45. Taking Another Look At The Art of Food and Wine Pairing

In this episode, we dive into another wine pairing dinner, exploring the food, the wine and what made them pair so well together. The featured wines were from Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Bordeaux. 

Anshu recounts the dinner's five courses - each of which was paired with different vintages and/or labels from this venerable Chateau - highlighting the unique qualities and affinities of the food and wine that created a great pairing. 

The episode serves as the perfect guide for listeners to enhance their understanding of, and confidence with, food and wine pairings in their own lives!

P.S. - don’t forget to check out Episode 42 if you enjoy this episode!

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Transcript

In Episode 45 of The Wineitupanotch Podcast, host and certified wine specialist and expert Anshu Grover shares insights from a recent dinner that featured wines from the esteemed Chateau Pichon Longueville, located in Pauillac in Bordeaux. 

Anshu breaks down the menu, discussing why the food and wine combinations showcased at this dinner worked well together. 

The episode also briefly covers the history, significance and product offerings of Chateau Pichon Longueville. 

Listeners will gain valuable knowledge and confidence relating to pairing wine effectively with food, whether for personal enjoyment or in a restaurant setting. 

TIME STAMPS:

00:15 Introduction

02:06 Spotlight: Chateau Pichon Longueville

05:02 The Dinner Experience: Course by Course and Wine by Wine

15:11 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

17:40 Closing Remarks

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Anshu Grover:

[00:00:00] 

Hello, and welcome to The Wineitupanotch Podcast, a podcast where we talk about wine, life and everything in between. My name is Anshu Grover, I am a certified wine specialist and a DipWSET, and I am so thrilled that you've decided to join me today. Thank you for doing so. 

Welcome to Episode 45 of the podcast. 

I'm not going to lie. This is a very exciting milestone for me to reach. And if you have been travelling along on this journey with me through these 45 episodes, or if you're just joining me for the first time today, let me begin by thanking you for being a listener of The Wineitupanotch Podcast. Without you, the listener, I don't know if I would keep doing this. I really appreciate all of your support, the words of encouragement and the people that are telling me to keep going. So here I am, we've hit 45 episodes, and I think the future remains bright for The Wineitupanotch Podcast. Thank you for your role in that. 

Now today we are going to be doing another episode that looks at the art 

[00:01:00] 

of food and wine pairing. I did this not too long ago on Episode 42 and you can go back and listen to that one if you'd like. 

This time, we will be looking again at a dinner that I went to recently that was focused on pairing food and wine and I'm going to break down that menu and tell you why I thought the food and wine pairings worked and hopefully that is going to help you if you want to learn more about wine, want to learn more about food and wine pairing, want to pick wines at restaurants more effectively using your own knowledge, or if you want to buy wines for entertainment in your own home and pairing with the food that you're making at home. 

Really, it is kind of an art at the end of the day - understanding the structure of a wine and the elements of a dish and seeing what makes those work. 

I love to bring some of my lived experience to the podcast to help you to learn and grow and feel more comfortable around wine and there's nothing better than real life experiences. 

So today we are going to be breaking down a wine dinner that I went to recently, which 

[00:02:00] 

was actually really exciting for me because the wines that we were drinking were from a top-notch chateau in Bordeaux. 

Now, this podcast episode is not about the Chateau or the wines of the Chateau per se. But I would be remiss if I didn't say who the producer was that the wines came from because essentially they were all from one producer. And that producer was Chateau Pichon Longueville from Pauilliac in Bordeaux. 

As I said, this podcast episode is not about Chateau Pichon Longueville. However, I'll just tell you a little bit about this Chateau so you can appreciate the quality of wines and if you want to know more, I will be doing a video on this particular Chateau, so stay tuned! 

But for now, let me just share that within the famed region of Bordeaux, the area or sub region of Pauillac is in the Medoc and it is considered to be one of the, if not the, best regions for long lived finessed wines that are 

[00:03:00] 

Cabernet Sauvignon based. 

And when I say long lived - these are wines that can age for very, very long periods of time. We are on the left bank of Bordeaux here in Pauillac. There are lots of beautiful gravelly soils. And so in Pauillac in particular, there tend to be wines that are a little bit more Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. 

