MRE Menu 17: Maple Sausage

This menu almost cries out that it is a faux brunch, demanding a fine Champagne.  The sausage needs a pairing with both body and acidity to slice through its hefty fat content.  Look no farther than the chalky slopes of the Côte de Blancs, home to the finest chardonnay vineyards in Champagne.  A blanc de blancs uses only chardonnay, which will lend flavors of apple and pear that become more golden with bottle age, as well as a firm backbone of acidity and a delightful minerality from all that chalk.  Because the maple sausage has a bit of sweetness to it, the Champagne will require a hint of the same.  A brut should have just the right amount from its dosage, but the perception may instead be of a rich mouthfeel and biscuit notes that lean more towards brioche, which sounds like the perfect brunch accompaniment to a foil pouch of lukewarm sausage.

A heavy red would overpower the sausage, but the concentrated fruits and moderate tannins of lagrein from Südtirol (Alto Adige) in northern Italy provide flavors that will be additive to the dish with smothering it.  It is a wine that lends itself to barrel aging to tame a bit of astringency on the finish, but beware of the overuse of new oak that will not permit the fruit to shine through.  As mentioned above, the fat in the sausage needs a wine with acidity to balance it, and lagrein delivers.  You may find hints of smoke and a bit of minerality, but ripe fruits are always at the core.

Complementary Pairing:  Blanc de Blancs, Champagne, France

Try:  Veuve Fourny et Fils Millésimé Brut Blanc de Blancs Vertus Premier Cru

[www.champagne-veuve-fourny.com]  This maison is technically a négociant-manipulant and not a “grower Champagne,” but only in the sense that some of their fruit is purchased.   This is mostly a consequence of the inheritance laws requiring the division of land amongst the heirs of each generation, such that they are primarily buying from family. In fact, they embody their motto of “une Famille, un Clos, un Premier Cru.”  Charles-Henry and Emmanuel Fourny currently lead the house, which has vineyard sites in Vertus with underlying chalk and chalky gravel and various south and east expositions, including the Clos Notre-Dame.  Initial aging of the base wines for this vintage Champagne takes place in both steel and oak casks, prior to spending at least 5 years on the lees in the bottle before dégorgement. 

Contrasting Pairing:  Lagrein, Südtirol (Alto Adige), Italy

Try:  Kellerei Bozen Lagrein Riserva ‘Taber’

[www.kellereibozen.com]  This group of growers anchored in Bozen is actually the union of two previously separate cooperatives, Gries and St. Magdalena.  The grapes come from the Taber vineyard in Gries, which is the traditional source for the finest lagrein.  This particular selection was originally from the cooperative of St. Magdalena, and is still labeled with that name.  With only a minority of the oak barrels being new, this wine offers tremendous concentration with perfect balance.

Deployment Special Edition: The Lobster Roll

This is the gastronomic pinnacle of an Afghanistan deployment—the lobster roll.    

The roll with its component ingredients:  a toasted [hot dog] bun brushed with melted butter and filled with a mix of lobster tail, chopped celery, mayonnaise, and celery salt, with the latter two ingredients courtesy of a care package from home.

This rare royal feast for the taste buds demands a wine of equally noble pedigree, such as a white wine from Pessac-Leognan, on the left bank of the Garonne in the southwest corner of Bordeaux.  Composed of sauvignon blanc and sémillon grown on well-drained gravel and sand with a large percentage of quartz, the whites of Pessac-Leognan offer a unique minerality not found elsewhere in the region.  Variable degrees of wood treatment in the cellar lead to a spectrum of styles that range from fruit-forward with assertive acidity on one end, all the way to full-bodied and creamy versions that require several years of bottle age to achieve integration of the oak.  The richness and delicacy of the lobster would best be served by a style somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

While it is a somewhat rich dish compared to many other seafood preparations, most red wines would still overwhelm this lobster roll.  But not the food-friendly blaufränkisch, a common variety found in Austria, Germany (where it is known as lemberger), and throughout eastern Europe, where it has a reputation of being a bit rustic.  Common flavors include dark fruits such as berries and cherries, with various spice elements and moderate tannins.  Avoid producers who rely on the heavy-handed use of new oak, which will overpower both the wine itself and the elegant lobster filling.

