Fall into Dessert
Autumnal pairings can extend right through to the dessert course. Nico, for instance, ended one pairing dinner last fall with a dessert of black berries, fresh crème, red cabbage and juiced red beets.
What to pair with it? Naba went with a bottle of Piedmont brachetto. Made from the aromatic Italian red grape of the same name, the brachetto is effervescent with a low ABV.
“Anything with red fruit or dark berries is the perfect pairing,” he explains. “It’s almost like cheating.”
Another dessert featured last fall at Nico was a persimmon pomegranate spiced crumble. Naba matched this plate with Domaine Philippe Tessier’s Cour-Cheverny.
This white wine hails from France’s eastern Loire Valley, where the Cour-Cheverny AOC is the last region growing the Romorantin varietal, a sibling of chardonnay.
Why this wine with the fruit and vegetable dessert? “It has a burnt-hay smell, straw-like, and also is sweet,” Naba says of the Romorantin wine. “It has weight and medium acid. It holds up well to the persimmon.”
Kyle Swartz is the associate editor of Cheers Magazine. Contact him at kswartz@epgmediallc.com
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Reeds’ Exclusive Portuguese Blend
Reeds American Table in St. Louis regularly takes research trips to find wines, and tries to “bring home some of what we like best,” says advanced sommelier/beverage director Andrey Ivanov.
This includes the Quinta do Vale do Pios “Excomungado,” from Portugal. This wine is unusual in the Douro region for being a mix of the varietals touriga nacional, touriga franca and tinta roriz.
“The producer thought he would be excommunicated for making a blend,” Ivanov says. “Hence the name of the wine.”
Reeds, which sells the wine for $32 a bottle, pairs the Excomungado with its roasted pork tenderloin with green onions, English peas, carrots and pancetta fried rice ($26).
The wine is harvested from younger vines and kept in stainless steel tanks. It has “this twiggy quality, almost like underbrush, with an herby nose and taste of underripe cherry,” Ivanov says. “When put together, it stands up to the pork tenderloin. It helps brighten up the dish.”—KS