Wine Paring

[Chops]

I am serving Elk tenderloin w/ crabmeat and some type of rich sauce. I have not completely thought out the meal. This will be quite rich, so I figured a Cab would work. Does anyone have any other ideas, maybe a style not so mainstream?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Pinot Noir.

End of sentence.

[Carema]

I disagree. Elk meat would be way too gamey for a lot of pinot noirs. The crabmeat bit is confusing but if you nix that you could do something nutty like stanky 'ol mourvedre from Bandol, so you get a strong-strong, stinky-stinky pairing that might be over-the-top but intersting. Other wise I might recommend an aged Rioja or some nice Nebbiolo, so there are more vinous notes than fruit. If you are grilling the elk, perhaps a structured aussie Shiraz with some RS (Kay Bros comes to mind) might work out ok. Serve the crab first course with some Pouilly Fume.

[Carolyn Tillie]

The crab was exactly why I suggested the Pinot. I frequently have pinots with very gamey venison and find the fruitiness of pinot complements the fruitiness in game meats and will definitely work with an addition of crab not to mention the complexity of a rich sauce. I definitely wouldn't want to have a rich sauce fight with a shiraz.

[episyd]

I'm with Caremma - not just cos i'm from oz and love shiraz

We have many 'surf and turf" type mixes down here and find that a meduim to full body shiraz from Mclaren vale or barossa works a treat. Part of the reason is that the more "fruit" rather than savoury/tannic structure of rhone shiraz (which I also love" and relatively lower and softer tannin levels work so well with seafood and game.

Actually I like the idea of kangarro and crab and might even give it a go.

Cheers

Paul

[Fat Guy]

It's just too right:

Elk Cove 2001 Syrah Del Rio Vineyard

[Brad Ballinger]

Something high in grenache/garnacha.

[KatieLoeb]

It's just too right:

Elk Cove 2001 Syrah Del Rio Vineyard

Good call FG!

Another possibility would be a big honkin' Nebbiolo based Italian red like a Barolo or Barbaresco. These generally pair very well with game. Depends on exactly what's in the sauce, of course. I'm still having trouble with the crabmeat paired with the elk. Seems like something will get overshadowed, probably the crab.

[Scott]

If you are grilling the elk, perhaps a structured aussie Shiraz with some RS (Kay Bros comes to mind) might work out ok.

FWIW , Colin Kay does not make his wines with RS.

[Carema]

If you are grilling the elk, perhaps a structured aussie Shiraz with some RS (Kay Bros comes to mind) might work out ok.

FWIW , Colin Kay does not make his wines with RS.

Well, they are so damned sweet it is hard to imagine it is not there. However phantoms pop up everywhere, maybe it is just imaginery RS, for my head only. However I am going to check a tech sheet anyway...

I will get back to you on this one Scott

[Coop]

When you say rich sauce are you thinking of some hollandaise based sauce. To me it's the only thing that could possibly link the Elk and the Crab. I think you need some acidity to cut through the richness. Moulin a Vent perhaps. I like the Jadot Clos de Jacques.

The Elk and Crab seems difficult on the same plate.

[mikeycook]

I would think a Syrah-based wine such as Hermitage or Cote Rotie would go well. If you want a wine with Grenache as well, go for a Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

[Chops]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I decided to serve the elk w/ a wine(whatever I pick) reduction sauce. The crab will be part of a salad w/ grilled asparagus.

[Carema]

FWIW

a note from Colin:

Dear Sheb,

Yes there is a little residual sugar in all the wines -

2001 Amery Shiraz 2.1g/l

1998 Amery Shiraz 2.5g/l

2000 Hillside Shiraz 1.7g/l

Cheers,

Colin.

[Scott]

FWIW

a note from Colin:

Dear Sheb,

Yes there is a little residual sugar in all the wines -

2001 Amery Shiraz 2.1g/l   

1998 Amery Shiraz 2.5g/l

2000 Hillside Shiraz 1.7g/l

Cheers,

Colin.

Sheb,

I stand corrected, though surely you understand the difference between using RS as a palate feature, and not fermenting a wine bone dry. I would imagine very few red wines, from hot climes are bone dry, though there are those who (at the behest of the devil), would use it a higher levels to disguise faults, and impress wine judges.