Complementary Pairing:  Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux, France

Try:  Château Larrivet Haut-Brion Blanc

[www.larrivethautbrion.fr]  Now owned by the quality-conscious Gervoson family,  the vines are about 20 years of age, with a slight predominance of sauvignon blanc over sémillon in the vineyard.  The élevage takes place for 12 months in new oak, with the frequency of bâtonnage varying by the characteristics of the vintage.  Flavors include citrus and stone fruits on the front, while the oak treatment adds a rich texture along with vanilla and spices.  There is suitable refreshing acidity on the finish to balance the melted butter and mayonnaise in the lobster roll.

Contrasting Pairing:  Blaufränkisch, Burgenland, Austria

Try:  Weingut Moric Blaufränkisch ‘Moric’

[www.moric.at]  The label with Moric in large letters is the reserve bottling of blaufränkisch from Roland Velich.  This comes from vineyards in Neckenmarkt and Lutzmannsberg, which have vines of up to a century old.  The produce of the oldest of these goes into his site-specific “alte reben” (old-vine) bottlings, but the average vine age in the reserve wine is still 40.  His winemaking style brings an unusual elegance and finesse to this variety, leading to frequent comparisons to the Côte d’Or, and villages such as Volnay in particular.  With minimal use of new oak, the wine presents floral aromatics, together with bright red fruit, cassis, pepper, and spices.

The deployment capo cuoco di tutti capocuochi, Dr. Timothy Weiner, mixing the lobster roll filling and proving his dominance over all other chefs in Afghanistan for creating this luxurious seafood dish smack in the middle of the desert.

An estimated 20 brave lobsters unwillingly gave their tails to provide the contents of this bin in preparation for an outdoor lobster roll feast.  Chef Weiner draws his lobster roll inspiration from his long-standing imaginary friendship with former First Lady Barbara Bush and her patronage of The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport.

MRE Menu 16: Pork Rib

The theoretical delicate smokiness of this pork rib demands smoky elements in the accompanying wine, such as those from syrah hailing from the northern Rhône.  The appellations that prescribe red wine production here allow for the blending of a small amount of white grapes to add aromatics and complexity, save for one—Cornas.  Located near the southern end of the valley, these wines have traditionally been considered among the more rustic of the northern Rhône.  This reputation is changing due to an increasing emphasis on attention to detail and low yields in the vineyard combined with better techniques in the cellar.  Common flavors are dark fruits such as currants and blackberries, with minerality coming from the granite underneath.

In the sense of being a wine that comes white wine grapes, the “orange wines” of Friuli in northeastern Italy are white wines, and they have the structure to match the pork rib, with enough acidity to cut through the abundant fat hidden within.  So-called orange wines are produced from white grapes left in prolonged contact with the skins, which results in a variable degree of orange tint to the finished wine.  Although this technique is essentially an ancient wine, it has seen a recent revival amongst producers in Friuli, and in particular the area of Carso, which is adjacent to Trieste and on the border with Slovenia.  The resulting wines are frequently bottled unfiltered, and may appear cloudy in the glass, with the presence of abundant grape skin tannins not normally found in white wines.

Complementary Pairing:  Cornas, Rhône, France

Try:  Jean-Luc Colombo Cornas ‘Les Ruchets’

[www.vinscolombo.fr]  This is the grand vin from this leader in the renaissance of quality production in Cornas.  From vines farmed organically of up to 90 years of age, it spends two years maturing in oak.  The philosophy of this domaine is that wine is meant to pair with food, so despite the powerful syrah, these wines are inevitably balanced, with finesse and expressiveness of origin.

Contrasting Pairing:  Carso “orange wine”, Friuli, Italy

Try:  Vodopivec Vitovska Amphora

[www.vodopivec.it]  Like other vineyards in Carso, the vines are planted on limestone bedrock.  The grape variety is vitovska, which practically exists only in Friuli and neighboring Slovenia.  This version is macerated with its skins for 6 months in traditional vessels, clay amphorae from Georgia (the former Soviet republic, not the US state).  Expect this wine to be a unique experience that will change dramatically in the glass as it breathes, variously showing elements of stone fruits, herbs, smoke, and the limestone upon which it is grown.

