Scott Carney — Dean of Wine Studies

Competitive Sherry Pairing

aday — Sun, 09 May 2021 15:43:45 +0000

Competitive Sherry Pairing aday Sun, 05/09/2021 - 11:43 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/sherry%20pairing%20header%202.jpg.webp?itok=se4niJML Three teams of chefs and sommeliers explore the wine's flavorful potential. May 14, 2021

By Scott Carney — Dean of Wine Studies

Dean of Wine Studies Scott Carney evaluates flavor combinations with the Spanish fortified wine while judging a national StarChefs competition with chefs, sommeliers and many courses.

In the competitive world of business, there are various tactics one can employ to build sales of one’s product. One time-proven method is to represent that the product has changed — and been improved — in some fashion to provoke continued interest. Think: Burger Kings’ Impossible Whopper with fewer calories and less fat to transcend the iconic Whopper. Another device is to invent new ways for your product to be used. Whereas Champagne was once thought of as the drink for celebration and the perfect aperitif, the Champenois did not rest content with those usages. On came the multi-course dinners with various Champagnes being served with each of the courses. And that roast duck breast entrée was pretty fantastic with Krug rosé!

So, the world turns and it came to pass that I was invited to judge a competition with StarChefs for the Copa Jerez, a fascinating exercise in pairing sherry — that grievously misunderstood beverage of human craft and ingenuity — with a three-course meal. The field of competitors had been whittled down in the U.S. to three chef-and-sommelier teams. One of the teams played host to the filmed event at its as yet unopened restaurant, Contento, in Spanish Harlem. The two other contestants were teams from Mercado Little Spain in NYC and RN74 in Seattle.

The event was organized to have each team execute their three-course presentation and pairing in its entirety, making direct, immediate, appetizer-to-appetizer comparisons, unfortunately, impossible. In retrospect, some juxtapositioning would have helped in making qualitative evaluations because everything tasted great!

Four judges scored categories of Quality/Execution, Wine Pairing and Presentation on a scale of 1 to 5 for each of the three courses. I was fully absorbed with the logic and success of the wine pairing and the degree to which the chef-somm teams would venture out on a dare with something unexpected.

Appetizers

With each appetizer, we saw Manzanilla sherry in all its classic glory, reveling amid the appetizers, an enticing lead-in to eating and drinking. Breaking away from straight Manzanilla, RN74 gave a wink and a wrinkle as Sommelier Jeff Lindsay-Thorsen paired Razor Clams en Cidre with Toasted Levain, Whipped Iberico Chorizo and Golden Garlic with Bodegas Hidalgo la Gitana "Pastrana" Manzanilla Pasada, a rarely seen aged Manzanilla that brought a note of delight to my mind and umami to my mouth.

Despite the fact that each team presented individually, every crescendo from appetizer to entrée brought a surge of creativity in visual presentation, a constellation of flavor and sheer intellectual stimulation. Each chef-somm team was required to present the story of the development of the dish and the pairing. Philosophies were floated; hilarious anecdotes recounted as we were brought into the workings of the minds that brought these food and wine pairings to bear.

All the entrees brought me to pauses of awe.

Entrees

Mercado Little Spain stunned me with the Callos Sauce, a secret sauce that could have been charged with insider information. From a traditional Madrileño stew, this soulful broth, composed of beef tripe, ox cheek, Iberico ham and thickened with garbanzo beans, was offered as a tribute to the Gatos’ long-standing love of sherry.

White Shrimp and Iberico Ham Consommé, Crispy Bread and Callos Sauce struck at the fundament of consuming other life. This act was quickly forgiven, rationalized and embellished by the companionship of Lustau Jose Luis González Obregón Almacenista Amontillado which gave lift and adorning fragrance to this other-worldly creation.

Contento’s chef, Oscar Lorenzzi, of the home team, knocked this one out of the park with his Secreto Ibérico with Wheat-Corn Cremoso, Onion Escabeche and Spicy Peanuts.

The goal with any pairing is to aspire to synergy with the total becoming greater than the sum of the parts. Contento’s gambit was to do this by building an exquisite and self-contained whole in its food and inducing the synergistic explosion through this terrific wine. To do this, Sommelier Yannick Benjamin took measure of the grandeur of the dish and accessed the deep reserves of aged sherry. He leaned into the tenets of molecular gastronomy and clarified how texture, freshness and breadth brought about the desired effect with the Bodegas Poniente Amontillado VORS.

In 2000, the Consejo Regulador of Jerez chose to showcase their wines of great age and high quality through a certifying system that gave special recognition to wines whose average ages were 20-year “VOS” and 30-year “VORS” (Very Old Sherry and Very Old Rare Sherry, respectively). This VORS Amontillado is a quintessential marriage of wine and wood: bone dry, with scents of both surf and turf, almond skin, dank cellars and iron, with a mysterious timelessness you could write a story about. Ha!

