Perfect Pairings

Red-ish rosés and wine that drinks like beer: here’s what Los Angeles wine pros are pouring with globally inspired dishes.

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Dry Aged Beef Tartare, Horseradish, Dijon, Nasturtium Pesto, Grilled Sourdough paired with Grenache/Mourvèdre/Syrah+, Château Simone, Palette, France, 2021

Pasjoli takes a deep dive into upscale French bistro food and wine, giving Beverage Director Matthew Brodbine the opportunity to highlight historic estates and source allocated bottles. Chef-Owner Dave Beran’s beef tartare is dry aged and doused in beef fat mayo and balanced with fresh radish, Dijon, horseradish, and nasturtium pesto. To dance between the richness of the beef and the spicy accoutrement, Brodbine pours Château Simone rosé. The field blend of “major varietals” uses the saignée method for “a deeper rosé. They make a red wine and bleed it off, and that juice is blended into the rosé.” The additional texture in the wine provides structure to the unctuous dish and heightens the peppery nasturtium. “[It has] enough acid to cut through the tartare, and no perception of sweetness, but nothing too dry that would push the horseradish beyond what you want. A few more days and you could call it a red.”

Citrus-Glazed Sea Bass Collars and Fideos Negro con Calamar y Piquillo paired with Albariño, Nanclares y Prieto, Crisopa, Galicia, Spain, 2021 

Visions of coastal Spain can be found in Santa Monica at Xuntos, where Chef-Owner Sandra Cordero channels traditional tapas from her father’s homeland of Galicia. Beverage Director Scott Baker takes a similar approach to the wine list, with a broader focus on the country’s northern regions. Cordero’s sea bass collars are charred and glazed with citrus and are served alongside squid ink pasta with sautéed calamari in a sweet roasted piquillo pepper-tomato sauce. To match the “deep oceanic flavors,” Baker pairs Galician albariño that sees about a month of skin contact. The proximity to the Atlantic gives the wine “a really heady and rich, sort of spiced, but also very briny aroma. At the same time, the wine is taut and lightweight on the palate, with lots of lemon. It’s very elegant and marries the collars and fideos.” The tannin from the skin contact supports the smoky flavor of the charred fish while boosting the salinity of the seafood.

Anchovy, Herb Oil, Hazelnuts paired with Vergano Bianco Vermouth

The space at Stir Crazy is challengingly small, so co-owners Chef Macklin Casnoff and Sommelier Mackenzie Hoffman maximize the menu (and the beer-and-wine-only license) by getting creative with dish and pairing formats. Wanting to showcase Cantabrian anchovies and keep ingredients to a minimum, Casnoff whipped up a bright green herb oil to dress them, and simply topped the dish with hazelnuts. To pair the dish with “something different,” Hoffman looked for an aromatized wine that she could pour over ice, and landed on a bianco vermouth from Mauro Vergano. “We are in L.A., but trying to be transportative to another place.” The vermouth hails from Asti and utilizes moscato and cortese grapes blended with an extraction of wormwood, gentian, chinotto, and herbs. “The herb oil is heavy on tarragon, with a brightness that is crazy to me, the olive oil too. The vermouth carries through that herbaceousness, and the sweetness contests the salt of the anchovies.”

Braised Mussels, Heavy Cream, Fennel, Calabrian Chile Oil, Bread paired with Chardonnay/Savagnin, Croix & Courbet, Savadonnay, Cotes Du Jura, France, 2018

With a wine list that ebbs and flows as much as the seafood-centered menu and raw bar at Found Oyster, Wine Director Evelyn Goreshnik makes a point of keeping her eyes out for exciting new bottles to bring to the table. A new collaboration between winemakers David Croix and Damien Courbet had her sold, and was a strong match with Chef Ari Kolender’s braised mussels in cream with Calabrian chile oil and fresh fennel. “The creaminess of the mussels, and the richness, goes really well with the savoriness in this bottle.” The blend combines chardonnay and savagnin–“the savagnin gives a briny saltiness and the chardonnay rounds it out.” The body of the wine mirrors the cream in the dish without overpowering the fennel and subtle spice from the chile. “This is their first vintage. It spends one and a half years in barrel and another in bottle, so it has a nice age to it. It’s cool to pour it.”

Kon Loh Mee: Egg Noodles, Ground Pork, Char Siu, Chinese Broccoli, Sambal Sauce paired with Pinot Noir/Chardonnay, Terah Wine Co., Pétillant Naturel, Santa Clara Valley, CA, 2021

At Cassia, where Southeast Asian dishes meet French influence and Californian ingredients, Sommelier Marianna Caldwell needs a cellar that’s flexible, approachable, and tells a story. “My big challenge is spice. There’s a lot in our food.” She used two tactics to find the perfect pour to complement a comforting and moderately spicy Kon Loh Mee with ground pork, sambal, and tender greens. “Pinot and pork were my inspiration,” she says, starting with a classic approach before then connecting the pairing to Southeast Asia. “Usually in Singapore you are drinking beer. So for the wine I tried to replicate [that].” The Terah Pétillant Naturel rosé fit the bill, providing small crisp bubbles, soft acidity, and about 15 grams of residual sugar that “works well with the spice.” The wine gives beer vibes, providing Chef Bryant Ng's dish with a refreshing counterpart while showcasing Californian grapes that work with the heat, the protein, and the bitter broccoli.

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