MRE Menu 15: Mexican Style Chicken Stew

This meal potentially packs some heat, but not the thermal kind (which is generally lacking in all of the MREs).  There is plenty of fiery spice here, especially if you make use of the accompanying packet of ground red pepper.  Conventional wisdom suggests that a wine with some residual sugar will help subdue the heat.  Hopefully there will some acidity as well to aid in refreshing your palate as you go, so that your mouth is not continuously on fire.  Various styles of German riesling offer up both of these traits, but finding the right version can be tricky.  While great for many other dishes, the dry versions, labeled “trocken,” aren’t the ideal match for this MRE.  Assuming they are not also labeled trocken, you can expect to find progressively increasing amounts of residual sugar in those marked “spätlese” and “auslese.”  The higher sugar levels in these versions are generally assumed to accompany longer periods of ripening on the vine before harvest, with an associated increase in phenolic ripeness.  Climate change is blurring this situation a bit, but the aforementioned generalizations are a good starting point.  For this particular MRE, I recommend a spätlese unless you really intend to turn up the heat with the red pepper, when an auslese might be appropriate.

For a red, we can turn to the “lost” sixth bordelais varietal, carmenère.  Although not replanted in any significant amount in Bordeaux following widespread loss from oidium and phylloxera in the nineteenth century, it has found a new home as the signature red grape of Chile, despite having been planted there unrecognized for the better part of a century and a half.  Thriving in the dry climate of areas such as the Colchagua Valley, it produces wines of medium body and tannins, with red or black fruits mixed with spices and elements of earth, leather, and tobacco.

Complementary Pairing:  Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany

Try:  Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese

[www.doennhoff.com]  This wine comes from the top producer in the Nahe, and he would be a contender for the top spot for all of Germany.  Hermannshöhle in Niederhausen is perhaps his best cru, with a base of slate and volcanic rock.  The nose should offer a mélange of citrus notes, with the same on the palate accompanying a core of slate minerality.

Contrasting Pairing:  Carmenère, Colchagua Valley, Chile

Try:  Viña Montes Purple Angel

[www.monteswines.com]  In this case the carmenère is blended with a bit of petit verdot, and comes from the Marchigue and the famous Apalta estates.  After spending 18 months in new French oak, it is bottled unfiltered.  This particular regimen leads to typical red fruits on the nose, followed by black fruits and hints of chocolate on the palate.  The tannins are soft and sweet, which will serve as an ideal foil for the spice of the dish.

Note for the Detail-Oriented:  “Carmenère” is the common spelling used in Chile and the one used in this post.  In French it is carménère, and it also appears as carmenere throughout the world.

MRE Menu 14: Ratatouille

Lest the name of this MRE suggest something more, this dish is ultimately an amorphous vegetarian mass presented in a sturdy foil pouch without the pronounced garlic and herbs one might expect from the restaurant version.  For a suitable red wine, let’s turn to a traditional area, Rioja, and a traditional varietal, graciano.  Normally this would be a minor addition to the dominant tempranillo-based blends from this region, but a few producers are vinifying it on its own so that you can appreciate its intrinsic contribution.  Naturally low-yielding, it has pleasing aromatics and refreshing acidity, which is just the thing to cut through the thick mass of vegetable mush in your MRE.

A white wine to pair with this dish mainly needs enough body to match the overcooked vegetables.  In this case the wine itself will essentially act as the seasoning, and the seasoning du jour is viognier.  As a mono-varietal wine, viognier has surfaced here and there in a few New World locations outside of its traditional home in the northern Rhone appellations of Condrieu and Château Grillet.  In Virginia, however, it has arisen as practically the signature white grape of the state, despite fewer acres planted than the universally ubiquitous chardonnay.  Viognier from this area has evolved from an élevage exclusively in stainless steel to some versions now seeing a bit of oak treatment.  This change in winemaking philosophy has led to increased structure and a corresponding broader range of potential pairings with food.

Complementary Pairing:  Graciano, Rioja, Spain

Try:  Dinastía Vivanco Colección Vivanco Parcelas de Graciano

[www.dinastiavivanco.com]  This humble blending grape gets the royal treatment, starting with a careful triage, destemming, and pressing, with transport only via gravity feed.  Each parcel is fermented separately in oak vats before transfer to a variety of new American and French oak barrels for a year and a half of aging without racking, and is then bottled unfined and unfiltered.  Enjoy the black fruits with a sprinkling of cocoa on top, ending with a lengthy finish.

