Many, many, articles have been written about matching wine and food and these are all very well when you have a set dish and a wine list to choose from. But what happens when you are confronted with the ‘ubiquitous thirty meters of food' sometimes laid out in front of you at many of the islands hotel buffets. We often start out with the right intentions of being ‘selective', but before you know it you have arrived back at your table with a mini-mountain of food in front of you, that conforms to no rhyme or reason!
The problem is discipline and if you really do enjoy and appreciate wine and food combinations (and lets face it not everybody does) you are going to have to be selective and discipline yourself to choose ‘what goes with what'. That means you might have to leave a few of ‘the good things' behind.
Now a good place to test this theory is at the Kontiki restaurant at the Radisson Blu Resort in St.Julians where every Saturday night free flowing Pjazza Regina red, white and rose wines are included in the lavish buffet dinner selection. So that's the wine taken care of, all we need to do now is choose the right foods to accompany them!
The Kontiki's buffet includes a selection of Antipasto, Soup, Vegetarian dishes, a carvery, a hot counter, an Oriental stall and a selection of desserts and cheeses.
Choosing wine to go with food doesn't need to be a daunting task as many wines go with many foods. But giving your choice a little thought can very often bring huge rewards. Few combinations are totally disastrous as many wines are very acceptable with a number of ingredients. But in the same way that there are many classic food combinations like pork and apple or strawberry's and cream, there are equally perfect combinations of flavours between wine and food, it's a bit like using a sauce. You wouldn't dream of putting custard on your marinated salmon or dill and mustard sauce on your apple pie, although the other way round they are perfect accompaniments.
Now, with three styles of wine available in the Delicata Pjazza Regina range of I.G.T. wines I have chosen a selection of dishes, from all the food that's on offer, which should complement the wines well and end up giving the diner a really good, balanced, culinary experience.
For starters I would jump straight to the Oriental table where I would opt for a selection of Dim Sum with a chilled glass of the 2008 Pjazza Regina Rose made from a blend of Grenache and Gellewza. My next course would be a vegetarian dish of Potato Gnocchi with Spinach Leaves and Gorgonzola Cream accompanied by a chilled glass of 2008 Pjazza Regina White which is produced from a blend of Chardonnay Viognier and Vermentino. My penultimate course would be the Honey Roasted Maltese Pork Belly on a Cassoulet of Beans, Chorizo Sausage on a Red Wine Jus.
This will go down well with the 2008 Pjazza Regina Red that is a blend of Syrah, Merlot and Sangiovese. Finally to end up, perhaps a selection of Cheese with more red wine or if you have a sweet tooth something Strawberry or Raspberry based and another chilled glass of Rose.
CHILE LAUNCH SUSTAINABILITY SYSTEM.
At a recent London seminar on the Wines of Chile, a sustainability accreditation system that has been developed between the University of Talca and Caliterra was revealed. The certification system for the Chilean wine industry is hoping to be in place by the end of 2010. The blue print for the protocol is the result of two years work between the University and the chief winemaker at Caliterra.
The code will be based on a points system whereby vineyards with the most environmentally friendly credentials will be eligible for more points. Even the impact of the vineyards on local communities will be taken into consideration. The chief winemaker at Caliterra said that "Chile is uniquely blessed and must take advantage of its exceptional natural conditions to be in the vanguard of global sustainable production. The advantage with ‘sustainability' is that it is a 100% commitment. You are either sustainable, or you are not. Everything has to be sustainable - not by degrees. The entire Caliterra estate, its physical environment and social structure, is now focused on sustainability".
If all goes well with the introduction of the system next year, the first wines that will have the seal of approval logo will be from the 2011 vintage.
Sustainable wines worldwide however have come under a lot of criticism over the years as the systems used are often vague and therefore meaningless. The main problem being that there is not one clear definition of the term sustainable and in some instances it does not even relate to the contents of the bottle at all.
Some recognised sustainable schemes include Agriculture Raisonée in France, Sustainable Winegrowing in New Zealand, Integrated Production of Wine in South Africa and the California Integrated Winemaking Alliance. Some are independently audited, some self-audited, and each has different criteria by which the accreditation is judged and given.