Wine for Dinner: February '08

This recurring wine column is dedicated to sleuthing out good wines to drink with dinner. I'll be your wine-guzzling guinea pig here, tracking down affordable wines that are widely available and go great with everyday dinners. I'll scope out the bottles, choose the recipes, make the meals, and review the match ups!

Let's start by comparing a red wine that earned big honors recently. The 2004 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot appeared in the Wine Spectator’s year-end salute to the world’s 100 most interesting wines of 2007.

If you haven't had wine from Washington state, the Columbia Crest Grand Estates label offers a great introduction to what's happening in the Pacific Northwest--and the $10 price tag makes finding out what the fuss is all about an inexpensive endeavor. In addition to Merlot, the Grand Estates label does Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon (Washington's big-three red wine grapes)--as well as a whole stable of good-value whites.

Of course, once word gets out about an exceptional wine deal, you have to move fast. Certainly faster than I moved, anyway. By the time I moseyed out to the grocery store (I visited three) every last bottle of 2004 had been snatched up.

Fortunately, the 2005 Grand Estates Merlot is now stocked in force around town--and 2005 was a terrific vintage in Washington rivaling or besting the 2004 vintage. (So maybe my failure to fire off the line in hot pursuit of the 2004 actually paid off.) Admittedly, the 2005 lacks a year's worth of bottle aging, but these wines are made in a reliable, consistent style and are intended to be drunk early, so I think we're on safe footing here.

Better safe than sorry, I grabbed a greedy armful of the 2005 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot. And over the course of the next few nights, I paired them with four main courses: a Bolognese sauce, a roasted pork loin, an eggplant Parmesan, and a roasted lamb. Which pairs worked best? Read on.

Bolognese Sauce

The first night, we dug into the Bolognese sauce. The Grand Estates Merlot keyed into the earthy mushrooms, the meatiness (ground beef and pork), and the copious quantities of Parmesan cheese grated over the top. The wine wasn't too big to overwhelm, though hauling a truckload of chocolate and big berry fruit flavors, it certainly wasn't a wallflower either. The chocolate really stood out, a little more than I wanted, making me think it might work well with a beef stew with a little chocolate thrown in as the secret ingredient.

Score: B

Roasted Pork Loin

On the second night, we paired the 2005 Grand Estates Merlot with an easy-to-prepare roasted pork loin rubbed with a rosemary and garlic paste. This was the better pairing of the two so far. Interestingly, the personality of the wine changed in the company of this roast. In general, there was a better sense of complementary flavors at work here. In particular, the wine-reduction sauce--a surprisingly rich, dark and meaty sauce--soft-pedaled the wine's cocoa flavors just the right amount for me. The pan sauce was critical to the pairing, I think, lending the depth that worked so well with the wine. To make it, I added wine to the roasting pan, as the recipe calls for, scraped the brown bits from the bottom, and then poured the sauce into a saucepan and reduced it, adding juices from the resting meat from time to time. The rosemary (I used fresh not dried) also helped make this a memorable match--it's certainly a very red wine-friendly herb, that rosemary.

Score: A

Roasted Rack of Lamb

This was the swankiest and arguably the best pairing of the batch. I think if you served this dish to company and paired it with this particular wine, you'd come off like a superstar--a superstar who spared no expense! As I was enjoying this pairing, I had to remind myself it was a $10 bottle. Paired with the lamb, it tasted more like the kind of wine that leaves a giant hole in your wallet. The rosemary, garlic, and mustard got along beautifully with the rich, smooth-tasting Merlot. Again, as with the pork loin, the relative bigness of the wine was held in check by the rich flavors of the dish. It was such a good match up I really lingered over it, sipping some wine after each bite, savoring quietly with my eyes a little lidded. And really, that's when I know I’ve hit upon a good pairing; when I simply turn down the volume on the meal, slowing down to give it an extra measure of time and appreciation.

Score: A+

Eggplant Parmesan I

Looking for a meatless option? You might not think of eggplant and Merlot, but a young Merlot with a bit of tannin can tame an eggplant's bitterness. That was the case here. Although this was not my favorite match up, it still worked, and left me with the impression the 2005 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot is a versatile food wine.

Score: B