The RN74 offering astonished me as Chef Jeff Varley conducted a song of indigenous harmonies, playful counterpoints and spectacular imagery: Spice Lacquered Liberty Duck, Morels, Beet Jerky and Malted Einkorn Porridge.

El Maestro Sierra Palo Cortado Anticuario is a wine that defies easy categorization. In fact, sherry expert Peter Liem asks rhetorically whether the category of Palo Cortado still truly exists. With long aging as an amontillado under the flor, it transitions its life as an oloroso – oxidatively aged - and generates a roundness that can exasperate the intellect in its completeness. From a 70-year-old solera, Sommelier Lindsay-Thorsen called it an umami bomb! It furthered the outrageous excellence of the dish, and I had to restrain myself from just standing up and clapping.

Desserts

In the culinary world, it is often said that simple is hard. It takes a certain kind of confidence to proceed with the best of ingredients and just execute. Extras are excuses. So, when Mercado presented their third and final course, its simplicity was a dare. A slice of cheesecake. For Copa Jerez? I want to hear the presentation. I want an explanation.

Payoya Cheesecake: Chef Nicolas López and Sommelier Jordi Paronella approached before the judges and began. They first expounded on color theory: the golden, the ochre, the yellow, the amber. Earth tones. They concurred on the good acidity of the salty goat cheese. Chef said it was cooked quickly on an open wood fire at high temperatures to caramelize and singe the top. They then disarmed me with a little ju-jitsu: the origins of the dish began with some NYC cheesecake, making its way to Spain and returning in the present incarnation. With it sitting nakedly on the plate, they confided that their impulse was to adorn, to garnish to complete the dish. What to do?

Well, of course, the answer was revealed in the bottle that approached the table. Do nothing, but drink this: Bodegas César Florido Moscatel Dorado.

The first bite created a sort of cognitive dissonance: It was the most flavorful air I’d ever inhaled. It was in both solid and gaseous form at the same time. A sip of this orange-blossomed elixir only heightened the delightful disorientation. I could not help but notice my esteemed colleague and fellow judge, Alexander LaPratt MS, devour his piece, overtaken by its unbearable lightness of being. A cheesecake too beautiful to live, it was gone in a flash.

When the tasting concluded, we set about the scoring. The contestants awaited our decision. They were out front of the restaurant in some of its outdoor seating. We four judges labored mightily with our scorecards. We then went into deliberation. Everything was so good, nothing was certain. At length, a decision was made. We declared Mercado Little Spain the winner of the U.S. finals. Conditions pending, they will go to Jerez in the fall to compete against eight other nations.

While it was hard to come to terms that there would be only one winner - that is the onus of judging – I could only come to more deeply appreciate the spirit of sport, creative competition and sportsmanship that the contestants so professionally demonstrated. Copa Jerez, indeed!

Study wine and food pairing with Scott Carney, MS in Intensive Sommelier Training.

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Esprit de Corps

aday — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 16:07:10 +0000

Esprit de Corps aday Fri, 03/19/2021 - 12:07 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/wine%20class%20header.jpg.webp?itok=YgRLpCAU How Wine Students Foster a Common Spirit at 91��߹ March 19, 2021

By Scott Carney — Dean of Wine Studies

In his monthly musing, Dean of Wine Studies Scott Carney reflects on a recent class's commitment to blind wine tasting together despite pandemic limitations.

In our Intensive Sommelier Training program, one of the things that becomes immediately clear to new students is the fact that a good amount of time will need to be spent outside of class to meet its considerable demands. This means hitting the books in preparation for the lectures and exams and continuing the exercise of one’s tasting skills through blind tasting.

In the first lecture of the program, I encourage students to get to know one another quickly with the goal that those with compatible schedules or those living in close proximity can find common time to study and taste together. To this end, my pitch goes something like this:

Imagine that you can travel to any wine destination you desire. I’m paying with my imaginary black American Express card. So, to where would you travel and why? From this fun exercise, students get a glimpse of their fellow students’ interests and can pick up a conversation.

Sadly, the pandemic has crimped what used to make for a productive development of connections, networks and team-building. I used to tell students to head up to Corkbuzz at 13 E 13th St. where my colleague, Laura Maniec Fiorvanti MS, has been incredibly generous in hosting wine students and running them through blind tastings. Her team is well-trained and knows exactly why the students visit: to figure out for themselves why this one is Sangiovese and not Nebbiolo; or why this one is Loire Chenin Blanc and not Alsatian Pinot Gris.

