Last column, I described the first courses of a wine banquet sponsored by the producers of Prosecco and Valpolicella.
To prove that Italian wines can deliver “outside the box,” the wines were paired with Japanese fusion dishes prepared by chef Oshitaka Miyamoto of Vancouver’s Miku Restaurant.
Our fourth course was Aburi beef carpaccio with AAA sterling silver short rib, baby greens and a garlic jalapeno ponzu.
While carpaccio is Italian, at Miku they add a Japanese element by searing it with the blowtorch used in preparing Aburi sushi. And they accompany it with a ponzu sauce, which is soy, rice vinegar, and yuzu sauce. They kick it up a notch with garlic and jalapeno.
To go with the carpaccio, two 2012 Valpolicellas Superiores were uncorked. Valpolicella is a light, tangy, fruity red wine with aromas of wild berries, dark fruits, and the sour cherry note common in northern Italian reds. Slightly chilled, they marry well with spicy dishes, especially in summer.
Next, we enjoyed a couple of 2013 Ripassos, an excellent match with the Fraser Valley pork chop and an Asian black vinegar reduction with mushrooms, packed with umami.
Ripassos are made from the same blend of grapes as Valpolicellas, but the grapes are aged in barrels with the lees of premium Amarones. The result is a red that is darker, heavier, and more complex that has the stuffing to go with more flavourful meats.
The final main dish was an AAA sterling silver prime rib, cooked for five hours sous-vide with brown butter wasabi sauce, Miku’s version of horseradish. With such bold savoury flavours, a 2013 and a 2006 Amarone were called into action.
Amarone is one of those wines that turns grapes into raisins and then gold. Although it’s made from the same type of grapes as Valpolicella, the grapes are from older vines and are left on the vines longer resulting in more flavour. Furthermore, the grapes are dried on straw mats for months until they lose half the water content and become raisins.
The raisins are pressed and fermented in casks producing a concentrated red wine. Expect bold aromas of cherry liqueur, black fig, cinnamon and plum sauce along with hints of green peppercorn, and chocolate. On the palate, Amarone wines often have medium-plus acidity balanced with high alcohol and flavours of black cherry, brown sugar and chocolate.
As a result of the effort and expense to produce Amarone, prices usually start at $50 and often top $100. And the best vintages can often age and improve over 20 years.
For the finishing touch, we sipped two elegant Prosecco Valdobbiadene drys with vanilla panacotta, accompanied by fruit, and chocolate coconut ice cream. The Proseccos are actually sweet, yet crisp enough to temper the richness of the dessert. An exquisite finale for the ‘Italy meets Japanese fusion.’
Eric Hanson is a lifelong Richmond resident, retired teacher and wine enthusiast.