So they have higher tannin structures and higher acidity levels. And they can, you know, they can run that marathon if you will. And they improve with age.

As far as Pichon Longueville is concerned, let's just talk a little bit about the history of the Chateau. There's no argument here that this is one of the best Chateau in the Bordeaux region and in Pauillac in particular - in fact, Jane Anson, who is a renowned reviewer and critic of the Bordeaux region (she specializes in Bordeaux) - she notes in her most recent book that Pichon Longueville happens to be one of her favorite Chateau from the region. So that's very high praise! 

Interestingly, it used to be one and the same 

[00:04:00] 

with Pichon Baron. So don't confuse the two if you're familiar with these names. They are two separate estates. They were separated back in 1850 and today they produce very different wines and they're run very differently. And Pichon Longueville is actually owned by the rather famous champagne house, Louis Roederer.

Today, Pichon Longuegville owns and farms about 90 hectares, mostly in the Pauillac and St. Julien regions of Bordeaux. So those are two sub appellations where their vines are grown, and they are a deuxieme cru or a second growth. So definitely we're talking about top tier wines here. 

The last point I'll make, before I get into the wine and food pairing part of this episode - Chateau Pichon Longueville actually produces two wines. They have their grand vin, their main wine, which holds the name of the Chateau. And then their second label is called the Pichon Comtesse Réserve. It used to be called the Réserve de la Comtesse back in 2016 and before that, but from about 2017 onwards, it's 

[00:05:00] 

known as the Pichon Comtesse Réserve.  

So now that we've talked a little bit about the Chateau, let's talk about the food and wine pairings at this dinner. 

Now, this was a five course, sit down, fancy dinner. But before we got to the fancy sit-down part, there was a standing reception with passed around hors d'oeuvres. And there was a range of small bites, which I won't explain here. But I will share that the wine that we started off with was actually a champagne by Louis Roederer, who I said is the owner of Chateau Pichon Longueville today, and it was the collection 244. I love the fact that we started with a sparkling wine because the meal that followed was quite heavy. It had a lot of beautiful ingredients in it and the wines, as I mentioned, were top notch Bordeaux wines. They have a lot of structure, a lot of tannins, a lot of acidity. And as you'll find out in a moment, some of them were quite well aged. So the dinner itself was going to be a heavy dinner and Pichon Longueville actually only produces red wines. So there are no white wines in their portfolio that could have been showcased with the 

[00:06:00] 

dinner. So for those two reasons - one, that the dinner itself was going to be heavy and two, that there weren't any white wines to showcase, I love that we started with a champagne from the owner of the Chateau from another part of the portfolio. 

This champagne has lovely richness, acidity, but also that lightness that we get from Champagne. It really cleanses the palate and prepares us for a bigger meal to follow. So a beautiful aperitif choice I thought, for you, or for this dinner. 

Moving into the dinner itself, once we were seated, we started with a tartare that was made from venison, blackberry, celeriac, pickled shallot and cress. So a lighter dish, although it did have that venison base and so it had a sturdiness to it. Overall the plating, the profile on the palate, and the structure of the dish was lighter. And this was paired, to kick us off, with Chateau Pichon Longueville's second wine.  

Now we had two different vintages, which was really cool. So we were able to compare and contrast. 

[00:07:00] 

The first one was the Réserve de la Comtesse 2016 and the second one was the Pichon Comtesse Réserve 2020. Now, just going back to what I said earlier in this episode, the Chateau only produces two wines. They have their Grand Vin and then they have their second label. However they changed the way they speak about the second label - the actual term they give to the second label - from Réserve de la Comtesse to Pichon Comtesse Réserve. So if you have any bottles in your cellar of these particular wines, or you are in the market looking at these wines, there is actually no difference per se -they are both the second label of Pichon Longueville. There is just a change in the naming convention from 2017 onwards. 

