Food for a Merlot Tasting?

[tammylc]

Here I am again, asking for suggestions. The advice I got for my riesling and Shiraz tastings was great, and I'd love your help again!

So... what would you serve? People will have had dinner before coming to the tasting, so I'm looking for finger foods and the like, not main dishes.

Thanks!

Edited November 6, 2005 by tammylc (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Pakistani or Sichuan Chinese. Thai even, Bangkok Spicy level 10. Something with lots of chiles, garlic, and black pepper. Anything to overpower the flavor and oak bomb profile of that stuff. Hideous.

Not very helpful, I know.

[carswell]

Beef is a natural. Try rolling slices of rare grilled flank steak around a paste made from Fourme d'Ambert, chopped parley and either chopped chives or minced shallots.

Duck in serveral forms will work, as would other non-chicken poultry like quail. Smoked duck breast and duck confit would both lend themselves to hors d'oeuvres. Depending on the wine, Chinese crispy duck rolled in crepes with hoisin sauce and shredded cukes and green onions can be a knockout.

Terrines and pâtés, especially game and liver-based ones.

Camembert. Young Manchego. Mild blue cheese.

Mushrooms.

Deep-fried polenta sticks, especially if some gorgonzola and parmesan are stirred into the polenta just before it's poured out to set.

[Vinfidel]

merlot! one of my favorites

maybe some simple gruyere or parmesan gougeres

very easy to make in huge quantities

lots of good recipes on the net

i agree with pates, pates and nice little crackers

guru carswell as usualy has great ideas esp i like the chinese hoisin duck would be perfect

make sure for the tasting you have a good variety of merlots from differnet climates and countries

[Brad Ballinger]

Will your merlot wines be from all over the world (California, Bordeaux's Right Bank, South America, Italy, Australia)?

If everyone will have eaten dinner, I'd focus more on cheese, and I'd go for hard, nutty cheeses. If you want more protein, a nice presentation is thinly sliced medallions of lamb tenderloin on crostini with a horseradish cream or bearnaise topping (or put the sauce between the bread and meat). I'd also go with thin breadsticks packed with cheddar and herbs.

[tammylc]

Will your merlot wines be from all over the world (California, Bordeaux's Right Bank, South America, Italy, Australia)?

Right now I've got two from California and one for Argentina. I need to pick up one more bottle this afternoon, and I'll see what my wineseller has, but I'll be aiming for something non-California.

[Vinfidel]

may i suggest a pomerol?

[tammylc]

Thanks again for the recommendations!

I ended up getting two hard nutty cheeses, as Brad suggested. Piave, which is one of my all time favorite cheeses, and Fiori Sardo, an Italian sheep's milk cheese. They were both very good on their own, and also good with the wines. It was especially cool that each had a wine that demonstrated just how profound a difference wine and food pairing can make. The Fiori Sardo turned our 2002 Lussac-Saint-Emilion (can't remember the Chateau right now) into an entirely different (and delightful) wine. And the 2002 J. Lohr Paso Robles Merlot was otherwise unremarkable, but absolutely SUNG with the Piave.

I also got a little bit of Duck and Armagnac pate, but it didn't seem to have much synergy with the wines. The other two wines we had were a 2003 McManis California Merlot and a 2003 Trumpeter Merlot from Argentina. The McManis was the cheapest of the bunch, but most everyone quite liked it - it's simple and a little sweet, but extremely quaffable. The Bordeaux and Argentinian wines were much more controversial, with some people who loved them, and others who couldn't find much to like. The Bordeaux lived up to our previous experience of old world wines, in that it scored very low on its own, but much higher with food (and time in the glass).