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November 22, 2018

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The perfect winter: a jug of wine, a bowl of stew

Isacs is the founder and CEO of EnjoyGourmet, a leading gourmet digital (www.enjoygourmet.com.cn) and print media company in China. He has authored over a dozen wine and food books including the awarded ISACS Guides and other gourmet books and is a wine consultant to governments, wine regions and organizations. He also hosts wine events for leading organizations and companies throughout China. Contact John via jcolumn@enjoygourmet.com.

Wine lovers usually have a passion for history. After all, wine is not merely a product. Rather it is a tale of special places and peoples. Food is the same. Today, we delve into the yummy and fortifying world of winter stews that feature rich meats embellished by white radish, chestnuts and other seasonal ingredients.

Primitive hunter-gatherer tribes used turtle shells and sea mollusks to boil the meats and entrails of various land and sea animals. The advent of pottery about 20,000 years ago in China made stew-making eminently easier. The world’s earliest cookbooks all featured stew recipes. The 4,000-year-old Yale Collection Babylonian Stone Tablets feature elaborate stew recipes for the elites, while the Roman cookbook “Apicius de re Coquinaria” explained how to make lamb and fish stews. France’s oldest cookbook, “Le Vaiandier,” was written by then-acclaimed chef Taillevent in the 14th century and this pioneering work contains numerous stew recipes that are not so dissimilar to modern recipes.

Documents from several ancient Chinese dynasties also highlight the popularity of stews.

I grew up eating classic Western-style stews like coq au vin, beef stroganoff, boeuf bourguignonne, veal marengo, blanquette de veau, Hungarian goulash and Irish stew. Naturally, in my home these hearty dishes were always accompanied by wine.

Today, I’m fortunate to be able to savor a wide range of Chinese stews that I always pair with appropriate wines. Stylistically there exist a wide range of wines that pair beautifully with both Western and Chinese meat stews. Some of the best wines for winter stews come from a gourmet haven with a decidedly warm climate.

If Italy is a boot, then Puglia is its stylish heel.

This ancient region has numerous archeological sites and boasts the longest coastline of any Italian region.

Hot and dry, Puglia is renowned for olive oil, cheese, pasta and other gastronomic products. Bounded by the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea and Gulf of Taranto, it is also not surprisingly home to some of Italy’s best seafood. Recently, one of the most sought-after products from Puglia is wine. Primitivo may be the most recognized variety from Puglia and the first to claim DOCG status in 2010, but Negroamaro makes some of the region’s most representative wines. Better yet, Negroamaro wines pair beautifully with hearty Western and Chinese stews.

Negroamaro

Negroamaro is an ancient grape, with a documented history of at least 2,000 years.

In all likelihood, the variety is far older. Some wine historians postulate that the variety originated as far back as 7,000 years ago in the cradle of wine in the Near East and at some still unknown point in time was brought to Puglia by Illyrian traders.

The ethnogenesis of the Illyrian tribes remains a mystery but we do know they regularly plied the ancient trading routes connecting Near Asia to the Aegean Sea and beyond. They may well have been the first peoples to bring Negroamaro and other vines from the Near East to nascent Mediterranean cultures. Millenniums later, the Romans are believed to have fancied Negroamaro wines for their heady and robust qualities — the perfect wines for the original toga parties.

Fast forward to the 21st century and Negroamaro wines are rapidly shedding their more pedestrian bulk wine reputation and becoming quite fashionably again. Today, wine connoisseurs are re-discovering the brooding deep red-black color and earthy, rustic and concentrated dark fruit and spicy qualities that make these wines so attractive. Negroamaro wines also tend to be relatively high in alcohol and moderately to highly tannic. Modern winemakers have skillfully worked to emphasize the variety’s natural predilection toward acidity to make fresher and more balanced wines that are fine partners to a wide range of dishes from hearty stews to pastas and even seafood.

Health-conscious drinkers should appreciate the fact that the thick-skinned Negroamaro grapes make wines exceptionally abundant in polyphenols like resveratrol, phenolic acids and anthocyanins. They’re not merely food-friendly wines, but also contributors to a healthy diet.

Negroamaro wines are sometimes single variety but are quite often blended with Malvasia Nero and sometimes Primitivo and other local varieties. The best Negroamaro wines come from the south of Puglia, below the Brindisi-Taranto line. Notable Negroamaro DOC wines include Salice Salentino, Brindisi, Copertino, Leverano, Squinzano and Terra d’Otrano, with the Puglia Negroamaro and Salento IGT wines also potentially very good. Most Negroamaro wines are red but some fine rose and sparkling wines are also worth trying. The former tend to be nicely acidic with abundant red fruit flavors while the latter traditional method and Charmat method sparklers are commonly lively and fruity wines with good freshness.

Because of their relatively high alcoholic content I suggest serving Negroamaro red wines about 15-16 Celsius while the rose and sparklers are best at about 8 Celsius. Reds should be allowed to breath for 15-30 minutes.

High yield, overly baked Negroamaro wines still exist so consumers should stick to the best producers. Available in Shanghai, I recommend wines from Coppi, Vigna Nostra, Carvinea and Leone de Castris. Readers looking for a special treat should enjoy Agricole Vallone Graticciaia Negroamaro IGT or San Marzano Il Pumo Salento Negroamaro IGT wines with best authentic Puglia cooking in town at Porto Matto Italian Restaurant. Both wines are perfect companions to the restaurant’s delicious orecchiette or cavatelli in stewed beef sauce. Owner Roberto is a friendly, talented and wine-loving chef from Puglia.

Where to buy in Shanghai

Varieties: The most important red varieties in Puglia are Negroamaro, Primitivo, Malvasia Nero and Uva di Troia.

Key term: In wine talk, the word baked is used to describe wines from hot regions that are overly ripe and lack freshness.




 

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