To wine or not to wine

MANILA, Philippines - The holiday season is often a calorie-overflowing season. And if you are going to have a calorie-overflowing season, I truly hope you do it properly and not with chicharon, suka, and beer, but an obscene portion of pan-seared foie gras drizzled with a vinegar reduction and paired with a deliciously lychee-sweet Gewurztraminer.

Luckily for my palette and perhaps equally unluckily for my annoyingly enlarging girth was a double dinner treat with wine and food-pairing adventurer Jerry Comfort, Beringer’s traveling ambassador for the betterment of food and wine pairings.

The first night was held at Red, one of the country’s top restaurants naturally found at one of the most esteemed urban hotel addresses in the country, the Makati Shangri-La. However, what was served was not the usual Red fare but an adventurous fusion of European and Asian delicacies with the participation of the hotel’s Inagiku and Shang Palace — some more successful than others — but all lots of fun to taste.

At Makati Shangri-La’s Beringer wine dinner at Red: Kathy Yao Santos, COO/marketing director of Happy Living and Reto Klauser, area manager/GM of Makati Shangri-La Hotel

At first look, the foie gras and crab chawan mushi served in a seaweed boat was an obvious flight of fancy. Although it may have fallen slightly in terms of visual appeal, it was pulled up a notch or two by the delightful, dry sweet sparkling white zinfandel. This is a brilliant wine for the holidays with its festive pinkish tone, and it certainly does pair beautifully in a bright, refreshing manner with a devilish foie gras.

I would have to say the highlight of the meal was the duck stew-and-truffle pairing with the 2007 Beringer Napa Valley pinot noir. Just awesome. Absolutely the type of dish and wine pairing that has you wanting more.

Ending the night with some brie and sliced fig jam paired with the widely available Beringer Chenin Blanc (most Rustan’s Vineyards carry this affordable drop) reminds one how a light white can work so well with a mild cheese with medium salt like a brie.

In between a number of dishes, Mr. Comfort would give us succinct yet informative facts about how simple, basic tastes — sweet, salty, sour — can create and enhance both the flavor of food and the experience of wine. Admittedly, the educational experience was almost psychedelic — it all seemed so clear, like a shining epiphany. But in the great swirling of wine and food that engulfed us throughout the night, I have to say I suffered quite an enjoyable, vertigo-like sensation towards the end of the night. And, although having tried with some concentration to absorb what seemed to be logical and apparent, I have to say I simply enjoyed the pairings.

But it wasn’t over yet.

The next day, Happy Living’s Empress of Bacchanalia Kathy Yao Santos upped the ante, so to speak, and unleashed a menu and wine pairing that was magnificently gluttonous with the help of Cav’s extraordinary chef Markus Gfeller — perhaps one of the few chefs in this entire country to produce a decent dining experience.

Chef Jerry Comfort, senior manager and wine educator at Beringer Vineyards giving a lecture at Enderun on wine and food in balance

Chef Gfeller essentially threw everything at us: Salmon. Shrimp. Hamachi. Lobster. Black cod. Foie gras. Kurobuta pig. Lamb. Rib eye! If this were a convict’s last meal he certainly would cross over to the next world with an obscenely contented belly! What was even more surprising was the consistent quality of the dishes; it didn’t have a major slump, which is so typical in many of our country’s dining establishments.

I simply did not think after an evening at Red that I would have room for another massive dinner. But the food and the wine pairings were awesome. Pure joy. This was easily a few thousand calories down the gullet. Whereas the previous night had its highlights, this evening’s menu was like a stunning crescendo of flavors!

Two wines were obvious standouts: the 2005 Beringer Sbragia Chardonnay, exploding with lovely oak and vanilla notes and a velvety finish, and the powerful 2003 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. But even the more modest bottles were all outstanding due to the brilliant pairing put together by Mr. Comfort.

And so, if you were to ask yourself: To wine or not to wine? The answer is more than obvious, especially if you are in the company of Beringer’s Jerry Comfort.