WineLife365

Archive for February, 2011

Let’s talk about the S-word.  Say what?! Relax…not that S-word!  But I am about to talk about the S-word that gives some peeps a case of queasiness deep down in their bellies just by hearing it: Sushi! Sushi! Sushi!  Chances are though, you or someone that you know has a thing for eating fish without cooking it first.  This once uniquely Japanese dish is practically everywhere you turn with Western influences creating “fusion” variations to entice even more legions of followers.  Many of these purveyors of “fusion sushi” are able to please the spectrum of those eager to get their chopsticks on their first California roll, while satisfying the more adventurous sushi lovers with creations that include delicacies such as octopus and eel.  So what does this have to do with wine?  Well, my wife and I LOVE sushi and we’re always on a hunt to find the perfect wine to pair with it.  After picking up a mélange of sushi delights from our favorite sushi hot spot, Mikimotos, I grabbed two bottles (a white and a red) that I hoped would create a moment of rapture in our mouths.  Okay, that might be a bit much – but you get where I’m going with this.

We started with the 2009 Fritsch ‘Steinberg’ Grüner Veltliner (Sample, MSRP:$15).  Grüner Veltliner, Grüner or Gru-Vee as it’s been dubbed, is the flagship white wine of Austria’s wine industry. GROO-ner VELT-lean-er velt-LEEN-er has a variety of expressions that can range from a light bodied spritzer, to a edgy spicy white wine with tons of grapefruit, white flower and cracked pepper poppin’ around on the finish.  The 2009 Fritsch ‘Steinberg’ Grüner Veltliner provided an explosive attack on our taste buds from the first bite of our seaweed salad to the very last bite of our Double Fantasy sushi roll.  It’s a gorgeous Austrian white, bursting with crisp acidity and freshness that worked tirelessly through the seaweed salad (a nightmare for any wine) and the line-up of delicacies being passed from soy sauce to wasabi.  It was just an exceptional wine all–around, and a must try for any sushi lover.  The only thing that could possibly make this Grüner any better would be to super-size it to a 1-Liter bottle, like so many other Austrian wineries are doing. (4 Stars)

Our second wine of the evening, 2008 Zum Martin Sepp Zweigelt (Sample, MSRP:$14), had 3 things to Ooh and Aah over:

1.)   A generous 1-Liter bottle.
2.)   A bottle cap for a wine closure – that was a first for me!
3.)   ZWEIGELT: What the what is that, you ask?

Zweigelt is a red wine grape invented in 1922 by an Austrian researcher named Fritz Zweigelt. He created it by crossing one of his favorite Austrian red grapes called Blaufränkisch (sometimes called Lemberger) with a relatively unknown member of the pinot noir family, called St. Laurent  – and the rest is Austrian grape growing history.  So, now that I’ve told you that the bottle is Über-cool with its 1-Liter size, that it’s got a bottle cap for an enclosure, and familiarized you a bit with that groovy named red grape called Zweigelt, I’m sure you’d like to know how it actually tastes…

Well, it’s kind of like chewing on a savory piece of Hickory Farms Summer Sausage or like snappin’ into a Slim-Jim with juice.  It was just odd with its light effervescent pinot noir characteristics touched with a mouthful of cured meat.  It was a combination that unfortunately missed the mark for me, and left the remaining sushi longing for more of that terrific 2009 Fritsch ‘Steinberg’ Grüner Veltliner. (2 Stars)

If you have a favorite wine to pair with Sushi, please share!  I’d love to try something new on my next Sushi adventure.