You want a pinot with that? Doc
4:00AM Sunday Sep 20, 2009
By Kieran NashForget high cuisine - fast food is the new trend in wine-matching, says one wine-buff.
Jayson Bryant, owner of The Wine Vault in Auckland's Grey Lynn, is trying to bring wine to the masses by matching wine to fast food on his internet television show.
Wine matching - pairing wine to food to enhance the meal - has traditionally been the domain of gourmet food and expensive wine in high-class restaurants.
But Bryant says he is trying to break down the mystique of wine to make it more accessible to people.
"For so long it's been the drink of the elite, but nowadays it's within the grasp of the masses."
Fast-food items were increasing in supermarkets, he said, and "so many people lack the time to do any traditional cooking".
"Everyone likes to recommend wine along with traditional foods, not fast food."
Bryant got the idea from his experience of enjoying champagne with pizza, which he said was a good match, as the "high natural acidity cuts through the cheese on the pizza".
He realised there was a niche in the market because no one was writing about matching fast-food to wine.
The wine matches are hosted on his internet-based television show Wine Vault TV.
Show guests taste and talk about wine, and it has featured celebrity guests such as John Campbell and Oliver Driver.
He said the show got between 200 and 1000 views a day, with around 20 per cent of those viewers from overseas.
It tried to feature New Zealand wines as much as possible, but Bryant said it did not go easy on wines that were not good.
"We're pretty brutal about it - if it's not good then we say it's not good."
He has a wine to match virtually any fast-food.
A chardonnay or sauvignon blanc matched best to a Big Mac's creamy saucy flavour - Bryant recommended Fiasco Wines' sauvignon blanc as "it's a fairly organic sav, it's a well-made and well-crafted sav".
For a lamb kebab, Bryant chose a pinot noir, the Breaksea Sound 2008 because it is "nicely balanced with nice fruit - it's quite nicely textured".
Kentucky Fried Chicken matched well with the Hatton Estate chardonnay, because it was quite dry and "has a minerality to it and a restricted use of oak".
A "lush rich spicy wine" such as the Cloudy Bay gewurztraminer went well with a curry, but if the curry was too hot, Bryant said, "you would be better of with a beer".
Pizza and fish and chips were best suited to a champagne, and Bryant recommended Huia Vineyards' methode traditionelle, because it was a "good firm tight wine but has enough fruit to be interesting", and was half the price of a champagne.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
You want a pinot with that? - Life & Style - NZ Herald News
via nzherald.co.nz
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