Lyon Hall Farm Diner: Strawberry!!

Back in February I was invited by my good friends Emily & Andy to visit D.C. and host an event at Lyon Hall where Andy is the head chef along with pastry chef Rob Valencia. I'd been wanting to visit since they opened the Alsatian influenced brasserie a little over a year ago. My passion for Alsatian cuisine runs deep so I didn't hesitate at the opportunity to finally make it and help out with one of their incredible seasonally focused dinners held every month. Eager to take The Pickled Tomato on TOUR I got crackin' on the menu with Andy. After hearing word of early strawberries in April, I was enthusiastic to meet the challenge of pairing wine with the bright tart little monsters. My first instinct was to pair wines with just a touch of residual sugar, perceived ripeness, or in beer's case, a malty backbone. After going back and forth a few times with Chef Andy I started to pin down the pairs. It was a bit of a challenge to try and pair stuff up from 600 miles away. Conceptually I think a lot of my ideas made sense after bouncing ideas off a few of my colleagues here in Chicago, but I had no idea if they would work once the food was plated and in front of the diners. For me, that's ended up being the most fun part about the event. Having the chance to walk around the room and get plenty of constructive feedback from everyone. I believe in candid criticism when it comes to food and cheers to everyone of the diners for diving in head first with me!

Last year I was in Alsace with the Webster's crew and I'll never forget one particular dinner following a 50+ wines power tasting with Pierre Gassmann from Domaine Rolly-Gassmann. Dehydrated, famished, & palette-fatigued we showed up for our reservation at La Bacchante. Not even 5 minutes after sitting down coupes of crémant appear in front of us, strawberries dancing amongst the ribbons of bubbles. This not only slaked our thirsts, but it woke us (and our palettes) right up. I just knew I had to share this apértif experience with the diners of Lyon Hall. Biodynamically produced from 11th generation winemaker Gerard Boesch, the Domaine Leon Boesch Crémant d'Alsace (50% Pinot Blanc, 25% Pinot Noir, 25% Riesling) served as the perfect vehicle alluding to the berry blitz ahead.

First Course: La Quercia proscuitto/macerated strawberries/pistachio/aged balsamic.

Pairing: Dios Baco Amontillado, Jerez, Spain.

I have to say that I was very confident in this pairing knowing how well salty ham works with sherry, especially amontillado. The balsamic lended to the complex secondary notes developed by the layer of flor yeast used in the making of this particular style of sherry. What was most intriguing, for me, was the length of the finish of the amontillado and how it was perfectly integrated with the pistachio. The harmony of the finish with the last bite stuck around all the way up until the next course. Some folks weren't as enamored as me by the pairing but admittedly weren't all that familiar or comfortable with sherry in general. I was very impressed with the diner's efforts and capability to start off a tasting with an amontillado! Cheers to you all!

Second Course: scallop ceviche/ginger/strawberry/sake

Pairing: Kiuchi Brewery, Hitachino Nest "Ginger Brew," Japan

My first instinct for this pairing was definitely beer knowing how well it goes with the classic Peruvian dish. Typically wine & ceviche don't work because of the excess of acidity. Originally I wanted to do a saison, The Lost Abbey "Red Barn Ale" came to mind. Brewed with ginger, grains of paradise and a nice malty backbone I thought this would be perfect, however, I was unable to source the beer before the event. After arriving in D.C. David, the beer director at Lyon Hall, came to me with the suggestion for using the (on-hand) Hitachino Ginger Brew... "YES!" "PERFECT," I exclaimed. I was also familiar with this beer, knowing it had a richer malty note, brewed with plenty of ginger, and would compliment the element of ginger in the dish nicely. Also the Hitachino would allow for some continuity giving nod to the Japanese notes in the dish (i.e. sake). People really dug this pairing, as did I. Earlier in the day I picked up a similar style (as the red barn ale) saison from The Bruery just to give a quick comparison with the course, later confirming that the Hitachino "Ginger Brew" was perfectly serendipitous.