I might draw you attention to the words:

"Yes there is a little residual sugar"

[Carema]

If you are grilling the elk, perhaps a structured aussie Shiraz with some RS (Kay Bros comes to mind) might work out ok.

FWIW , Colin Kay does not make his wines with RS.

Well despite your picky picky response, here is your original contention. Colin does not make his wines with RS. Yet he has let us know that he does. The original point was not how much it was does he at all. I will grant you that those aren't gianormous levels yet nonetheless they are RS. Now on my end I did say some and maybe these levels do not qualify as some, but rather scant. So I too will concede that originally I did not use the proper adjectives to describe Kay Bros wines.

[Scott]

If you are grilling the elk, perhaps a structured aussie Shiraz with some RS (Kay Bros comes to mind) might work out ok.

FWIW , Colin Kay does not make his wines with RS.

Well despite your picky picky response, here is your original contention. Colin does not make his wines with RS. Yet he has let us know that he does. The original point was not how much it was does he at all. I will grant you that those aren't gianormous levels yet nonetheless they are RS. Now on my end I did say some and maybe these levels do not qualify as some, but rather scant. So I too will concede that originally I did not use the proper adjectives to describe Kay Bros wines.

Lol ,

it's not just a Grammatical thing, but your context is a little skewed.

your context was in line with the sparky marquis wines, boo hiss, that have overt sweetness as distinct palate and technical feature.

mere technical presence is no more edifying in a comparison of PH between 2 wines, where one has had tartaric added. the lower one will still have acidity because all wines of type will, and the higher will reflect a very particular type of wine, made in a specific style following a certain ethos.

Colin Kay remains one of the, if not the best, winemaker in the southern vales, utilising as few tricks and modern winemaking alchemy as practicably possible. he is the anti sparky.

fwiw sparky marquis, aka beezlebub, leaves wines to hang for as long as possible, creating super levels of potential alcohol. The wines are then often dried, and left to ferment forever, extracting huge amount of solids into the wine, but crucially leaving a high, discernible level of residual sugar in the wine. Then the reverse osmosis machine, micro-oxygenation thingy-me-jig's come out along with the chemistry set, and the trusty recipe is followed. Add in a some good new wood barrels, toasted to within an inch of their lives, lees stirring, half hourly racking , and these frankenstein monstrosities are set to woo wine judges, journalists and buyers for the first 24 months of their life.

fast forward another 2 - 3 years, the fruit is utterly dead, and the apologists say that a wine of such concentration is merely closed. yet I have never seen one recover.

<i'll just get off my soap box now >

[GordonCooks]

I am serving Elk tenderloin w/ crabmeat and some type of rich sauce. I have not completely thought out the meal. This will be quite rich, so I figured a Cab would work. Does anyone have any other ideas, maybe a style not so mainstream?

Way too little info on this dish to make a decent wine choice. Gamey Elk ? With crabmeat ? What sauce ? Grilled ? Roasted ? Even farm raised Elk will dominate in flavor.

Pinots? - Old World style like Adelsheim, Martinelli, etc.

Good Wines - Maybe Cal Cab, Barbaresco, or a nice round Chianti like Fonterutoli

Cheap Wines - Bogle Petite Sirah, Clay Station petite sirah, D'Arenberg Stump Jump, Cline Zin or Mourvedre

[Chris Kissack]

A wine to go with Elk? The choice is obvious: Chateau Moose-ar.

BWs

Chris

[Stigand]

Smoked elk sausage is a great match with beer.

I'm not sure if elk is anything like reindeer, but I imagine it might be. If so, a family tradition of ours is to have a browned-then-slow-cooked reindeer leg in a cream sauce with wild cranberries on boiled potatoes for Christmas Eve (the evergreen joke being that Xmas presents will be late because Rudolph will be walking with a limp...). It goes well with an old, good claret, so long as you go easy on the cranberries. The claret copes with the intense gameyness of the meat and its astringence cuts through the heaviness of the cream sauce. But I'm not sure if this is the kind of dish you had in mind.