I'm Michael Amendola, a lifelong food and wine lover, a professional musician, and a wine professional who has worked in the industry for the past 14 years. I'm currently the Wine Director for The Village Wine Merchant in Sea Cliff, NY where I'm able to taste many, many wines and where I regularly conduct classes and tastings for customers. I've also worked in several wine shops and written about wine for many blogs and publications. I believe that wine is culture, a way of life, and in my columns I'll be sharing my passion and knowledge in a direct and unpretentious way.

Guilty Pleasures
Great Wine and Food Pairings

We all know that consuming great wine and food together is a pleasure. I liken it to a cultural and artistic experience such as watching the sunset or listening to a beautiful piece of music. A great food and wine moment can pick you up out of a bad day, change your mood, making you take notice of something sublime and magical.

Here are some of my favorite wine and food combinations, ones I go to when I want to lift my spirits.

Lobster and Chenin Blanc 
You cannot just serve any Chenin Blanc for this, it has to be a dry version from a top Loire appellation in France. Best choices are Savennières, Vouvray, and Montlouis (look for the word "Sec" to indicate that the bottling is dry). I prefer an older wine here so if you cellar these wines, and you should, now is the time to retrieve a bottle that's hopefully at least 7-10 years old. A mature complexity develops with bottle aging so that the wine has body and a honeyed texture matching the richness of the lobster superbly, and Chenin's vibrancy will keep the palate fresh.
Wine Alternative: Grower Champagne.

Salmon and Chablis
I'm speaking specifically of lox or salmon sashimi, when the flesh is not cooked through. I was fortunate to be turned on to this pairing when visiting with a Chablis producer in France, during a break in wine sampling the winemaker's wife set out a plate of cured salmon on baguette slices with a little butter. It was magic with the Chablis and has been one of my favorites ever since. Chablis is equally great with a sashimi assortment where the minerality of the wine plays each type of fish a little differently. Try it, fascinating.
Wine Alternative: Quality Muscadet.

Roasted Chicken and White Burgundy 
What's a more comforting meal than roast chicken? Well, this pairing adds an aura of elegance to the comfort. What I'm looking for is a rich style of Chardonnay that's got a creamy mouthfeel, good acidity, and balanced oak. A fine Premier Cru Meursault is a top choice, more affordable would be a Premier Cru from a less prestigious village like Saint-Aubin or a rich styled wine from the Macon. 
Wine Alternative: California Chardonnay can be excellent, but you need a wine that's citrus driven to match the dish.

 If your tasting notes include lemon, nectarine, apricot then you are fine. Stay away from overly ripe examples that go to pear and fig or anything with flabby acidity and too much buttery oak.
Note: If you are going to make this dish, here's the recipe from Marcella Hazan, the legendary Italian cook, writer, and cooking educator: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015182-marcella-hazans-roast-chicken-with-lemons

Grilled Striped Bass and Bandol Rosé
A fine combination on a beautiful summer evening for sure and a specialty here on Long Island when the fish is local. The weight of a Bandol rosé and the weight of striped bass is just perfect together, I love to make a nice potato salad dressed with tarragon, chives, parsley, and a mustard vinaigrette with this dish.
Wine Alternative: Other classic dry rosés from the south of France such as Cassis or Côtes de Provence. I'm also perfectly happy going totally local with quality rosé from the North Fork of Long Island.

Seared Duck Breast and Pinot Noir
This is a grand dish and deserves a grand wine. This is time to go for it, break out your wallet and spend for red Burgundy from a great producer, Premier Cru or Grand Cru from Vosne-Romanée or Gevrey-Chambertin if you can afford it. That said, keeping the duck rare to medium is of great importance, even better with a side of mushrooms sautéed in butter, and you can certainly do quite well with a nice village level Burgundy.
Wine Alternative: Pinot Noir from California (Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and the Sonoma Coast), Willamette Valley in Oregon, or Italian Pinot Noir from the Vallee D'Aoste.

Grilled Skirt Steak, Persillade and a Red Rhône Wine 
This is a nice casual dish, mince a big handful of flat leaf parsley together with garlic and some salt, grill or sautée a skirt or hangar steak in a cast iron skillet until medium rare, remove from pan, swirl in the persillade then toss on top of the steak, let things rest for a few minutes while you pull the cork on a Côtes-du-Rhône, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, or go big on a Cornas, St. Joseph, Côte-Rôtie, or Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Now slice the steak and enjoy, if you add French fries to the combination you have Steak Frites!
Wine Alternative: California Syrah is overlooked and a fantastic option with this dish.
 

A Cheeseburger and Chinon,
Bourgueil, or Bordeaux
Another great comfort, weeknight dish. I love the plummy, raspberry, graphite, herbaceousness of Cabernet Franc and the lack of pretense that these wines have with the burger. If you go for the Bordeaux, don't look for a grand wine, find a basic AC Bordeaux or something from one of the right bank satellites with a high proportion of Merlot and Cabernet Franc making up the cépage. If you're not sure, I invite you to refer to one of my earlier columns: frenchsommelier.com/the-lostbordeaux.html

I hope you have a chance to experience some of these combinations, I can tell you that they consistently work for me. Do you have a couple of favorites as well? Let me know.
 
 
Michael