Now, I loved these two wines because one, they showcase the high quality that you get in the glass from a second wine from a top Chateau. As I mentioned earlier, Pichon Longueville is a deuxième cru, it is a second growth in Bordeaux. It is in one of 

[00:08:00] 

the choicest locations in Bordeaux, they are known for producing exceptional wines. Their second label is a far more accessible and affordable entry into their portfolio. And yes, they do use younger vines. They may use vines from plots that are being replanted, so they're younger, or they may just find that certain plots that they're mixing into their wines are not making the cut for their final Grand Vin and they choose to put that into the second label, but all of the wonderful wine making techniques and vineyard management techniques that go into the Grand Vin, and the team that oversees that wine, it's all the same for the second label as well. 

So the fact that these wines are a little bit more accessible from a price point perspective and a profile and structural perspective is really fascinating for somebody who again, wants to experience this amazing Chateau, but maybe not at the Grand Vin price. 

Of course the 

[00:09:00] 

second wines are not inexpensive either, but they are more accessible. And as I was saying earlier, they have a profile on the palate and structurally that makes them a little bit more accessible in their youth and easier to pair with lighter food. 

So, the 2016 definitely showed more signs of aging and evolution. Those really beautiful, sort of cigar and tobacco box, uh, wet earth type notes that we look for in older wines. And the 2020 had some age on it as well. But you can see here that….. sometimes with top Bordeaux, you can have to wait 20, 30 years to get into these wines and really be able to enjoy them…but in this case, we were able to enjoy them when they're younger and also able to enjoy them with a tartare, ie. a lighter dish. 

Our next dish was something that is known as "pithivier". I hope I pronounced that properly! It is a traditional French dish that comes from an area in Orléans in France and it is effectively a pie. 

[00:10:00] 

In our case, we had a savory meat pie. But pithivier can be a sweet or savory pie. The point is that there's something that is wrapped up in a puff pastry of sorts. 

We had a pithivier that was made with muscovy duck. Muscovy duck is a gamey meat. It is a duck that is grown and farmed in the Americas and it makes for a lovely dish and there was a hint of amarena cherry. So this was a very traditionally gamey dish. And this was paired with the Chateau Pichon Longueville 2017 vintage. So now we've moved into the Grand Vin, the main wine of the house, and something with a reasonable amount of age - at the time of this recording, it's 2025. 

So we're looking at a wine that had eight years of age on it. Now, this obviously would have required a decent amount of decanting. But what I found really interesting here was that the wine itself, even though it was only eight years old, was definitely still approachable. And I think this is a hallmark of Pichon Longueville is that the 

[00:11:00] 

wines, even in their youth can be drunk and enjoyed. They don't have to be aged forever and ever, although they will improve and evolve with time and in the best vintages they can go for a very, very long time.

Now I should point out that I'm a celiac so my pithivier dish was not the same dish that everybody else at the table was having. 

Mine was missing the puff pastry crust. But. In spite of that or with the puff pastry crust, what I love about this pairing is that the tannin structure of the wine and that aged quality pairs really nicely with game. And that is really why these wines were put together. And as I keep going through this list - I've now talked about two courses - you're going to see that this was definitely a meat heavy pairing menu. 

Now, this is not to say that these wines cannot be paired with vegetarian dishes. I completely disagree with that. But I think what I would want you to think about is the structure of the dishes that I'm explaining to you and some of the characteristics that you would find in your mouth, the flavors, if you will, and the density of the 

[00:12:00] 

dishes themselves. If you were thinking about pairing Bordeaux wines of this quality and caliber with vegetarian dishes, you would want some of those elements to still be there.  

Let's move onto the third course. 

The third course was a traditional French dish known as carré d'agneau, which is essentially the French version of rack of lamb. 

No doubt. You've had a version of this dish before. The hallmark is that it's prepared in such a way that the rib ends are exposed and the bones at the bottom of the rack are removed for easy slicing. 

The lamb dish was prepared with rosemary, turnip, cassis and plum. This dish was paired with the Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse, 2008 vintage. 

This was a stunning pairing. Obviously we're getting into heavier meat here with a rack of lamb. But there are those elements of cassis and plum which give it a little bit of a fruity quality which paired beautifully with this wine. Now, we're talking about a 2008 vintage. So there's definitely age here, right? This is a wine that's almost 20 years on. It has already evolved in bottle 

[00:13:00] 

and that was evident as we were drinking the wine. There were definitely tertiary notes present. However again, because this is a top Bordeaux, there was still a lot of structure, a lot of tannin, a lot of acidity and still a lot of primary fruit character to this wine. 