Contrasting Pairing:  Viognier, Virginia, USA

Try:  Chester Gap Cellars Viognier Reserve, Rappahannock County

[www.chestergapcellars.com]  In a short period of time, Bernd and Kristi Jung have taken their vines, planted in 2000 with an easterly exposition on steep slopes, and used them to reach the pinnacle of quality viognier production in Virginia.  They utilize just a gentle kiss of French oak to add creamy structure to the wine, while in no way subjugating the expression of this variety’s distinctive aromatics and white stone fruit flavors.

MRE Menu 13: Cheese Tortellini

A Note from the Taliban:  We apologize for interrupting the posting of yesterday’s blog with our continued hostilities throughout southern Afghanistan.  We will try to be more considerate of the wine and food loving public in the future.

And now for today’s pairing.  The pasta in this case is neutral in terms of flavor, texture, nutritional value, and so forth, so the key element for the pairing is the processed cheese food inside.  Almost acting like a compote, the dark cherry of a Central Otago pinot noir from New Zealand will harmonize with and stand up next to the dense cheese in the tortellini.  With quality producers here judiciously using proven winemaking techniques and barrels from this variety’s spiritual home in France, the intense fruit will be balanced by spicy notes and streaks of minerality reflective of the local terroir.

Desirable characteristics for a white wine pairing would be acidity to cut through the fat in the cheese, yet with enough structure to stand up to its strong flavors.  Such a wine can be found in northeastern Italy in the region of Friuli, made from tocai friulano.  Nutty notes on the finish will serve to bring out the very best from this substandard cheese.

Complementary Pairing:  Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand

Try:  Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Pinot Noir

[www.quartzreef.co.nz]  The production here mirrors a Burgundian model.  The grapes are mostly destemmed, with a small percentage of whole clusters depending on the vintage, and are then given a cold soak before the start of a temperature-controlled fermentation.  After the completion of fermentation and additional maceration, the wine goes into mostly new barriques, and will be fined but not filtered prior to bottling.

Contrasting Pairing:  Friulano, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Try:  Schiopetto Collio Friulano

[www.schiopetto.it]  This classic expression of friulano comes from vines over 40 years old planted on marl.  In order to preserve the purity of the fruit, aging is in all stainless steel tanks for approximately 8 months.  Look for floral aromatics, with golden pear and almonds on the palate.

Deployment Special Edition: Smoked Salmon Sunday Brunch at the FOB

Team member Tim Weiner, a gourmand after my own heart and a world-renowned Professor of Pediatric Surgery at UNC, had smoked salmon and capers sent over for Sunday brunch.  Note the longing in his eyes as he imagines having a flute of premium sparkling to go with his lox and cream cheese bagel.

This delectable tray shows the brunch menu (clockwise from top):  green grapes in that uncomfortable stage between fermenting and rotting; a biscuit with cherry preserves; the smoked salmon omelette; fresh grapefruit—a true blessing; and a second biscuit.

In a war zone, the simplest of treats from home can make a normal day feel special.  Take, for instance, a standard omelette from the dining facility at our Forward Operating Base on a Sunday morning, and add care package contents to include smoked salmon, capers, and black truffle salt and voilà!  You have a feast fit for a death-row inmate’s last meal.  If said inmate had access to wine to pair with said feast, then what should the inmate choose?

To balance the richness of the omelette toppings, a full-bodied sparkling rosé would brighten this Sunday brunch by an order of magnitude.  The premier spot for such a sparkling wine in Italy is Lombardia.  Here, the makers of Franciacorta use the metodo classico of producing their sparkling wines with a second fermentation in the bottle.  They likewise utilize the preferred grapes of the champenois, primarily chardonnay and pinot nero.  You will see the familiar designations to indicate the amount of sugar present from the dosage, going from most to none:  brut, extra brut, or brut zero (also seen variably as pas dosè or brut nature).  For the salmon, aim for the middle of the road with extra brut, or a brut if you prefer.

