Great wine pairings are possible, with practice

If wine pairing were a spectator sport, it might work like this: A group of competitors gather in a room faced with carafes of wine, no labels in sight. They taste, make notes. They’re served a dish. They taste again and pick a wine to match the dish.

They enter the arena, a dining room with judges on one side, spectators on the other. Everyone’s got the dish; the competitors pour their chosen wines at each table, explaining their choices.

The judges score the pairings. Kinda like ice skating, minus ice and plus booze. Certain standards must be met, the rest is somewhat subjective. I think it has potential.

Something like this happened last month at Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar, where diners gathered on a Sunday evening to observe as four top restaurant sommeliers presented wines they’d selected to match two dishes.

The theme was not competition, though, it was education.

“The whole point is to create awareness of pairing, but also about quality wines,” said Vino’s Chuck Furuya. “Hopefully it filters down.”

Actually, this could be a spectator sport. Nearly 40 people paid $135 each to attend. The price included a full Vino meal, with wine pairings for two dishes and all the learning that could be absorbed.

At this point I should insert that my friend Chuck — a master sommelier, which means he has attained the highest certification in wine expertise — has been trying to enlighten me about wine for nearly two decades. My palate is stubborn, however, so the most valuable piece of knowledge I have retained is Chuck’s phone number. Still, he tries; thus, I was invited to sit in.

We are double-teaming our coverage. I will provide the idiot’s overview of the art. Chuck, in his column this month, specifies what we ate and drank, and everyone’s credentials.

Chuck selected seven wines for each dish, and each taster picked one as a match. Their choices were served to everyone, then three commentators explained what they thought of each pairing.

The aim, as in all wine pairing, was to select a wine that elevated the dish and somehow made it complete.

“Almost like a picture frame,” commentator Micah Suderman said.

That match can be accomplished through flavors that complement components of a dish, or that contrast, as in a bit of acidity in a wine that cuts through the creaminess of a sauce.

Or perhaps there’s an effervescence (bubbles) that can lighten richness and act to cleanse the palate. What you never want to do is choose a wine that overpowers the dish.

In some ways these judgments are innate.

“As a kid I used to put sugar in my spaghetti,” taster Sean Isono said. The sugar helped tame the acidity of the tomato sauce.

Sweetness in a wine can do the same, Isono said, providing a point of contrast to an acidic dish. You could also choose a wine that complements the acidity, he said. You wouldn’t necessarily be wrong either way.

At this event, for a dish with an acidic base, he chose a wine that smelled floral and slightly sweet, but was actually dry. The suggestion of sweetness in the scent helped make the match, he said.

Got it? Also consider that any pairing will vary by diner, partly based on whether the wine is sipped before, during or after the food is chewed.

“The more I taste the more I’m confused,” one diner said.

OK, maybe we’re overcomplicating things.

Ideally, taster Justin Sugita said, “The wine is making you hungry and the food is making you thirsty.”

Added commentator Kevin Toyama, “Does it make you want to take the next bite?”

EVERYDAY PAIRINGS

All of the wine experts at the tasting had go-to pairings — aged Burgundy with tako poke, Champagne with truffled French fries, opihi with muscadet — but they also had everyday suggestions.

This list shows that the lessons of wine can apply to other beverages:

>> Chris Ramelb: A bowl of noodles from Hamura Saimin Stand on Kauai and strawberry soda on ice: “My grandma showed me. That was my first food and beverage pairing.”

Because: “Carbonation cuts through the density of the noodles; sweetness balances the saltiness in the broth.”

>> Mark Shishido: Small saimin and makizushi from the old Hisago Delicatessen with a Coca-Cola; 75 cents for all of it when Shishido was in the third grade: “I was addicted to that for years.”

Because: “Salty and sweet, effervescent.”

>> Kevin Toyama: Fruitcake and cherry Coke.

Because: “Effervescence balances the sweetness.”

>> Rick Lilley: Illy medium-roast coffee sweetened with macadamia-nut honey, with a scoop of Laura Scudder’s Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter on the side: “It’ll curb your appetite until, like 2 o’clock.”

Because: “It has everything: bitter, sweet, nutty.”

>> Justin Sugita: Pizza Hut pepperoni pan pizza with a Miller Lite.

Because: “No-brainer plus no-brainer equals no-brainer.”