To be fair, I think you probably are both right. My guess is that Noma thought that funkier, more acidic wines with lighter bodies paired well with their dishes. And they were affordable to boot.
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Lipstick on a pig
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If they had been looking for funky, they would have chosen different wines.
First professional review Iâve seen, from Tom Sietsema (recently retired Washington Post critic).
Intentionally, there are no well-known wines among the eight or so drink pairings that are included in the price and are expected to change during the scheduled four-month run. Sommelier Max Manning â one of about 130 colleagues and their family members who relocated for the pop-up â sought out selections from around California that conform to Nomaâs focus on natural wines from small producers. ⌠After eating here, I want more acorns, Hong Kong kumquats, and small-batch California wine in my life.
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Interesting. He seems to have liked the wines â he wrote âAfter eating here, I want more acorns, Hong Kong kumquats, and small-batch California wine in my life.â I never thought to seek out âsmall-batch California wine.â Maybe Iâm missing something.
Small California wineries donât make a lot of money, so theyâre all labors of love. Thereâs a lot of variety. Eric Asimov writes about them all the time.
Despite people here calling them cheap, often theyâre not very competitive on price with similar European imports, if they exist, in part because real estate is so expensive here and European vineyards have sometimes been in the family for centuries. For example, Gideon Beinstock of Clos Saron used to make some exceptional Cinsault, but it cost twice what somewhat similar wines from the Languedoc did. I believe Turley gets those grapes now.
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sure, but kind of false dichotomy youâve set up, since thereâs lots that are neither.
not sure iâd immediately think of âScar of the Seaâ as ânatural,â but like you said, thereâs no concrete definition of natural. these are wines from popular makers that one would probably have come across dining in LA or SF / Bay Area, particularly Scar of the Sea and the Scholium project in general. theyâre not quite as obscure as you said, like one of the âsold out" wines being available at various places revealed by a quick Google search.
while Noma LA using all California wines in the pairing can make sense from a âpoint of view,â ultimately the success and âvalueâ proposition of a pairing isnât primarily even economic to me but rather how well the drinks integrate with the food. often times alcohol pairings feature a lot of mediocre to decent wines, so itâs not usually a great economic value of featuring great or obscure drinks anyway. Nomaâs approach seems to be experimenting with food context, âplace,â and technique, sometimes the results may be challenging, so especially here the pairing needs to be done with skill and expertise. for the total menu price itâs not about economic value but rather about experiencing Nomaâs vision and how they interpret the local ingredients. and for an included pairing that seems to be mandatory, one would hope to be inspired by a wine directorâs choices and guidance through the meal.
of course one would like to see an exciting lineup of great wines included. but you can also have not-so-great wines paired very well, such as at Benu in SF. while i donât want to drink bad wines, iâm fine with some wines I wouldnât have wanted otherwise if they complete or complement dishes well or provide good context to the meal.
on the other hand, you can have very good wines paired poorly, and then it doesnât really matter how strong the âpoint of viewâ or lineup is. i really disliked one sake pairing at Noma Kyoto - it was an otherwise great sake Iâve had successfully at 3x other places. it made a ton of sense on paper. yet the Noma pairing not only made me underrate the brewery (which was new at the time, and this was my introduction to it) but also amplified exactly what I disliked about the dish, both in terms of flavor and in context of the reference dish and the meal itself. the very way this same sake was great for other pairings elsewhere was missing here. i can only think that either this wasnât taste tested much (this was the start of the pop-up) or they had a very different vision for the flavor profile and intent on how to position the dish in context.
with that said, when it comes to New Nordic cuisine iâd rather just be able to pick my own wine for the meal and go with a bottle of Labet, Leclapart, Ledru, Horiot, Lassaigne, etc. if itâs not a good match, thatâs ok with me at least it wasnât an intentional pairing that failed.
Sietsema:
More crab follows, hidden inside what the menu calls a âdumpling,â but what the eye registers as a daylily framed in tiny green buds. Holding the crisp steamed stem, we bite into the trumpet-shaped flower and catch crab, a sensation repeated with the buds, plumped with the crustaceanâs cooking liquid
this actually sounds good, very much like the day lily encasing lobster at The Restaurant at Meadowood circa 2013-2017
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You certainly couldnât imagine that your taste is different than that of whoever chose the pairing. Itâs not like that varies much from person to person.
of course it does, but nobody at my table of 6 liked it. in fact i just ran into another person last month who attended the same meal and the first thing we said about the meal was how the drink pairings were unsuccessful
what made the very same sake good in various other pairings was specifically missing here. so iâm open to the idea that Noma Kyoto was going with a very different intent. but i think they missed the mark on this one going too strong in one direction.
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Six agreeing sounds like either the dish or sake changed from the time they chose the pairing.
Shouldnât happen at that price level, but maybe people werenât being punched or stabbed enough.
It is fair to say that some top wines from multiple regions fall somewhere on the natural spectrum. Their choice if they choose to market themselves as such.
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I went. I have a lot of thoughts. Might be writing for a publication but if not yall will hear from me
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Did you pay for your own meal, and were you expecting to?
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regular ass diner. I booked and paid a long time ago
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Those are some beautiful dishes in the photos. Iâm surprised they werenât great.
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Nice write up @MaxShapiro
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Thank you!
Happy to answer any questions if people care to ask.
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Do you think thereâs any influence from Smyth now that Luke Feltz has joined them compared to previous visits?
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The fino was green? Enjoyed your write up and pictures.
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I didnât see it. Obviously thereâs seaweed but not an insane amount. Smyth likes to incorporate fruit in savory a lot, which didnât really happen here. So I guess the answer is⌠not really, no
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