If you demand a red wine for your salmon omelette, consider a spätburgunder from Germany.  Known more commonly in France and the New World as pinot noir, spätburgunder from cooler climate areas such as Germany tends to exhibit less cherry fruit at the fore, with more pronounced minerality and spice elements coming into play.

Complementary Pairing:  Franciacorta Rosé, Lombardia, Italy

Try:  Cà del Bosco Cuvée Annamaria Clementi Rosé (Extra Brut)

[www.cadelbosco.com]  This is certainly one of the top producers of quality Franciacorta, and Annamaria Clementi is their tête de cuvée.  The rosé version is all pinot nero and comes from macerating the juice with the skins for a day and a half, before being transferred to cask for the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations.  It then spends seven years on the lees before dégorgement.

Contrasting Pairing:  Spätburgunder, Mosel, Germany

Try:  Markus Molitor Graacher Himmelreich Pinot Noir

[www.markusmolitor.com]  Just to keep things confusing, we have the traditional French name of the varietal on the label, but this is pure Mosel spätburgunder.  From slopes of iron-rich slate, the wine spends over a year in barrique to produce mineral undertones overlaid by cocoa and white pepper, with a bit of cherry on top for good measure.

MRE Menu 12: Spicy Penne Pasta

For this Italian dish with lots of kick, look no further than the table wine enjoyed by the local crowd throughout the Piemonte, made from dolcetto.  Offering a good balance between fruit, acidity, and tannins, wines from dolcetto range from simple mealtime quaffers to structured and elegant versions from low-yielding vines that are partly aged in barrique.  The production area approximates where you will find its more expensive siblings, Barolo and Barbaresco, in the communes surrounding Alba and Asti.  Don’t mistake the sweet fruit flavors for significant residual sugar, but that same sensation will balance the spice of the pasta sauce.

Remaining in Italy for a white wine, travel east and north from the Piemonte to Alto Adige, or Südtirol as the local, ethnically Austrian population would prefer you call it.  Here, the town of Tramin offers its name to the grape variety know variously as traminer or gewürztraminer, regardless of where it may have actually originated.  As the name suggests (“würz” is the German word for “spice”), you should expect various baking spices on the nose and the palate.  Although it can be completely fermented to dryness, an off-dry version will be more effective at cleansing your palate of the red pepper elements accompanying this MRE.

Complementary Pairing:  Dolcetto, Piemonte, Italy

Try:  Poderi Luigi Einaudi Dogliani Superiore ‘Vigna Tecc’

[www.poderieinaudi.com]  This is a more complex expression of dolcetto that restrains the use of wood during aging to preserve its concentrated black fruits.  From older vines planted 30 to 75 years ago on the southerly slopes of Madonna della Grazie and San Giacomo in Dogliani, the wine will taste just as dark and rich as it appears in the glass.

Contrasting Pairing:  Gewürztraminer, Südtirol, Italy

Try:  Cantina Tramin Nussbaumer Gewürztraminer

[www.cantinatramin.it]  The cooperative in Tramin represents 280 growers, and the gewürztraminer for this wine comes from their vineyards on the slopes around the village of Sella at a height of 350 to 550 meters (1150 to 1800 feet).  Appreciate the intense aromatics that are characteristic of this varietal, while the bit of residual sugar helps to put out the fire of your spicy pasta.

The actual reason for the author being in Afghanistan—providing anesthetic care to combat casualties.  Difficult to discern from the photo is the division of attention:  99% focused on monitoring the patient, 1% still thinking about sharing a nice bottle of wine with his wife.

MRE Menu 11: Vegetable Lasagna

This MRE presents a panoply of flavors without any one specific note (or apparent use of seasoning) that commands an exacting pairing.  In this instance, the sangiovese-based wines of Chianti in central Tuscany should stand beside it nicely.  These wines come in a range from those marked Chianti, to a more geographically restricted Classico designation, and finally a parallel world of the “other” Super Tuscans.  The latter are not the cuvées of Bordeaux varietals from the west coast.  These came about in the days when the Chianti disciplinare did not allow for 100% sangiovese wines, and actually mandated the blending of white grapes.  A few visionary producers believed in the potential of sangiovese in purezza as the basis for making world-class wines, combining careful management in the vineyards with exacting work in the cellars.  These were initially labeled as Vino da Tavola (VdT), or table wines, and eventually they were allowed to use the newer designation of Indicazione Geographica Tipica (IGT).  Although now Chianti can now legally be made entirely from sangiovese, many of these vanguard producers chose to retain the IGT designation and their chosen proprietary names.  For the vegetable lasagna in particular, choose one of these wines with some wood treatment and bottle age, so that the acidity subsides and the sour cherry turns dark, with the addition of leather and tar elements.