Third Course: roast duck breast/caramelized strawberries/amaretti/black pepper

Pairing: Christine et Joël Ménard 2009 'Les Copines Aussi' Gamay, Anjoy, Loire, France

Talk about a quaffer! Elaborated biodynamically and using native yeasts, this slick & juicy gamay for "The Girlfriends" was a true joy to pour for everyone. It's hand harvested from schisty soil, followed by a 5 day maceration of the grapes, 6 months in tank, then bottled without filtration or sulfites. Despite my spastic ramblings introducing this wine, I think the crowd was with me 100% on this one. I didn't think it was a knockout pairing but the ripeness of the fruit lent well to the richness and subtle sweetness of the nutty amaretti. The drinkability of the wine alone is what I think sells people on this particular bottling (me included), but I won't deny that ripe gamay and duck definitely work.

Fourth Course: housemade goat's cheese with herbs/strawberry-almond salad/lavender honey

Pairing: Domaine Marcel Deiss 2007 Pinot Gris, Bergheim, Alsace, France

One of the world's most charismatic proponents of biodynamics, Jean-Michel Deiss crafted a lavish, spicy and honey laced pinot gris in 2007. Even though Jean-Michel's main focus is the terroir based "premier crus," I think his varietal based wines are still very expressive and in this case work very well with food. This seemed to be the favorite pairing of many. I thought the almond in the dish was a touch overpowering to the wine but ultimately the textures here are really what set it all off. Deiss' wines consistently demonstrate exquisitely polished mouthfeel (except his pinot noir, of course, which is savage). The pasty goat cheese with the crunch of the almond and the tender give of the strawberry allowed for a fun pairing with the viscosity of the pinot gris. I decanted this an hour and a half before the course to make sure it was showing in all it's golden glory.

Fifth Course: strawberry custard napoleon/strawberry-apricot sorbet/oven-roasted strawberries

Pairing: Patrick Bottex 'La Cueille' Gamay, Bugey-Cerdon, Savoie, France

BUGEY! MORE GAMAY! MORE STRAWBERRIES! After introducing the wine to the group I settled back to my plate radiating with intense bright red strawberry color. I poured myself a glass of Bugey and took my first step into a full on ASSAULT of strawberries. I was so engulfed in strawberry flavor that I stepped back into the room to gush out: "I don't know about you guys but this is  strawberry OVERLOAD." I seem to recall a few laughs (somehow)... my geekiness can't help but show its face here. The pastry dough of the napoleon was perfect and I thought this worked well with the bubbles. The cru "Cerdon" within Bugey is entirely dedicated to sparkling wine and mostly made in method ancestrale which actually pre-dates method champenoise. In this case the wine is fermented up to about 5% abv then bottled with some of the sugars remaining. After bottling, the secondary fermentation takes place producing the bubbles and results in a delicious low-alcohol (i'd rather say "ripe" than sweet) rosé sparkler. In my opinion, a perfect end to a delicious meal. 

CHEERS to Chefs Andy & Rob, Mark, Andrew, Dave, all of the staff at Lyon Hall, and my dear friend Emily for giving me the opportunity to work with you all... it was a BLAST. Most of all, thank you to all of the diners for giving me so much wonderful feedback and creating, what I thought to be, a truly memorable dining experience.

Santé!

.Matty

(and a big shout to JC for never putting that camera down!)

Lyon Hall

1020 N Highland St
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 741-7636

http://lyonhallarlington.com/

"Stereo vs. Mono:" turning up the tasting volume: Canary Island wines & English Stilton cheese in perspective.

Another Webster Wine Bar classic staff meeting for the books! The past few days I've been studying wines from the Canary Islands in preparation for the introduction of our new feature wine flight. Many thanks to Jeremy Quinn (Webster's wine director), for putting together a lot of great reading for us. One of the many unique characteristics of the wines of the Canary Island is that they are made from ungrafted vines. These vines have not needed foreign rootstock to avoid phylloxera due to the Island's remote location and relentless climate. I could elaborate more on the terroir of the 7 wildly unique islands but I'll leave that to the oh-so-eloquent Mr. Quinn. Please check out his introduction to this utterly fascinating wine region here. And for a little eye candy I can't help but post a picture of the moon-like volcanic landscape of Lanzarote.

