Need wine pairing recommendations for...

WINE TALK
1

…dinner at Schwa next week in Chicago.

These threads usually produce suggestions all over the map, which is what makes them fun. I really could use some suggestions. This is a tasting menu, the restaurant is all BYO, corkage $2.50 per person, there will be 4 of us.

The Menu:

amuse

crab - Champagne, Chablis?
pine, mushroom, plantain

apple pie soup Riesling?
cheddar, savory, chestnut

tagliatelle Barolo (not my strong suit), Chateauneuf?
huckleberries, black truffle, veal heart

botarga Riesling, Chablis, but chocolate ???
polenta, chocolate

tiger fish White N. Rhone?
carrot, marshmallow, cardomon

biscuits and gravy Chateauneuf?
sweetbreads, red eye gravy, mustard

beef Cabernet? Bordeaux?
ramps, hen egg, shad roe

cheese depends on the cheese…

dessert depends on the dessert…

2

The sweet elements in so many of those dishes will make pairing extremely difficult, not to mention the shad roe with the beef. I know that isn’t helpful, but it’s my first thought. I dont’t think I would bring really special wines for most of those courses. I’m seeing this a lot lately where the chef is being really creative, but making food that just doesn’t do well with wine in many cases. Maybe you should have Riesling with residual sugar and sparkling wine on the table for people to choose from for every course? The botarga dish would be a good time to give the wine a break and just drink water.

Now a lot of people can suggest wines that they really like to drink and think go well with almost anything, just like most of these threads.

3

Sorry that this is such a boring suggestion, but I would drink bubbles with every single one of those dishes. I’m with Doug; it’s a tough menu for pairing.

4

I agree with Doug. Plus, it will be hard to do good pairings without knowing how sweet the dishes are, and if the house style is for subtler dishes or not (how much cardamom? how much mustard? how rich a gravy?). Best to have a mixed 3 cases or so of stuff in a nearby car trunk.

Anyway, is this this order of the menu? Will make the pairings even more awkward.

Champagne for the amuse, assuming the pine is subtle.

Riesling for the soup.

Tagliatelle – very old amarone or port would be my #1 choice, but a bit out of order. In this order, I’d go with, umm, I dunno, a red sparkler like Cerdon du Bugey or Brachetto d’Acqui? Well, assuming I can’t get JP Brun FRV 100, which is probably as good as it gets.

Botarga – the Brachetto or amarone or port would be good here as well. Maybe. Depends on the amount of chocolate.

Tiger Fish – how sweet is the marshmallow? I’m thinking a big Alsatian Pinot Gris. Or Austrian Riesling if the sweetness is not too much. Or dry Furmint. Or a rich champagne.

Biscuits – Coffee in the gravy, or not? How brash a mustard? Depending on how this comes together, it could work with anything from any quite mature red to young Cornas or Chateauneuf or Shiraz.

Beef – should be good with just about any red you want to drink.

5

My friend, Lee, has provided excellent guidance (the Alsatian Pinot Gris rec is a steoke of genius)… I’ll add the following…

The tagliatelle dish does suggest red wine, which messes things up. And I’m thinking Dolcetto. If you want to do a white, I would go with an “orange” wine like Coenobium.

The bottarga dish (should have two "t"s) is the tough one. I’m struggling to see how chocolate fits with this. And this is usually a pasta course, but pasta is being served before it. I’d treat it as a palate cleanser and go with Moscato d’Asti.

The red eye gravy almost definitely has coffee in it (otherwise why call it red eye). I’m fine with your thought of grenache (CdP here).

6

Good advice all around. I think the meal will be more about the food than the wine. I’m thinking we’ll bring 4 or 5 bottles and have them all open for sampling. Maybe a bubbly or two, a Riesling, a Pinot Gris, a Chateauneuf and a Bdx. Or email the chef…

7

it true that they have no wine glasses at all? Could be an issue for an out-of-towner.

8

David, I ate there last year and had a great dinner. I seem to remember the glasses are the thicker tumbler style. They were clean and without off smells. The menu I think is very difficult to pair. We had multiple wines and just did a lot of mix/match–kinda like what you are thinking. Out menu was very seafood heavy. We had a champagne, d’yquem, figeac, Saxum, and a GPL. I recall the red Bdx not really pairing with anything. I can see a cdp or Nebbiolo doing better given the higher acid. The d’yquem paired very well with multiple courses which was a surprise. I think a champagne would be a great choice as well as a sweet/semi sweet white. Certainly let is know how it goes. Should be a great time.

9

Try Amontillado sherry with the soup. The nutty sweetness of the wine should go well with the Apple/ chestnut combo

10

I’ve dined here a few times. I’m not one who tries to find the “perfect” food and wine match, but champagne, gruner and red Burgundy have been a pretty good match for most of the dishes here.

I always bring my own glass as I can’t stand using the “tumbler” style glasses, and IIRC theirs are pretty small ones.

At any rate, you are in for what promises to be a very interesting evening.

11

tagliatelle Barolo (not my strong suit), Chateauneuf?
huckleberries, black truffle, veal heart

I’d go Oregon Pinot here, but I’m biased.

12

Dinner at Schwa in chicago. one of the best place. I suggest chestnut, Chateauneuf?, white tiger fish, Cabernet, and Riesling. You can also order some wine either red or white wine.

13

Wow- one can order either red or white wine from Stevie?!!

Srs though, it might be worth checking with the somm to see if they have a Basque Cider or some Gueuze/Lambic for some of those sweeter courses.

14

Anthony,

That would be a very good idea but Schwa is BYOB and has no somm. In fact, they don’t even have waiters (as the chefs serve the courses themselves). That being said, a Basque cider or a Lambic would work very well with some of the courses.