Each Thirsty Thursday we help you get ready for the weekend ahead with a round up of the best wine reviews and pairings from your fave winos, oenophiles and beyond . . .
Reviews
- Top 50 value wines from the LCBO: January 2011
- Wine resolution? Try one of these offbeat varieties
- Wine Review: Italian whites ::link::
- Top ten drinks trends for 2012 ::link::
- Meet a Spanish varietal that’s making its way into the spotlight
A Curious Coupling … That Works
Eggplant alla Parmigiana and Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc
Calling the marriage of melanzane (eggplant) alla parmigiana and a Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc an “odd pair” may seem like a stretch to some. But when you consider the ingredients, flavors, and aromas in the dish, the pairing options are more challenging than is immediately apparent.
Gently bitter, earthy eggplant; sweet yet acidity-driven tomato sauce made with slowly sautéed garlic, minced onion and flat-leaf parsley; freshly and finely shredded cow’s milk domestic mozzarella, as plump and fat as our four-week-old baby girl; and slightly piquant, freshly grated aged Parmgiano Reggiano — this classic dish of the modern Italian gastronomic canon is defined by its contrasts in extremes. (I call it modern because it combines one of the great cheeses of Northern Italy — Parmigiano Reggiano — with the plastic cheese of Campania in the south and eggplant, a nightshade that wasn’t widely consumed in Italy until the late nineteenth century.)