One of the articles that Jeremy compiled became the inspiration for the comparative nature of our staff meeting. In  "Post Pasteur," Peter Liem writes about the tasting scope of wines made from ungrafted vines vs. grafted vines and brilliantly parallels it with the differences between cheeses made from raw milk vs. pasteurized. This is a very relevant subject right now, the FDA is currently taking many aggressive steps forward in regulating, and in some (sad) cases shutting down, creameries working with raw milk. A great tribute to Sally Jackson cheese can be read here. I should reserve my rants (before I REALLY get goin') regarding the more specific regulations of raw milk cheeses around the world for another day.


A blind tasting between 2 red wines: #1 a red wine from the Canary Islands (ungrafted vines), and #2 a red wine from Spain (similar in style) made from grafted vines. Between the ten of us the two wines immediately provoked candid conversation and surprisingly accurate results and comments. Everybody found a certain rustic nature to wine #1: slightly hazy and more texture. Wine #2 having a lot more impression of alcohol on the nose. In Peter Liem's article he quotes Noël Pinguet, winemaker at Domaine Huet in Vouvray, "There's usually less alcohol in the ungrafted vines seperately..." proving that the presence of alcohol on the nose of wine #2 (12.5%) being more prevalent than the actual higher (13%) alcohol ungrafted wine #1. 

• #1: 2009 Tajinaste (100% Listan Negro) from the D.O. Valle de Orotava, Tenerife.
• #2: 2009 Doniene Gorrondona, Bizkaiko Txakolina from the Basque.

I definitely leaned towards wine #1 as the ungrafted wine but, after revealing, I was totally surprised at how much more grip the Tajinaste had considering I was already familiar with the Gorrondona as being quite tannic. Next to the Tajinaste I (we) actually found the Gorrondona to be "softer" and more subdued while ungrafted wine #1 showed tons of clarity much beyond it's mid-palette grip: volcanic minerality and ripe fruit. Cheers to Jeremy for picking such a cool contrast, I think by doing this he truly highlighted the amped up "volume" of the Tajinaste. Well, actually, I shouldn't say volume... I'd rather draw attention to my subject title of STEREO vs. mono (kudos to Bronwen Percival*). If you were to listen to two audio recordings, volume being constant, stereo would provide more information than mono. Palette Information, there we go.
*coolest name I've ever heard.

Moving right along, two big "honks" of cheese were passed around the table with the same approach as the wine and, even cooler, they were the same cheeses chosen for Peter Liem's article. One of the English blue cheeses is a classic Stilton which is, by law, always pasteurized and the other called "Stitchelton," after an old name for the village of Stilton. I should also brag/represent for a moment and highlight that the Stilton is coming from the small producer COLSTON-Bassett. Yeah... Colston is my last name (sayy whaaat!). Back in elementary school, all that the class bully could muster was... "what's up cole-slaw." Not the greatest diss in the world and humorous yes, but the name Colston hasn't served as much of a namesake until I came across this. I apologize, it would be unlike me to not throw a little extra cheese in there. (here's lookin' at youu jQ) I digress. This blind cheese tasting turned out to be quite the shocker indeed! The flavors in #1 tasted softer, less intense than #2. The latter having much more amped up nutty-ness and astringent characteristics. Here is where we were all thrown for a loop. "Oh YEAH, it's totally obvious the difference between the two!" Some of us jumped right to the conclusion that #2 was the raw milk cheese purely for it's impact. Jeremy wasted no time chiming in, "NO! #1 is the (raw milk) Stitchelton!!" To my flat-out amazement I went directly back to the alluring yellowish tinge of the Stitchelton to get to the bottom of this. "DUH," I said to myself. The unpasteurized cheese lends to a much more complex finish despite the initial flavors being much less intense than the Stilton. Reminder to self: "it's not about the volume..." STEREO. And just like wine, one must take all senses into consideration when tasting cheese. Suddenly that alluring yellow tinge to #1 was even more noticeable.