The primary fruit characteristics paired beautifully with the cassis and plum. The acidity cut through some of the heaviness of the meat and, the tannins are just beautiful with red meat. At the end of the day, that's a very classic pairing - a wine with strong tannins and good solid red meat. 

I liked the addition of turnip, which was creamed. It gave it a little bit of balance, adding a little bit of starchiness to the dish really did help to balance the heaviness that one might perceive from the meat and the wine. But I have to say that these wines do have a lightness to them, even though they are Bordeaux wines from a top estate from a great vintage, they have a light quality to them which kept the entire dish from feeling heavy. 

Now onto the fourth course, which in my humble opinion was the star of the show, both 

[00:14:00] 

the food and the wine pairing. 

So the dish we had here was wagyu beef prepared with black garlic, sunchoke mousse, and truffle. And the wine that was paired with this was the absolutely stunning Chateau Pichon Longueville, 1995 vintage. 

I mean, what can I say other than chef's kiss here? The way in which the meat was prepared was so delicate and fine. The addition of the black garlic and the truffle on this already beautifully tender piece of meat gave a real earthy quality, which paired wonderfully with the aged tertiary characteristics in the 1995 vintage. The wine was absolutely stunning. It showed perfectly and had evolved to the point where you knew that you were having an older wine, but it didn't feel tired in any way. It still had vibrancy and energy and it was just a beautiful pairing with the meat. 

Of course, we ended with dessert. But as was the case in Episode 42, there was no wine. If there had been, I would assume it might have been a sweet wine from the Bordeaux region from 

[00:15:00] 

perhaps Sauternes or somewhere else in the southern Bordeaux region where they produce beautiful, sweet wines. But in this case, I think we had had quite a heavy meal in terms of the food and wine, and we did not have any wine with dinner.  

And there you have it, another dinner broken down in terms of the wine and food that was paired together and why I thought it worked. 

It's such a gift to be able to have well prepared meals with beautiful wines and for those two things to match and compliment each other really well. And of course, I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this dinner. 

I'm also really excited to have been able to share this dinner with you. I hope that it has helped you to learn a little bit more about how chefs and sommeliers think about pairing wines and food together. And what aspects of various dishes and wines could create the optimal pairing situation. 

Of course, it's unlikely that you would be preparing some of these dishes at home unless you're a real culinary wizard. I'm not, so I don't eat these kinds of dishes at home. 

[00:16:00] 

But you may be experiencing them in a restaurant. And let's not forget, there's always the option of bringing your own bottle to a restaurant or picking a bottle that you really love or think is going to work well from a wine list. So this breakdown can help you to think about what you might do if you found yourself in a situation where you were going to choose a wine for similar foods. Alternatively, if you are not going to be eating these kinds of dishes, perhaps listening to this episode could still spark something for you in terms of what structurally is present in certain wines that works with the elements of the food that we eat. 

One big takeaway here is that heavier, richer wines from regions such as Bordeaux tend to do better with food that also has density to it. Traditionally tannins do very well with meat and acidity is always favored where dishes are heavier or have a heavier element because that acidity cuts through that 

[00:17:00] 

heaviness and gives an overall light feeling. 

Also keep in mind that when you're dealing with wines that have some age, you're going to start to experience tertiary characteristics in those wines. So it's good to look for earthy characteristics in the food that you're eating as well to find that match between the wine and the food. 

Let me finish with a quick reminder about Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. It's a second growth in the Pauillac region on the left bank of Bordeaux. It is definitely in the upper echelons of Bordeaux wines from the region and worth the effort. If you can find it and are able to try it. This is a producer that is definitely a collector's item for those who are able to buy and store these wines. 

And with that, let me bring this episode to a close. I hope you've found it useful listening to this episode or entertaining, whatever works for you works for me. But I've certainly enjoyed my time with you. And I look forward to the next time that we will connect.  

Until then, I wish you lots of peace, love light, and of course, good wine. Have a great day. 

Cheers!