All to often we seem to hear about proper wine pairing, but what do you do when you know what wine you already want to drink? Easy, just pair the food to the wine! Sometimes you have a special bottle or bottle that has been cellared and is ready to shine, this calls for a proper food pairing to compliment or contrast the bottle you have selected to “build” the meal around. For Christmas my older brother gifted me two single vineyard special bottlings from Archery Summit; a 1998 Dixion (now called Renegade Ridge), and a 1998 Red Hills. These are both current releases of these special sand engraved bottles that were stored in Archery Summit’s cave cellar till now. If you drink wine with me you know that Oregon Pino Noir is not high on my list of favorite regions and varietals, however the Red Hills bottling I opened was as good or better than the handful of Burgundy Grand Crus I have tasted! The food I decided to pair with the Red Hills was baby Oregon beets with arugula and goat cheese, and Thyme butter roasted Sockeye Salmon. The earthiness of the salad, and rich delicate flavor of the salmon along with its salty crispy skin went great with the pinot, but the substance and pedigree this wine carried to the table could have handled a rich pork dish, even beef. The wine was stunning, the kind of wine that makes you love drinking wine. Here are my tasting notes for any geeks out there. 1998 Archery Summit Red Hills – nose; jellied plum, baking spices, marzipan, pencil shavings, brine, delicate and very complex nose. Palette; elegant dark fruits, smoke, very long finish of jellied fruit with tannins remaining and amazing acidity. Thank you very much to my older brother Dave, as well as Archery Summit for the amazing wine!
