With a Little Help from the Purse Wine Ladies

The Wino knows you’ve been dying to find out what wine to serve with Bouchons a Thon, a recipe from Molly Wizenberg’s book, A Homemade Life. Please, don’t lose any more sleep fellow boozers. The Wino and her infinite wisdom are here to put your inebriated minds to rest. Not only has she paired a wine with Bouchons a Thon, she has also paired a wine with Ms. Wizenberg’s recipe for Fennel Salad with Asian Pear and Parmesan. And it gets better. She had help with her pairings from The Purse Wine Ladies who were happy to spend a Sunday afternoon (and, e-hem, evening) eating, drinking (and drinking and drinking), and talking about wine at The Wino’s dining room table. (Needless to say boozers, these ladies arrived at The Wino’s home with bottles of wine prudently stashed in their purses.)

Now, to the pairings...

Bouchons au Thon are like little custards made with mostly cheese, tuna, and eggs. While they seem a little odd to The Wino, they do not taste odd---they are rich and delicious. Blason de Bourgogne 2008 Pinot Noir is an excellent pairing for the bouchons. It's a very French recipe, so it makes sense that it would go well with a French wine. However, it does seem a little counterintuitive to pair fish with red wine based on the old rule of thumb that we all familiar with (i.e., pair white wine with white meat and fish; pair red wine with red meat). But The Wino has recently learned that tuna, like salmon, can stand up to a red. Tuna is, after all, red before you cook it. The Blason Pinot Noir’s acidity softens the intensity of the tuna, while the combination of tomato, buttery Gruyere, and fish lend this wine more depth and body than it has on its own. Boozers, you’ll find this wine at Trader Joes for about $8.

The Fennel Salad with Asian Pear and Parmesan is a great salad. It’s one of The Wino’s new favorites. It’s simple to make and the ingredients are easy to come by. (Her next door neighbors have an Asian pear tree in their yard from which she has guiltily filched fruit on more than one occasion. The Wino loves this salad so much that she's already begun plotting more acts of robbery for when the pears ripen this coming August.) For this salad, The Wino suggests a 2007 Bridgeview Blue Moon Oregon Pinot Gris. Don’t be put off by the bottle’s blue color and somewhat cakey label design, this wine tastes bright and clean when paired with the salad, bringing out the sweetness of the Asian pear and contrasting with the stronger flavors of fennel and Parmesan. On its own, the Bridgeview Pinot Gris is a little sweet for The Wino’s taste, but the freshness of the fennel cuts through the sweetness bringing an overall balance to both salad and wine. This wine can also be found at Trader Joes for a little over $10.

The Wino would like to thank The Purse Wine Ladies for their help with this pairing and enabling her obsession with Molly Wizenberg's seemingly charmed life. It was a lovely afternoon! And she also hopes that Bridgeview Winery will not be offended by The Wino's careless comment about their blue bottle design. It's fine, really. She was just looking for an excuse to use the word cakey in her post.

Cheers!