Complimentary
Subscription
Wine review email sent weekly.
|
|
October 26th
Wines with Sushi |
 |
Normally, for these
articles and in daily dining, I prefer to choose the wine
first then figure out what to have with it. But some times
you have to kick over the rules.
Take sushi, for instance. Can it pair with wine? It's a real
burning question today in contemporary dining and wine circles.
And the answer is not without its partisans on either side
of the wine or no wine with sushi issue.
In his book on sushi (The
Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi, Harvard Common
Press, 2005), Dave Lowry does a masterful job of drafting
a compendium on the subject. By turns he's serious and funny;
delves into culture and history as much as the true nature
of nori; and the whys and wherefores of wasabi. But then,
with the back of his hand, he says this about sushi and wine:
"There are
those who have done in-depth clinical studies to match sushi
to Western wines…and there are even restaurants that devote
much time and attention to such matchings. There are also
people who think romance novels qualify as fine literature--say
WHAT?--those who refer to dinner jackets as "tuxedos,"
and others who wear pinky rings. The sushi connoisseur recognizes
that such people exist."
Heck, Lowry doesn't
even approve of drinking sake with sushi, because, he says,
both involve rice, and it's too much of a similar thing. Hmmm.
Instead, he advocates tea, and a certain tea at that.
Mercifully, the rest of us are not so bound by tradition.
(Lowery would call arrivistes anyone who thinks sushi popped
up one day in Southern California, but he also is skeptical
about sushi snobbery, and sees the benefits that the Allied
occupation brought to enhance sanitation and the service of
sushi.) In fact, the world is clamoring like crazy to pair
wine with sushi, and the sushi restaurant that doesn't have
a good list of wines and sakes is, well, behind the times.
Well-regarded chef John Ash points out in a recent article
for Wilson Daniels Quarterly that today's sushi embraces a
"whole universe of fish, shellfish, vegetables, seaweeds,
and seasonings." All things evolve, and why should sushi
be any different? There was a day when Japanese cooking didn't
fry anything either until European missionaries and merchants
showed cooks how to do it, and voilà tonkatsu and tempura.
Beer is a good companion to sushi, and even Lowry will accept
this beverage with his sushi. Beer acts as a palate cleanser,
preparing the sushi enthusiast for the next bite of sushi.
But where beer and sushi are concerned, the lighter the better.
This is no place for stouts and porters.
To get into the right frame of mind and reference for this
exercise, I met one afternoon with Gregg Smith, sommelier
and wine director at Silk Asian Steak House in Midtown. Smith
has developed what certainly is the city's best wine list
to accompany Asian and Pacific Rim fare. We covered half the
bar with bottles just before the restaurant opened for dinner,
leaving the poor bartender a bit of work before he could welcome
the evening's guests. But the exercise was useful for both
of us.
One thing we quickly set aside after trying three of them
was Chardonnay, especially the very oaky ones. Oak and sushi
are simply oxymoronic. Ash concurs. The Chablis was the best
of the lot, but it was just slightly oaked. An unoaked Chardonnay
might be a good bet, though, if the acidity is good.
Pinot Noir did very well with sashimi. But heavily tannic
wines were a buster. Again, Ash makes the same points. We
must be on to something here.
Sparkling wines are the big winner in this line-up, anything
from Champagne to Crémant (sparkling wines from elsewhere
in France) to Spanish cava to South African Cap Classique
and German Sekt. But these should be clean, not too fruity
or heavily yeasty, and show good acidity to cleanse the palate.
The more austere the sparkling wine the better if ikura (salmon
roe caviar) or masago (flying fish roe) are part of the equation.
Not surprisingly, Rieslings were superb with sushi. At a Silk
kaiseki dinner the previous week, Smith had paired sakes and
wines with each of nine courses. The 2002 Gunderloch Nackenheim
Rothenberg Riesling Spätlese (Prestige Wine Wholesale)
was brilliant with sunomono, a tough match because of the
vinegar that characterizes this dish.
But one surprise was Sauvignon Blanc. In our taste exercise,
the Savion Pouilly-Fumé 2004 (Prestige Wine Wholesale)
was amazing with sushi. Clean, crisp white wines with good
acidity work well with sushi, and that's what made that Sauvignon
Blanc work. Other varieties that did well were Grüner
Veltliner and Albarino. Ash adds Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris,
Semillon and Pinot Blanc also work. But I think the Pinot
Grigio must have good acidity, a requirement that pretty much
lets out those from the Veneto in favor of those from Alto
Adige and the Friuli.
Dry rosés can do very well with sushi. When I chose
the one evaluated below, I did my tasting exercise before
turning over the bottle and discovering among the recommended
food pairings the suggestion that it go with sushi. I had
already tasted it with sushi, and concluded it most certainly
did. And it's a Spanish rosado!!! Again Ash agrees as to the
suitability of rosé with sushi. Delicate, crisp and
dry are the keys.
The first time I wrote about wine with sushi for a northern
publication a couple of years ago, I sampled a Savannah-Chanelle
Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (alas, they no longer make it) at
MF Sushi Bar with salmon sashimi. When I finally got the waitress
to get the wine's temperature correctly cool, the friends
I was with literally exclaimed their delight at how well the
wine accompanied the fish. Again, Ash makes the point that
lighter reds slightly chilled do well with sushi. The keys
are to avoid hefty tannins, which Pinot Noir or its cousin
Beaujolais typically do, and serve them slightly cool, as
they should be served under any circumstances.
So there--after an afternoon of sampling wine and sushi, Smith
and Garvey came to just about the same conclusions as Ash.
It works!!!
But I also beg to differ with Lowry on the subject of sake
and sushi. At Starfish Sushi, a fairly new Japanese restaurant
on Peachtree Rd., a long list of country sakes is the glory
of the beverage offerings. There are some good wine choices,
as well, more than at many Japanese restaurants, but sake
is the winner. The restaurant offers a four-pour sake sampler
for $10, so I invited my waiter to pick some good ones, and
I ordered the "Sin City" roll to see what worked.
It's a slightly spicy with crispy fried shrimp, avocado, and
some zingy mayo. In other words, a pretty typical contemporary
sushi roll. The winner is evaluated below, but the A to Z
Pinot Gris also on the list did a good job of keeping up with
the spice. It was better, though, with the Japanese red snapper
sans spice.
Sake often is called rice wine, but it's not a fermented beverage
at all. Instead, it's brewed. Mr. Bond's ill-advised comments
about proper sake temperature have a whole generation of Americans
off on the wrong foot. Good sake should be served very chilled.
And talk about evolution? You now can get sake in cans--both
here and in Japan--with the pop top ring just like beer.
So sushi is breaking new ground, slipping its moorings, and
becoming, as Atlanta restaurateur Tom Catherall likes to say,
"as American as pasta." One might add "as American
as NASCAR." In fact, the Phoenix International Raceway
has opened a fancy, shmancy lounge called Octane, where sushi
and wine capture the pole position on the menu, although pasta
and carving stations also are offered. The tab? $4,000 per
person for five days of events during two race weekends. Wrap
that in your nori and chew it!
Just make sure you've got a proper sparkling wine to go with
it. You'll need it to swallow the price tag along with the
"Mario Andretti roll."
Jane Garvey
|
