Greek Wine and Japanese Food

Greek wine certainly may not be the first thought on peoples mind when it comes to pairing wine with Japanese food but in reality, the pairing makes perfect sense. Japanese food, much like Greek food, is based on the seasonality of dishes, freshness and the abundance of seafood that is available to them from their waters. So really, it would make perfect sense to spend a night pitting Greek white wines blind against others from around the world whilst pairing them with the delicacy of Japanese food.

With six wines and a plethora of exquisitely prepared dishes at famed Japanese restaurant Zuma, last night we sat down with (amongst others) Greek Master of Wine Mr. Konstantinos Lazarakis, Hong Kong’s Consul General of Greece Mr. Christodoulos Margaritis and Olive Tree, Hong Kong’s premier importer of Greek wines.

Mr. Lazarakis MW, a former jazz musician and always a wine lover actually taught our local MW’s (Debra Meiburg and Jeannie Cho Lee) during their master of wine programmes and it was a real honour to listen to him speak passionately about the wines from Greece.

“Wine drinkers need to understand that Greek wine is a very valid choice in this 21^st century wine scene, especially here in Asia”, says Mr. Lazarakis MW. “Greeks enjoy their food, it’s probably the most relaxing part of the day and Greece makes wines that encapture relaxation, where you should always want a second glass”.

 

We kicked off the meal with the first two white wines, a Greek from Sigalas Winery, Santorini 2011 and an Australian Sauvignon Blanc from Sidewood, paired with Hamachi with green chili relish and picked garlic alongside the Zuma Nama Yasai Green Salad. Overwhelmingly, the Greek wine was favoured tasted blind, going exceptionally well with the Zuma Salad with great structure and a nice creamy finish.

Mr. Lazarakis MW went on to explain how the wines of Santinori are exceptional in themselves that, for the most part “white wines of Santinori are a little like red wines with great texture and minerality, but could also do with a little decanting prior to drinking”. He also went on to explain how “Santinori is immune to the pest phylloxera” (the little bug that eats at the roots of the wines) as the soils there cannot sustain it – this is a great thing for winemakers there.

Moving on we next had Taraba gani to soba salada (cold buckwheat noodles with king crab) and Ika no kari kari (aged crispy fried squid with green chilli salt lime) together with the Sigalas and the Sidewood wines. The delicate flavours of the king crab were definitely suited to the Aussie wine this time, but the salt and pepper flavours of the fried squid were a great match to the Sigalas from Santinori – I can also assume they eat more squid in Greece than king crab.

Having never had dinner with a table of Greeks before I was wondering if or when the plate smashing would begin, fortunately it didn’t (I guess we were in a Japanese restaurant!). Just as well as the next course and wines were ready to be tasted and alongside an Italian Schiopetto 2010 we tasted the Greek wine Thalassitis 2012 from Gaia Estate, Santorini. Paired with this was hamachi kama no shioyaki salt grilled yellowtail collar, a selection of sashimi, spicy yuzu scallop roll (Hokkaido scallops, spicy yuzu mayonnaise) and aburi hamachi maki (seared yellowtail, avocado, bell pepper and tobik.

Not a lover of sushi as you may well know I thought the Grilled Yellow Tail collar was a great dish with both wines and that the Greek wine, with a little more acidity and elegance rather than the Italian wine’s opulence went well with the sushi as it really brought out the fresh sea flavours of the fish, not my taste but I can certainly appreciate that those who love sushi would most definitely like this pairing.

Finishing off, the final two whites were the Greek wine Thema 2011 from Pavlidis Winery and the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Seresin 2011 from Marlborough paired with a delightful kurobuta kasu zuke to yaki ringo (grilled kagoshima pork loin with miso roasted apples) and kisetu no yasai tempura (seasonal vegetable tempura). To be honest, the Greek wine was the better pairing for both dishes and was exceptionally good with the tempura. The subtlety and delicacy of the wine fared much better than the overbearing grassy notes of the New Zealand Sauvignon – they just kind of killed and rode over the delicate flavours of the food.

In all, Greek white wines have an exceptional delicacy to them that makes them a very good fit for Asian food. We have tried these wines twice before, firstly with traditional Cantonese Hot Pot which was a great match and secondly to spicy Sichuan food (where in some cases the chilli just killed the wines delicate flavours – but to be expected!) I can image these wines working well with Thai and Vietnamese food too but in this instance, with the Japanese food, the pairings on the whole worked remarkably well and, if intricate, delicate flavours are your thing then it’s definitely worth giving these Greek wines a try next time.

The three wines tasted last night and other Greek wines can be found from exclusive importer Oliver Tree here in Hong Kong. For more information you can go to their website www.olivetreehk.com