Just looking at the cheese we began to find the clues. #1 the Stitchelton is on the left, #2 Colston-Bassett (Colston!) Stilton on the right. The yellowish hue comes from the high levels of beta-carotene in the milk (fat globules!) as a result of the cows feeding from the pasture's grass, something that doesn't evolve naturally after pasteurization. Given that both have been aged the same amount of time you'll notice a healthier looking mold in #1 being that it hasn't been inoculated with mold like #2.


By the end of the staff meeting I think it was unanimous that Liem's article "Post Pasteur" served as a perfect guide to our own version with fascinating results and a greater understanding of tasting wines & cheeses that have been produced with very little intervention: indigenous unelaborated vines and clean healthy milk aged in caves rich with natural mold.


Shout out to Ria Neri for letting me turn her bar into my desk for the duration of this article. Go visit her @ Bangers & Lace where she is running a KILLER beer program.


******UPDATE******
3/24/11


I have been informed that the 2 hectare plot of pre-phylloxera Hondurrabi Beltza vines HAVE NOT been grafted. While this voids any conclusions that may have been drawn, we believe our tasting commentary to still be valid. Since there are no grafted vines in the Canaries it was hard to choose a wine that was similar in style for the sake of eliminating too many tasting variables. A Rioja may have been just too different in contrast to be able to focus on the elements that would lead us to tasting differences between grafted vs. ungrafted wines. Peter Liem had the lucky opportunity to taste two of Domaine Huet's 2002 Vouvrays side by side, so we're going to look into this more and try to recreate the same scenario. Stay posted because I look forward to following up on this!


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Domaine Weinbach

Fresh off a day of rest, post-Paris adventure, and an evening of settling into our gîte in Ammerschwir we arrive to Domaine Weinbach with keen palettes and stomachs lined with tart flambée... READY.  Funny we should start a week of tasting hundreds of wines with one of our favorite wines of the entire trip.  2009 Muscat, Clos des Capucins.  Heavy spicy & floral aromatics led to a full, dry, pallete of ginger & celery.  "Great w/Asperges," Catherine tells us.  I smile to myself realizing that she's probably right.  Considering that many bodly testify that pairing wines with asparagus is nearly impossible, I can now say after being in Alsace during asparagus season and surrounded by muscat I have seen the golden-hued light.  Muscat quickly became the one wine we were most eager to try at every estate (sylvaner, for me too).  Pure Elegance.  Everything at Domaine Weinbach was so pure and finessed, hard to not consider a result of the feminine touch.  100% estate grown fruit and soon to be Demeter certified bio-d, Colette, Catherine, and Laurence continue the unrelenting commitment to excellence established by late husband/father Théo.  The expressive terroir of their grand crus is what gives these wines their power.

Schlossberg, the first classified grand cru in Alsace, is where riesling shines fully (southern) exposed on the steep slopes of granite/shale soil.  08 Riesling has great initial impact.  Crystal clear purity & drive into salty/savory acidity.

It's youthful sweetness is in total harmony with the acidity, I'm looking forward to tasting this again in a few years.  The Cuvée St. Catherine comes from 40-60 year old vines and is located on the middle of the slope.  Lots more herbal/minty notes here.  Gewürtztraminer.  Grand Cru Furstentum is composed of limestone, clay, & sandstone.  The Altembourg is mostly limestone with some clay.  I love the acidity that these limestone soils create, perfect for gewürtz.  In particular, Furstentum, creates a much spicier gerwürtz because of the sandstone.  2008 Altembourg Gewürtz is "spacious" yet precise.  It creates space for itself, and then fills it.  Huge minerality and fresh acidity.  Pinot gris also does well here, less aromatics, but the weight is cut with that limestone acidity.  Botrytis develops beautifully at gc Mambourg and is where the vt's and sgn's are born.  07 Gewürtz sgn has yellow pear all over the place with silky minerality and a hint of musk.  "I'm ready for foie now..." my notes read.

Check out the pictures and you'll get the overal gist of this elegance I'm referring to, like i said... everything here is pretty.  I even made one of my notorious 'wine model' poses.

