Hearty autumn's-end foods with wines

[MaxH]

It can be very fine to join wine-appreciating friends, arrange thoughtful foods, relax and enjoy a sociable meal without micro-analyzing it to death. Here's an example by a regular local tasting group. (Members are experienced amateurs de vin, most also are wine professionals in some way.) We chose favorite wines we owned,* then passed the list and our budget (for a special-occasion, but not really lavish, dinner) to a skilled veteran chef (Suzette Gresham-Tognetti, partner in Acquerello, San Francisco; earlier renowned at Donatello in the 1980s) for food pairings. Below is what she selected and cooked.

Reception

Tartine of house-cured salmon (fine old-fashioned toast-triangle open sandwiches)

Arancini di riso with black truffles (little rice balls on spoons)

1996 Champagne Billecart-Salmon brut, cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart

Menu

Delicate Parmesan budino with squash and fried sage leaf

NV Champagne Charles Heidsieck brut (magnum)

Poached ling cod over puntarelle with beets and chives, toasted nut garnish

1990 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Spätlese

1997 Egon Müller (Le Gallais) Wiltinger Braune Kupp Spätlese

Carnaroli risotto of salmi of Guinea hen with drizzle of poultry glaze

1997 François Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières

2001 Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre

Seared beef filet, foie-gras torchon slice (cold house-cured in salt and brandy) on tortino of potato and cardoon, with spinach

1990 Pothier-Rieusset Pommard 1er Cru Les Rugiens (magnum)

1996 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos-St-Jacques

1999 Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St-Jacques

Cheeses: Erbe dei Colli Berici, Moliterno al tartufo, Gorgonzola Dolce latte

1971 Remoissenet Musigny (magnum)

1985 J.-F. Mugnier Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses

1976 Fr. Baumann Niersteiner Pettenthal Auslese (50% Riesling, 50% Sylvaner)

Chocolate hazelnut torte, crostata of pears and huckleberries

1955 Muscat de Rivesaltes

2001 Paolo Bea Sagrantino Passito

Restaurant impressions: Acquerello (www.acquerello.com, 1722 Sacramento Street, San Francisco; one Michelin star), in my limited experience of it, has shown standout professionalism and sureness of touch. Acquerello is known for creative northern Italian cooking (and a splendid Italian wine list) and, among local wine experts I know, as an understated high-end restaurant giving exceptional value. That was emphatically true this time. This wine group and others do many casual dinners, in homes and restaurants, and this one stood out. Pacing was superb. And the food pairings! They didn't just work, they sang. Credit belongs to the chef. Every course was right on; portions moderate but satisfying. Service was keenly wine-sophisticated -- this is the restaurant where, last year, a sommelier gently relieved me of a Burgundy I guarded jealously against over-handling, and expertly decanted it off its sediment. This time the host and partner, Giancarlo Paterlini, opening some of our wines, passed a sample of mine thoughtfully in a glass. I sniffed it -- slightly but perceptibly corked -- he nodded agreement, opened the second bottle (brought for that contingency). Another staffer, also from Italy, kindly translated the back-label narrative on the Sagrantino bottle, when our Italian fluency failed woefully. Chef came out after dinner and described cooking methods and unusual ingredients, and why she chose the pairings. Group resolved to do more dinners.

Tasting notes: Good! All of the wines showed well. No microanalysis here, but some standouts to me were the exquisite German rieslings with the ling-cod course -- not "sweet" wines at all, due to balancing acid -- the cod was poached in milk with a touch of wine, the toasted nuts finished it off perfectly against the wines. 96 Rousseau red Burgundy was beautifully, earthily aromatic, as was 85 Mugnier. What pinot noir is all about. 01 Sagrantino Passito (500ml bottles) was intensely dark with a fresh fruit-skin quality -- blueberryish rather than woody or carameled. 55 Muscat going strong -- complex and sensual. The risotto was finely herbed, redolent and flavorful of the savory fowl. First course, little custard of Parmesan budino (pudding), was a revelation: a humble dish that would be equally magnificent with any good riesling or pinot noir as it was with sparkling wine.

*Wines were bought when new on the market, generally at modest prices, and stored carefully for such use. That's the point and tradition with wines like these. Had participants tried to buy the wines today, those available at all would be far more expensive, prohibitive for this group of diverse people of moderate means. (Likewise if we'd bought the wines after they were "highly rated" instead of tasting and liking them.)