Anyone who only uses mature red wines with meat has only themselves to blame. mellow tannins and tertiary flavours often harmonise perfectly with modern vegetable cuisine. Wolfgang Fassbender explains what goes well - and what doesn't.
I remember a 1967 well. A mature Pinot Noir from the Mayschoßer Winzergenossenschaft, semi-dry and, on Ebay, not even three euros expensive. Who would want to buy and drink a base wine from the Ahr that was a good 40 years old when it was opened? The investment was well worth it, however, as the veteran wine was not only in amazingly good condition - it was barely sweet but had an attractive juiciness - but also went well with the food, which in this case was hearty and contained all kinds of sausages.
"Matured red wines harmonise perfectly with vegan dishes," says Alexandra Himmel from the two-star restaurant Lafleur in Frankfurt.
Bettina MeisterThe experience was a tiny hint in the right direction. Mature red wines go well with food, even in places where you wouldn't expect it. The increasing focus of chefs and the intense flavours of many dishes play into the hands of mature wines," says Christina Hilker, long-time sommelier in top restaurants and co-owner of Hilker & Schmitt, a company specialising in wine events. Chefs ferment, use XO sauces with meat and often use fresh flavours in combination with umami notes. Young red wines, even with barrique notes and crisp acidity, would have a hard time with this, Hilker points out. It would be a different story with matured colleagues.
This does not mean that everything always fits. You first have to realise what maturity means in each individual case. An Ahr Pinot Noir from the pre-barrique era is likely to develop very differently from a red Burgundy from the Côte d'Or - and this in turn differs from a Barolo or a South African Pinotage - not to mention a Mourvèdre from Bandol. If the tannins are still too present and the fruit is too overpowering, the roasted flavours of roasted meat (not dry aged!) are perhaps a more appropriate accompaniment. However, the more ripe notes are integrated into the food, the better crumbly reds go - and with game dishes such as chamois or pigeon, tertiary flavours are congenial anyway.
Sommelière Christina Hilker likes to serve mature wines with modern dishes.
Bettina MeisterTwo other food components can also be combined well with the mature red wines - at least in principle. "Vegetables are becoming increasingly important in gastronomy," says Christina Hilker, "and fermentation often plays a role here too." The resulting more or less lactic notes and flavours go perfectly with red wines that have undergone malolactic fermentation. And the better the food, the more complex the wine can be.
No one in Germany is currently better at bringing flavourful depth to vegetable-based courses than Andreas Krolik, head chef at Frankfurt's two-star restaurant Lafleur. Celery, radicchio tardivo di Treviso and kale with brown celeriac jus as well as potatoes confit in rapeseed oil with oven-baked leek, balsamic shallot sauce, smoked paprika chutney, potato cream and roasted leek oil are perfect for being accompanied by the contents of slightly older bottles. "Mature red wines harmonise perfectly with our vegan dishes," says Lafleur sommelier Alexandra Himmel. Thanks to Coravin dispensing, the pairing here is luxurious: she serves a 1996 Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto from Bruno Giacosa with the potatoes and a 1999 Hermitage La Chapelle from Jaboulet with the celeriac.
And as for fish: smoked fish and mature red Burgundy often go well together. The pike-perch marinated in red wine from the Michelin-starred Bagatelle restaurant in Trier had an exciting clash with an eleven-year-old Burgundy a few days ago. It was from a small year and showed maturity, but had retained its acidity. A balancing act. "You don't just want harmony," says Christina Hilker. On the other hand, the sharp-tasting acidity of very ripe red wines can also be overpowering. With fragile veterans in the glass, the chef should therefore not try to counteract this with power and should therefore steam or poach rather than fry.
And what about the cheese? "That's anything but easy," replies Christina Hilker. The supreme discipline of food and wine combinations requires meticulous trial and error and no sweeping judgements. Nevertheless, the combination of old wine and cheese can work: sommelier Hilker recently tried a 1989 Barbaresco Pora from the Produttori del Barbaresco with dry shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and was very satisfied. And the 1967, the ancient Mayschoßer, was also excellent - not only with sausage and ham, but also as a cool, unobtrusive accompaniment to Eifel cheese.