A Touch of Class, By the Glass
- Teaching the Fine Art of Putting Food and Wine Together
[Published The SandPaper, Friday, May 31, 1996 ]
By William Kelly
The first question usually asked before a serious dinner is, "Red, white or sparkling?"
At dinner with John Mahoney however, it's usually all three, especially when he hosts a dinner party that puts the taste of the food and wine back on the pallet together.
While a sit-down dinner where the wine is as much the featured attraction as the food is nothing new for the cultured classes, the most of us, a five-course meal with four glasses of wine and some champagne is a big night.
For Mahoney, it's becoming a matter of professional routine. Mahoney is what the French call a sommelier - a professional wine connoisseur. Learning to enjoy the world's wine is an experience that he enjoys sharing with others. In one week he tasted 386 different varieties of wine.
"My wife doesn't believe me," he said, "but it's work." Mahoney, a former Atlantic County freeholder from Milmay, is a professoinal wine consultant, a national instructor affiliated with the Society of Wine Educators who teaches courses in the art, science and history of wine making and tasting. He also serves as a wine consultant to some of the Jersey Shore's oldest and finest restaurants, including the Washington Inn in Cape May and Gregory's in Somers Point.
While the Washington Inn has Cape May's largest and most varied wine cellar, Gregory's has a limited, yet quite satisfactory selection, available from a wine list that Mahoney helped assemble. He also conducts periodic dinner parties at which different types of wines are tasted.
For Mahoney, the food and wine go together. He works with the chef in preparing different courses of the meal to go with the different varieties of wine.
"Each course is designed to go with each wine," Mahoney explained at a recent function he hosted at Gregory's dining room, where he greeted each person at the door with a freshly poured glass of sparkling white wine.
As a technical point, if it's not from the Champagne region of France, it's sparkling or bubbling wine, and served in a fluted, rather than a wide-brimmed, glass.
"I always start out with sparkling wine, or Champagne, because it cleanses the pallet," he explained. The pallet experiences a variety of tastes as the evening wears on.
Each place at every table is set with four wine glasses and a Champagne flute. The wine is opened early - to breathe - and it's laid out in the order in which the meal is served. Usually, each wine-tasting diner party has a theme, with the food recipes prepared around the wine that will be presented. While on this night the sparkling wine was of a domestic variety, the still wines were from Australia.
For Wine 101 students, the first lesson is "Sip, don't gulp. The more you sip it, the more you can taste and get out of it," advises Mahoney.
And don't just drink it.
"Splash it around the glass. Let it breathe. Smell its aroma. Sip it, then swash it around your mouth so you can enjoy it to its fullest."
Then you can even spit it out if you don't want to get too tipsy, although that's one of the more pleasant side-effects. According to Mahoney, wine is fermented in large casks, which are either made of oak or aluminum, and you should be able to taste the difference between the wood and the metal.
But you can really taste the difference with the food. Each course of the meal is designed to bring out the best of each wine. "Sipping the wine lets you learn how the food and wine combination works," says the sommelier.
At Gregory's, chefs Joseph and Paul Gregory take pride in their culinary skills, learned in the family's restaurant kitchen, and at the Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) at Atlantic Community College, where both matriculated.
Another tidbit for beginners is, to answer the first question; try both red and white wines over dinner, starting with white.
The Australian-flavored recipes developed by Joe and Paul included a "Crocodile Tear Soup" of consomme with quenelles (dumplings), served with Queen Adelaide Chardonnay Classic, Australia's number one selling wine.
Now, you may think that wine wit dinner may be an expensive proposition, but it doesn't have to be. This Queen Adelaide Chardonnay retails for a reasonable $4.67.
Between courses, Mahoney gets everyone's attention by tapping a spoon on a glass and commencing with a brief description of the wine about to be consumed, and how it fits in with the item on the menu. Another classic Aussie Chardonnay, Seppelt Semillon, is sipped along with a noodle (fusulli) with cinnamon and apple appetizer. A Seppelt Cabernet/Shiraz Classic goes well with the flower salad with raspberry vigaigrette dressing and grilled prawns (shrimp), a nice Australian touch.
After a "Freemantle Frozen ZBanana Sorbet," the main course, fresch spring lamb chop, served with a Evan and Tate Gnangara spiced shiraz, a more expensive red wine. With desert, Seppelt's Gold Medal Old Tafford Tawney Port goes well with the vanilla custard and caramel sauce, bringing out the best of the port. The reservation-only affair, normally limited to less than 40 people, is usually advertised in advance. Cost is about $45 per person, and includes food, wine, tax and tip.
WHICH REMINDS ME. I HAVE TO TELL THE STORY OF MY VISIT BY HELICOPTER TO THE MARGRET RIVER WINERY NEAR FREEMANTLE.
