Apples and Wine

[wondersofwine]

A particularly successful food and wine pairing occurred at a wine dinner at Butterflies Restaurant in Raleigh, NC (a benefit for the Frankie Lemmon School for children with special needs). Chef Sarig Agasi used Burgundy wines throughout the meal. The first dish was a smoked bluefish salad with arugula, Korean celery, radishes, Granny Smith apples and cider vinaigrette. The wine was a 1997 Domaine des Chazelle Macon Vire. The apple accents in the wine matched beautifully to the apples in the salad. (This dinner was in April 2000 but I kept the menu for future reference.)

[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 06-13-2001).]

[Thomas]

What I find offensive about malolactic fermentation of Chardonnay is that it reduces the apple acid (malic) which is a fine, crisp delight in the fruitiness of Chardonnay. When the malic is obliterated what you often wind up with is alcoholic liquid cheese.

The Macon you refer to likely maintained the malic acid that went so well with the food.