Despite the current limitations of social gathering, our January 2021 daytime class, which graduated from the program this week, showed delightful creativity in pursuit of developing their tasting skills. A schedule was developed wherein two students each day would bring in thoroughly disguised bottles of wine for distribution into various vessels or containers. A Zoom call would be arranged and in the safety of each student's own home, the blind tasting would proceed!

I, of course, have conceits about the program I teach, one of which is that a student’s life is forever changed – and improved – by the concerted focus on the senses of smell and taste that the program requires. The enthusiasm with which this class met the challenge of exercising and developing their tasting skill outside of class is a testament to their ingenuity and esprit de corps. I hope the class has made them as happy as they made me.

Begin your wine tasting journey in Intensive Sommelier Training.

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The Language of Wine

aday — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 22:00:03 +0000

The Language of Wine aday Thu, 03/04/2021 - 17:00 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/red%20wine%20glasses%20on%20notes%20header.jpg.webp?itok=SuUQF5Z6 91��߹'s Dean of Wine Studies describes the terminology that students of wine develop over time. February 18, 2022

By Scott Carney — Dean of Wine Studies

Master Sommelier Scott Carney introduces the journey of developing a wine tasting vocabulary as a vital aspect of wine education at 91��߹.

I teach and oversee 91��߹'s wine education program, Intensive Sommelier Training, which is designed to prepare students of wine to consider a future in the beverage industry. While, as the course name indicates, the DNA of the program is restaurant beverage sales and hospitality — and many grads go on to work in restaurants — the program curriculum also exposes students to a range of wine-related occupations. Graduates of the program have opened wine bars and wine shops, built wine brands and worked in wholesale and retail, often bringing previous work experience to bear on this new incarnation of themselves. As is said: No work is wasted.

One of the primary points I make to students is the necessity of learning a new language: the language of wine. If one is in the habit of reading fine art and music reviews, it is clear that these visual and aural domains have their terminologies which can strike one as rather foreign if not arcane. And so it is with wine, and generally, the senses of smell and taste. So, the first hurdle to overcome is the development of some fluency to describe what is manifesting in your brain as you swirl and sip. You have perceptions. Now what words will you use to describe them?

Register for our next virtual Open House to learn more about the program.

The Intensive Sommelier Training course incorporates the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Deductive Tasting Method, which is deployed to help beginners adopt an orderly, critical way by which to assess wine. Proceeding from an opening judgment of the “cleanliness” of the wine – a contentious topic in the age of natural wine — a student goes on to evaluate the presence of fruits, non-fruit aromas (herbal for example), wood notes, fermentation smells, etc. The aromatic profile is followed by a taste to confirm or modify the impressions from smelling or "nosing" the wine.

Now, much of this analysis can be quite subjective. We’re all genetically different, from different parts of the world with unique smell and taste experiences from our individual lives. But, by focusing and putting pen to paper, we can begin to draw out a flavor sketch of a particular wine. My sketch of Sauvignon Blanc may look a bit different than yours, but we both will have arrived at a correct conclusion by virtue of the markers we personally employ to draw that picture. Passion fruit, grapefruit, green apple, green herbs, jalapeño — some configuration of these aromas and flavors can bring us to the rewarding conclusion that we’re tasting sauvignon blanc.

We will also be aided by what is referred to as the wine’s structure. In this part of our analysis, we will be exercising our palates to register what is ostensibly quantifiable: How much residual sugar; how much acidity; how much alcohol by volume? These evaluations are thought to be fixed numbers to which we can moor our observations.

Dr. Anne C. Noble, a retired professor of the viticulture and oenology school at University of California, Davis, has devised a tool to help students take their first steps in the language of wine. It's called the aroma wheel. It divides the type of compounds one is likely to discover in wine and categorizes them. These smells come from fermentation, the fruit or wood aging. Over the course of the program, students taste more than 300 wines. It is rewarding to see students gain confidence as they share their analysis of a wine with the rest of the class. At varying rates, the training wheels come off. Students ride through an ordered, methodical assessment of a wine and ultimately develop a certain discernment of its quality, price/value, readiness to drink and host of other factors that comprise wine appreciation.

Upon the conclusion of the program, students can become comfortable discussing with their peers the delights that enter their brain upon nosing and tasting a wine. The numerable indices of quality span depth of flavor, length of flavor, balance and complexity, texture, energy or vibe, subtlety and, ultimately, the simple beauty of the miraculous liquid.

The last lesson to be gleaned from this program, the one that makes wine appreciation endlessly rewarding, is the timeline. Wines are alive and when they’re drunk at the right time, in the right context, with the right people, even the most basic of wines can make you want to stand up and applaud. You see, it’s a game that moves as you play.

Study wine with Scott and other master sommeliers at 91��߹.

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