- Teaching the Fine Art of Putting Food and Wine Together
[Published The SandPaper, Friday, May 31, 1996 ]
By William Kelly
The first question usually asked before a serious dinner is, "Red, white or sparkling?"
At dinner with John Mahoney however, it's usually all three, especially when he hosts a dinner party that puts the taste of the food and wine back on the pallet together.
While a sit-down dinner where the wine is as much the featured attraction as the food is nothing new for the cultured classes, the most of us, a five-course meal with four glasses of wine and some champagne is a big night.
For Mahoney, it's becoming a matter of professional routine. Mahoney is what the French call a sommelier - a professional wine connoisseur. Learning to enjoy the world's wine is an experience that he enjoys sharing with others. In one week he tasted 386 different varieties of wine.
"My wife doesn't believe me," he said, "but it's work." Mahoney, a former Atlantic County freeholder from Milmay, is a professoinal wine consultant, a national instructor affiliated with the Society of Wine Educators who teaches courses in the art, science and history of wine making and tasting. He also serves as a wine consultant to some of the Jersey Shore's oldest and finest restaurants, including the Washington Inn in Cape May and Gregory's in Somers Point.
While the Washington Inn has Cape May's largest and most varied wine cellar, Gregory's has a limited, yet quite satisfactory selection, available from a wine list that Mahoney helped assemble. He also conducts periodic dinner parties at which different types of wines are tasted.
For Mahoney, the food and wine go together. He works with the chef in preparing different courses of the meal to go with the different varieties of wine.
"Each course is designed to go with each wine," Mahoney explained at a recent function he hosted at Gregory's dining room, where he greeted each person at the door with a freshly poured glass of sparkling white wine.
As a technical point, if it's not from the Champagne region of France, it's sparkling or bubbling wine, and served in a fluted, rather than a wide-brimmed, glass.
"I always start out with sparkling wine, or Champagne, because it cleanses the pallet," he explained. The pallet experiences a variety of tastes as the evening wears on.
Each place at every table is set with four wine glasses and a Champagne flute. The wine is opened early - to breathe - and it's laid out in the order in which the meal is served. Usually, each wine-tasting diner party has a theme, with the food recipes prepared around the wine that will be presented. While on this night the sparkling wine was of a domestic variety, the still wines were from Australia.
For Wine 101 students, the first lesson is "Sip, don't gulp. The more you sip it, the more you can taste and get out of it," advises Mahoney.
And don't just drink it.
"Splash it around the glass. Let it breathe. Smell its aroma. Sip it, then swash it around your mouth so you can enjoy it to its fullest."
Then you can even spit it out if you don't want to get too tipsy, although that's one of the more pleasant side-effects. According to Mahoney, wine is fermented in large casks, which are either made of oak or aluminum, and you should be able to taste the difference between the wood and the metal.
But you can really taste the difference with the food. Each course of the meal is designed to bring out the best of each wine. "Sipping the wine lets you learn how the food and wine combination works," says the sommelier.
At Gregory's, chefs Joseph and Paul Gregory take pride in their culinary skills, learned in the family's restaurant kitchen, and at the Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) at Atlantic Community College, where both matriculated.
Another tidbit for beginners is, to answer the first question; try both red and white wines over dinner, starting with white.
The Australian-flavored recipes developed by Joe and Paul included a "Crocodile Tear Soup" of consomme with quenelles (dumplings), served with Queen Adelaide Chardonnay Classic, Australia's number one selling wine.
Now, you may think that wine wit dinner may be an expensive proposition, but it doesn't have to be. This Queen Adelaide Chardonnay retails for a reasonable $4.67.
Between courses, Mahoney gets everyone's attention by tapping a spoon on a glass and commencing with a brief description of the wine about to be consumed, and how it fits in with the item on the menu. Another classic Aussie Chardonnay, Seppelt Semillon, is sipped along with a noodle (fusulli) with cinnamon and apple appetizer. A Seppelt Cabernet/Shiraz Classic goes well with the flower salad with raspberry vigaigrette dressing and grilled prawns (shrimp), a nice Australian touch.
After a "Freemantle Frozen ZBanana Sorbet," the main course, fresch spring lamb chop, served with a Evan and Tate Gnangara spiced shiraz, a more expensive red wine. With desert, Seppelt's Gold Medal Old Tafford Tawney Port goes well with the vanilla custard and caramel sauce, bringing out the best of the port. The reservation-only affair, normally limited to less than 40 people, is usually advertised in advance. Cost is about $45 per person, and includes food, wine, tax and tip.
WHICH REMINDS ME. I HAVE TO TELL THE STORY OF MY VISIT BY HELICOPTER TO THE MARGRET RIVER WINERY NEAR FREEMANTLE.
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