Perhaps try nebbiollo from valtellina as PeonyWarrior suggests. Since it is not from Piedmonte I am sure price point is not bad. Could be fun to taste them beforehand.
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Montrechet is too rich imho. I think Chablis works much better if in the Chardonnay world. Champagne & Riesling are also my go tos. Chenin (Sec) & Gruner are also good options. Aged red Burg is fantastic, but again, big $$$ if going for mature GC or top 1er.
Aged Huet Sec or even Demi-Sec can be incredible if not premoxed. Itâs all about provenance if buying older wines. Trust your source.
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Agree with all this. My go-to chenin producer is Guiberteau; my go-to gruner producer is Veyder Malberg. I prefer the lean Chablis-like chenins of Guiberteau to the bigger, fruitier, sweeter chenins of Huet, but obviously thatâs personal preference.
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Also from Champagne but not sparkling - CĂ´teaux Champenois Rouge - still Pinot - tend to be mineral driven, light, and silky tannins.
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champagne is boring as fuck for a pairing. Champagne is rarely an enhancer, itâs like beer, it just doesnât conflict.
and yes aged red burgundy.
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I donât disagree. Champagne is the refreshing, palate cleanser choice that works with everything â because a palate cleanser works with everything. But I think it complements raw seafood a little better than youâre suggesting.
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that is a religious experience - each time you open a bottle you pray it is as good as what you paid for it.
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lolâŚso why do you drink Salon, EO, Krug, etc?
If thereâs a service charge of under 20% I might tip the difference, since I usually tip 20%. Thereâs no standard etiquette.
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a Champagne like Savart works great if weâre talking Asian cuisine with a kick like Thai food (not as good as a nice Riesling but itâs enjoyable).. not really the best for omakase, but I do enjoy starting off with champagne with the otsumami dishes because why not, there are no rules. Aged red Burgundys are a very common pairing at high end sushi restaurants in Japan. All in all, wine is special because everyone has their own taste buds and journey, so no oneâs wrong here.. if it works for you, then it works.
anyone know where I can buy some nice sparkling tea in LA? very good palette refresher for a pairing as well
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i donât believe in pairings. I drink what i like to drink. The ongoing joke is that my recommendation for a wine pairing is always burgundy
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Hmmn, the closest thing I have in my cellar are a few bottles of 2016 Domaine Denis Bachelet Cotes de Nuits-Villages. Not exactly Grand Cru, but maybe on my next visit to Kojima, I will throw caution to the winds, abandon the champagne, and bring the Cotes de Nuit and see how it does.
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I guess I just find it odd that champagne can be boring as fuck in a pairing but enjoyed on its own. Thereâs room for all in the wine world though. Personally, I find wine & food pairings the greatest challenge and when itâs right, it transcends, sum greater parts. Apologies for the drift.
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Bachelet is possibly my favorite CdN domaine. The CdN village wine use to be a killer bargain. Terrific quality. Same for the Gevrey, but pricing is preposterous these days! Anyway, 2016s can be enjoyed now, though 5-10 more years would be my peak period.
Had this 2 yrs ago. Stunning!
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@grog Hmmn, I have three bottles of 2016 Cotes de Nuits, but if they really need 5-10 more years, I hate to âwasteâ any of them. I would be perfectly happy to drink champagne again at Kojima but for not everyone with whom I would be dining loves champagne. When I went before, I was happy to drink champagne with all the courses, but what really came alive was pairing the champagne with the basque cheesecake. I guess it cut through the richness of the cheesecake even though the cheesecake wasnât decadent in the sense of an American-style cheesecake.
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Thought you only had one bottle. If you have 3 bottles, then go for it. Besides, Iâm just one guy with an opinion. Iâm sure it will deliver pleasure. Saving bottles to drink when you think it will be optimal is a difficult task. Iâd rather drink a wine on the younger side rather than too old.
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champagne is not made better by eating it with fried chicken or whatever other pairing people recommend is my point.
pairings are BS in 99% of cases
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I agree. The pairing can be viewed as an extension of the dishâlike something else on the plate but in a glass instead. Many wines (especially non-creamy, non-oaky white wines or sparkling wines) donât detract from most foods, but when a somm finds an ideal match it really adds to the experience.
To try to see things from Clayfuâs perspective: I can agree that taking a fabulous wine and pairing it with food does not improve the wine and is likely to detract from it. Iâd rather drink 15-year-old first growth Bordeaux by itself than with a steak. The very best winesâat least redsâdeserve to be savored on their own. But I think pairings are more about the wine enhancing the food than the food enhancing the wine. That Bordeaux would greatly improve the experience of eating the steak. Good wine is pretty much the only reason I would eat steak.
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Respectfully disagree.
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Kojima is a great addition to LA. Perfect pacing and really delicious cooking. I really wish a place exactly like Kojima would open just for a la carte options; like if you took Kojima & Tonchinkan, they met and had a baby, and that baby ****ed Kinjiro, thatâs what that restaurant would look like.
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