I take pairings seriously. I do think pleasure can be planned and organized, sometimes. You seem dismissive when you discuss the quest for pairing “harmony”, as if it’s uncool, like assigning scores to wines. Both processes have value, if only to bring a level of focus and awareness to our pleasure; qualitative analysis isn’t geeky when it heightens pleasure. Forcing myself to understand why Ill assign 92 to one bordeaux, but 94 to another, and articulating the reasons is no geekier than serving great pairings, strategizing chess, or playing high level doubles. … One more thing: garrigue is of Provence, and the wines from there often work beautifully with lamb because the thyme, rosemary and lavender are in the wines and are easily integrated into lamb (no better lamb than when they graze in salt marsh of Provence). Yes, it’s been used to describe red Rhônes, but more commonly the better wines of Provence.
I take pairings seriously. I do think pleasure can be planned and organized, sometimes. You seem dismissive when you discuss the quest for pairing “harmony”, as if it’s uncool, like assigning scores to wines. Both processes have value, if only to bring a level of focus and awareness to our pleasure; qualitative analysis isn’t geeky when it heightens pleasure. Forcing myself to understand why Ill assign 92 to one bordeaux, but 94 to another, and articulating the reasons is no geekier than serving great pairings, strategizing chess, or playing high level doubles. … One more thing: garrigue is of Provence, and the wines from there often work beautifully with lamb because the thyme, rosemary and lavender are in the wines and are easily integrated into lamb (no better lamb than when they graze in salt marsh of Provence). Yes, it’s been used to describe red Rhônes, but more commonly the better wines of Provence.