Tradition.. on it's Ear: The Bruery tasting @ The Bluebird

woah... i haven't posted anything in a while (sorry nate)

"We are a small craft brewery that specializes in Belgian-style ales. Our calling is to create beers with character and depth using the simplest and purest of means. We do not filter or pasteurize our beers. All of our bottled beers gain carbonation through 100% bottle conditioning, allowing carbonation to naturally occur through a secondary bottle fermentation. We strive to use unconventional ingredients, and we proudly state what we put into our beers."

The past year or so I've really started to develop a more focused beer palate. I've found that in the process of developing my beer palette I concentrate more on the beers I don't like, and ask myself why. Usually when I find out the technical details of a beer that I don't like, something is out of balance or they are trying too hard to add/do something different. Unlike wine, beers are recipe driven so I feel like creating balance in beer should be easier than wine. There are more variables in beer yes, but a seasoned winemaker has to really pay attention to his or her variables and manipulate on the fly. When looking at both craft brewing in winemaking with all of these factors at play, those who really pay attention to tradition & simplicity are the ones that can in the end make the modifications to eventually reach a truly unique wine or brew. Of course with beer there is room for playing with recipes, but I think that beers like these from The Bruery all taste like they are from the same brewer. I love it when I can taste the 'style' of a brewer or winemaker. In Austria last year I became even more hooked on Johannes Hirsch wines and I could probably pick out one of them blind from a mile away. He is another example of somebody who truly understands tradition but, not without skepticism, does it HIS way... in his case keeping just the faintest bit of residual sugar. Austrians typically like their wines extremely acidic and young. At the tasting with Johannes we learned what 10 years does to those wines and then you really begin to taste their efforts of creating their own style of wines.

Tasting these wonderful brews from The Bruery I'm immediately impressed with their branding: sophisticated & minimal labeling with a steady theme throughout all packaging, however, am even more enamored by their ability to craft true Belgian-style and run with it.

The lineup: Orchard White, Rugbrød, Saison Rue, Mischief, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse, Saison De Lente, Oude Tart, White Oak

Didn't waste any time, I went straight for it... the beer I knew I'd be most critical over, the Oude Tart. Slight oakyness from aging in red wine barrels leads to a leathery dark fruity character on the nose... I wanted to keep smelling it forever but it also begged to be drunk. My tasting notes read, "This is easily the best domestic sour I've ever had." Coming from my last post about the Ska sour, this is what I'M TALKING ABOUT!

The Orchard White, hazy, typical to this style with coriander & citrus peel includes lavender added to the boil. Lavender apparent on the nose gives this a new approach to this style but I think works pretty well considering I put this style of beer under the aromatic category. Rolled oats were also added for texture. I tend to like my witbiers pretty racy, I thought the oats took this away a bit.

Rugbrød, deeelicious... definitely up my alley. A Julebryg-style strong brown ale. Inspired by the traditional Danish dark whole-grain rye bread. Nutty malts with bready and roasty elements in perfect balance.

The Saison De Lente is their Spring Saison with a great rustic brettanomyces character. ABV 6.5%... I could drink this stuff every day, one of the highlights of the tasting.

The Hottenroth Berliner Weisse is quite unique. A few tart reactions and whispers around the room led me over to the table with the meat & olives before sipping this one. Tart indeed, with the wheat really coming out. Definitely a food beer, not a quaffer.

Why do all hoppy beers have to have some sort of keen or edgy name? I guess it's because most of the time they are plowing you over with toungue-numbing bitterness. Mischief, stays true to the name here and tiptoes around your palette with grace. The vibrant hop nose led me to believe I wouldn't like it, despite its deep and complex nose of melon & pear. "Fiendishly" (American) dry-hopped, I'm filled with joy to say that I LOVED this. 8.5% abv, lil high, but wow the balance here you just don't find in many beers done in this style.

White Oak, wildly unique. Rarely do you see a 12% abv beer this color. Light golden hue, unripe peach & oaky vanilla on the nose. The bourbon barrel aged wheat wine is blended with fresh Belgian-style Golden Strong ale to give this beer it's... well I can't even say. It's not something I'd drink, but I'm impressed with how smooth, yet not too rich, it is. I actually got some banana like qualities on the finish too.

Big thanks to Jason Baldacci @ The Bluebird for continuing to bring in QUALITY tastings. Cheers homie.. here's to you!