The Challenge of Food and Wine Pairing【合適的餐酒搭配就如同交男女朋友一樣，要交往看看才知道】

Swordfish in Pumpkin Puree with Green Sichuan Peppercorn with Benito Ferrara Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG

Food：

• Swordfish in Pumpkin Puree with Green Sichuan Peppercorns

Wine of my choice：

• Benito Ferrara Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG Campania Italy 🇮🇹  2018

Partnering with my husband to do food & wine pairing is always fun and challenging. The fun part is that he frequently tries to make something unique, and improvises when he is cooking. Often times, he will make something delicious, but probably not make it the same way ever again. That means I am always trying to pair wine with a dish that I have never tasted before. To me, that is the challenging part. Most of the time, I will ask him how he would prepare the dish in order to get a better understanding of what the dish would taste like. Then I will start to go through the profiles of wines in my minds then pick a few wines might go well with the dish. Lastly, I will analyze the flavors of the food and wine together and eliminate the ones that does’t work. That’s how I come up with my final choice. Nonetheless, without tasting both the dish and wine together, you will never know if the paring is going to work. So, just keep tasting.

What Bruce prepared today is a dish of his creation: Swordfish in Pumpkin Purée with Green Sichuan Peppercorn, a dish inspired by “Sichuan Pepper”, a cookbook written by Mingxiong Tsai. So, what wine could go with this dish? Without actually tasting this dish, it’s difficult to understand the actual taste of the dish. Well, at least we know what swordfish and pumpkin taste like. On top of that, I’m familiar with the spiciness of the red and green chilis and the aromas of the Green Sichuan Peppercorns. With these known taste profiles as references, I hypothesize boldly that full bodied whites with opulent fruit notes and round mouthfeel would be ideal. I had this Greco di Tufo from Campania, Italy on hand and I decided to give it a go. Let’s see if my hypothesis is right at the end. Before I reveal my answer, let’s take a look at the one of the greatly admired white grape variety of Italy: Greco.

Grape Variety: Greco

Greco is not only one of the oldest and most celebrated white grape variety in Italy, but also the star grape behind the famous Campania’s wine: Greco di Tufo. It is said that Greco was brought to Italy from Greece in the eighth or seventh century B.C. Greco, a late-ripening, low-yielding variety, and susceptible to downy mildew and powdery mildew, it is hard to grow compared to other native white grape varieties in Campania. Besides that, due to its high polyphenols, Greco tends to oxidize, browning the wine and creating volatile acidity. It seems that Greco is really hard to work with in terms of viticulture and viniculture. However, when it is in good hands, Greco is full of potential of becoming the most age-worthy white in the world, especially when the grapes are from Greco di Tufo DOCG.

Wine made with Greco is usually very yellow, displaying aromas of yellow flower, honey, peach, and ripe tropical fruits. With its high acidity, high alcohol, round mouthfeel, and slightly tannic texture, some winemakers accredit Greco as “most red of white wines”.

The Producer: Benito Ferrara

Benito Ferrara is a fourth-generation family owned estate, currently managed by Gabriella Ferrara and her husband Sergio Ambrosino. Along with the renown Tuscany enologist Paolo Caciorgna, the estate is producing 50,000 bottles per year. The Ferrara family has 12.5 hectares under vines. The vineyards are scattered across Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avelino and Taurai. “Benito Ferrara is one of Italy’s best white wine producers.”  Ian D’Agata once commented on Vinous Media,

Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG is the flagship wine of Benito Ferrarar. Made with 100% Greco from single vineyard, Cicogna, is situated in Greco di Tufo DOCG. The age of the grape vines are from 15 to 60 year-old; sustainable farming practice is applied to the vineyard. The wine is fermented and matured in the stainless tank. The wine spent 7 months in the stainless tank before bottling. “Benito Ferrara’s Greco di Tufo Vigna Cicogna is perhaps the most elegant Greco di Tufo wine made in Italy today.” - Ian d'Agata, Vinous Media

This Greco di Tufo is yellow in color with intense aromas of Meyer lemon, orange peel, ripe yellow peach, apricot, honey, and chamomile. Dry straw with a hint of flint are hidden in the back. On the palate, it’s juicy, rich, and round with opulent ripe fruit notes. The racy acidity acts as a wonderful agent to rinse out the creamy pumpkin purée and bring out the sweetness of the swordfish. What surprises me the most is the fruitiness and roundness of the wine compliment the spiciness of chilis and Green Sichuan Peppercorn so well. It’s truly an unexpected but successful outcome. I’m so glad that this pairing turned out so well and has proved that my presumed choice of wine is correct.

