Family Winery in Lodi, CA and was perfect for the occasion. I also snuck in a fizzy red wine, made not in the méthode champenoise but in the tank method popularized and perfected by the Italians, to pair with the chicken as well as the scallops which were up next.

Bacon Wrapped Scallops

One thing that was emphasized during this course was that the wine was being paired with the bacon and not the scallop. So just like the above pairing, Lambrusco is high in acid and can cut through fat in an amazing way. This grape is native to the area around Modena, Emilia-Romagna in Italy which is also where prosciutto and countless other dried fatty meats hail. So just as with "champagne," the bubbles and acid slice through the fat but are delicate enough to not overpower the scallop. The light pink Lambrusco di Sorbara that was served at the dinner was noticeably lighter than traditional Lambruscos which tend to be purple with pink foam, also pictured. Now, if you are not familiar with Lambrusco, it is a light bodied, easy drinking but fruit forward red wine that is often fizzy and should be served chilled. A high quality bottling, should not have sweetness from sugar but rather inherent fruitiness from the aromatic grape but be technically dry.

The scallop was then paired with a still (not sparkling) white Pinot Gris from Alsace, France which is grown on the hillsides of the Vosges Mountains well north of the Alps. What contributes the the flavor and aromatic amazingness of this wine is that there is sufficient sunlight and warmth during the day but very cool nights that give this wine a lot of fruitiness that can be appreciated when swirling it around in your glass or your mouth. Pinot Gris often has peach, pear and melon notes and is more substantial than its Italian counterpart- Pinot Grigio.

This wine hails from Alsace, which is not only directly across the Rhine River from the Black Forest of Germany, but it has also gone back and forth between being German or French about 6 times since the 1600s. Due to the fact that Alsace spent so much time being German it pairs exceedingly well with their cuisine. Therefore, I paired both the Pinot Gris along with a dry Alsatian Riesling Grand Cru with the sauerkraut and mustard covered hotdog. Now, this pairing was given to me as a challenge because what pairs with sauerkraut? Mustard? Well, I can tell you that the Riesling/Mustard/Kraut combo was magical. Seriously, if you are inspired by nothing else from this post, please go buy yourself a dry Riesling and get a sauerkraut dog to eat with it, you will thank me later. Now, to address the giant elephant in the room: No, not all Riesling is sweet. Riesling makers have recognized that there is a strong confusion in the public about the sweetness levels and that many people are turned off by sweeter wines so they developed a labeling system that they have placed on bottles. The above picture is an example of the scale being placed on bottles of Riesling at the supermarket. If buying a Riesling that does not have this label, a good rule of thumb is that the lower the alcohol, the more sugar will be in the wine. (If you want to know more about Riesling, drop a message in the comment box because it is one of my new obsessions. I will be dedicating multiple posts to this topic but until then here is a short summary.)

Chicken Sausage & Tomato Basil Pasta

Switching gears a little bit, we moved on to central Italian fare paired with Chianti. Chianti is the most commonly consumed Italian wine in the world and is made mostly from the Sangiovese grape which is the most widely planted grape in Italy. Sangiovese also has high acid, but this time it not only complimented the fatty sausage but also matched the acidity in the tomato sauce perfectly. Sangiovese offers a flavor profile filled with red fruits like cherry, strawberry and red plum but can also have some earthy flavors as well. This combo is another classic.

Steak

The dinner finale was a nicely cooked steak and as you can probably guess a big juicy Cabernet Sauvignon would have been a great accompaniment. Well, just to throw a slight curve ball at them I went with a Bordeaux blend mostly to introduce them to the grapes as well as how to read a Bordeaux label and understand Left and Right Bank in a conversation about the region. Ultimately the wine I chose was an outlier from what I had just taught them, but that is the way of the world. You learn rules just to find out how they can be broken. None the less, this wine was a bigger wine with darker color and bolder fruit and tannins that is evenly matched with the flavors of a steak.

S'mores

At this point in the evening, I asked what their favorite pairing had been so far and although there were a few different answers many people, including myself, really were fans of the kraut and Riesling match. This made my day but then I informed them that I had a feeling that the final pairing of the night would take home the prize! Again they seemed skeptical that any wine could pair with marshmallows. Now, this final pairing I had researched on my own of course!! The rule of thumb when pairing dessert with wine is to make sure that the wine is actually sweeter than the dessert being served. I chose a local Old Vine Zinfandel Port and this wine was deliciously sweet with a whopping 19% alcohol which is why it is served in small port glasses. Although I would not typically drink this wine on its own, it was mind blowing when paired with the s'mores bars. I mean, beyond what I had expected!! The wine did not seem so sweet and the fruity raspberry sauce flavors were showcased and really just jazzed up the entire pairing.

At the end of the night, everyone was sufficiently stuffed with food, wine and new knowledge but all the happier for it. My debut lecture for A Grape Education was a success and my new friends will definitely be stepping up their fireside wine game!