For the contrasting pairing, let us turn to chardonnay, a white grape that is far more widely planted worldwide than the sangiovese above.  The key is finding a chardonnay with sufficient structure to match the richness of the pasta dish.  For that we can head to the Margaret River region of Western Australia.  Located on a cape with the ocean on three sides, sea breezes moderate the temperature extremes of this area, and gravelly soils over clay enhance the potential for quality viticulture.  There are many artisanal producers here, the best of which tend to be clustered around Wilyabrup and Wallcliffe.

Complementary Pairing:  Sangiovese in purezza (Chianti Classico Riserva or IGT “Super Tuscan”), Toscana, Italy

Try:  Isole e Olena Cepparello, Barberino Val d’Elsa

Paolo and Marta de Marchi were among the pioneers of producing pure sangiovese wines, and Cepparello is their flagship.  The restrained use of new oak in the cellar supports the sangiovese instead of overwhelming it.  This estate continues to set the benchmark for quality production in this region.

Contrasting Pairing:  Chardonnay, Margaret River, Australia

Try:  Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay

[www.vassefelix.com.au]  Based in Wilyabrup, they select the finest chardonnay parcels which age in French barriques, about 2/3 of which are new.  Fermentation is with natural yeast, and the wine rests on its lees for 9 months with no intention for malolactic fermentation.  Look for notes of flint and white stone fruits.

MRE Menu 9: Beef Stew

Beef stew might strongly suggest to some a merlot-dominated Bordeaux from the right bank of the Gironde or Dordogne, but let’s explore that same variety with an Italian twist.  While “Super Tuscan” can mean a number of different things, in this case it refers to the planting of the traditional Bordeaux varietals primarily on the west coast, an area known as the Maremma.  The epicenter for the oldest estates producing the most sought after local expressions of these French grapes is Bolgheri.

For a contrasting pairing with a white wine, I recommend something that many probably don’t even think of in the context of whites—Sherry.  From southern Spain in the areas of Jerez and Sanlúcar, white grapes are used to make a number of different styles that have enormous versatility in pairing with food.  For the delectable beef stew MRE, choose a full-bodied oloroso, which is the product of the second pressing of the must that will subsequently undergo oxidative aging.  Because you deserve it, treat yourself to a VOS (Vinum Optimum Signatum or Very Old Sherry).

Both of the specific recommendations below are a bit on the expensive side.  However, there’s a good chance that the reason you’re eating MREs in the first place is due to some apocalyptic event, so why keep the good stuff in your cellar for the dominion of the cockroaches?  Better yet, determine which of your neighbors has the best wine cellar so you can turn your attention there first when the looting and anarchy begin.

Complementary Pairing:  Bolgheri Merlot, Toscana, Italy

Try:  Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Masseto

[www.masseto.net]  Having passed through several famous hands in the wine world with names like Antinori and Mondavi, the Tenuta dell’Ornellaia is now owned by the Frescobaldi family.  Masseto is a monovarietal merlot from the vineyard of the same name planted in 1984.  Each plot ages separately for a year in barrique of medium toast before being blended and returned to barrique for a year’s undisturbed rest prior to bottling.

Contrasting Pairing:  Oloroso Sherry, Jerez, Spain

Try:  Valdespino Don Gonzalvo Oloroso VOS

[www. grupoestevez.es]  Having completed over 700 years with the Valdespino family, these precious soleras are now in the hands of local resident José Estevez.  There will be a hint of sweetness here, but the predominant sensation will be rich walnut and toffee notes with a suggestion of mocha before entering a lengthy finish.  Enjoy the relatively high alcohol content of the oloroso style as a means to forget the poor excuse for beef stew from your MRE.