---

【合適的餐酒搭配就如同交男女朋友一樣，要交往看看才知道】

Benito Ferrara‘s Flagship Wine: Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG/ Benito Ferrara’s 旗艦酒: 使用單一田園 Cicogna 產的格雷冦釀製而成的格雷冦滴圖弗酒

餐點：

• 青花椒旗魚泡南瓜

餐酒：

• Benito Ferrara Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG Campania Italy 🇮🇹  2018

與先生一起搭檔做餐酒搭配是一件非常有趣且具有挑戰的事。好玩的是，他往往不按常理出牌，隨時都可以來個即興創作，常常可以吃到這一生大概只能吃到一次的好味道。但是，在沒有吃過這道菜的情況下，要挑選適當的葡萄酒，那就非常具有挑戰性了。通常我會打破砂鍋問到底，盡可能的了解他使用的所有食材，運用的烹煮方式，調味、配料等等，再憑著想像，來挑選可能與這道菜合適的葡萄酒。然而，餐酒搭配合不合拍，也只有試吃試喝了才知道。就如同交男女朋友一樣。總得交往了才知道彼此合不合適。

 今天，先生準備的這道青花椒旗魚泡南瓜是一道他的創意料理。他參考了蔡名雄先生的著作「四川花椒」一書裡的「滋味魚頭」這道菜而做出的變化版。他使用了旗魚、南瓜、櫛瓜、芹菜、青紅辣椒及青花椒等家裡剛好有的食材，來做這道菜。

這樣的一道菜，到底要搭配什麼葡萄酒好呢？在還沒有吃過這道菜的情況下，很難精確的掌握其風味，但是這道菜的兩大主軸：旗魚及南瓜的味道，並不難想像; 加上青紅辣椒的爽辣，青花椒的椒麻香，依照過往的經驗，酒體豐腴飽滿，口感圓潤，果香濃郁四溢的白酒應該會很適合，因此我特地挑了這瓶意大利坎帕尼亞產的格雷冦滴圖弗來搭配青花椒旗魚泡南瓜。至於，這瓶酒到底與這道菜搭不搭，我等等再來揭曉。首先，讓我們來了解一下，格雷冦這個白葡萄品種。

葡萄品種: 格雷冦 (Greco)

格雷冦不僅是義大利最古老也最享譽盛名的白葡萄品種之一; 它也是釀造卡帕尼亞最著名的白酒之一格雷冦滴圖否的大功臣。相傳格雷冦是在西元前第七、八世紀時由希臘人傳入意大利南部。由於格雷冦對霜霉病（Downy Mildew）及白粉病powdery mildew相當的敏感，在栽種植時需要付出的心力相較於當地的白葡萄品種要來得多。此外，格雷冦的多酚含量很高，在釀造葡萄酒時容易造成氧化並且導致酒色變深或產生令人不悅的揮發性酸味，像是醋味或去光水等的刺鼻味。由上述幾點看來，格雷冦好像很難搞，但是要落在有經驗，有能力的釀酒師手裡，使用格雷冦所釀造出的酒可是相當具有陳年潛力的，尤其是來自格雷冦滴圖弗DOCG的格雷冦。

格雷冦釀出來的酒，通常都帶有金黃色澤，夾著黃顏色花卉的香氣，蜂蜜、黃桃、成熟的熱帶水果等等是很典型的格雷冦具有的風味。其爽脆的酸度，高酒精濃度、還有近乎圓潤油滑的口感還帶點微微的單寧，更讓一些釀酒師戲稱格雷冦是「最像紅酒的白酒」。

青花椒旗魚泡南瓜與Benito Ferrara Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG

酒莊：Benito Ferrara

Benito Ferrara 酒莊目前是由是第四代Gabriella Ferrara and her husband Sergio Ambrosino掌管家族的釀酒事業。他們與知名的釀酒師Paolo Caciorgna合作，每年的產量大約在五萬瓶酒左右。這個傳了四代家族企業，葡萄園總面積總共也才12.5公頃，規模不算大，但其釀造的白酒曾被知名的義大利葡萄酒作家Ian D’Agata讚賞並成為他心目中最會釀造白酒的義大利酒莊之一。

今天挑選的Vigna Cicogna Greco di Tufo DOCG 是Benito Ferrarar酒莊的旗艦酒。採用100% 的格雷冦釀製而成。葡萄則來自於座落在格雷冦滴圖弗DOCG產區裡的單一田園Cicogna，葡萄藤的年齡落在15-60歲不等並且採用永續農法耕種。這款格雷冦的發酵與熟成都在鋼桶裡完成，歷時7個月。知名的義大利葡萄酒作家Ian D’Agata曾讚：「Benito Ferrara所釀造的單一田園Vigna Cicogna 格雷冦滴圖弗酒也許是義大利目前釀的最高雅的格雷冦滴圖弗酒了。」

這瓶格雷冦滴圖弗酒有著經典格雷冦應有的正黃色澤，甜檸檬、新鮮橙皮、成熟的黃桃、杏桃、蜂蜜、洋甘菊在杯中綻放，隱約的乾稻草氣息及微微的煙硝礦物感則悠悠的遞上來。一飲而下，這酒著實的大氣，酒體飽滿而入口圓潤; 豐沛的果香，好似水果的嘉年華會在嘴裡展開; 爽脆的酸度令人賞心，配著口感扎實，軟而不柴的旗魚塊，再來上一口濃稠的南瓜湯，脆爽的芹菜及微微軟糯的擳瓜，還有鹹香椒麻的青花椒，哇！這酒與菜的層次各自分明，而相互遞進; 這格雷冦滴圖弗酒份量感夠，撐得起青花椒旗魚泡南瓜，尤其是酒裡的風味與青花椒及藤椒油的融合，有如潮水般湧來，叫人情不自禁，一杯再一杯。