Choose Your Own Adventure

In front of me lies the remains of once immaculately plated dishes from Chef’s tasting menu launch for Spring - now mangled from tasting and lying amongst bottles of possible pairings. The very real role of the sommelier is to create the perfect pairings, and the utter delight of finding those; the reminder of how food and wine, when dancing in a harmonious pairing - can become something greater than the sum of the parts, or can very much not be . . . trial and error. Sometimes wines and dishes will surprise you because of nuances in spices, vibrancy of vegetables, and the preparation of the meats. It is often in these smaller details where the outcome shifts; some pairings allowing the lightness of Spring vegetables and ingredients to shine, while another equally compelling pairing leans more into texture and richness.

Our recent spring menu launch, and the limited time we had to prepare a full set of wine pairings for each dish, only added to that sense of trial and error; there is very little time to sit with any one wine for long, and each is tasted in the moment, placed against the dish, and either works or it does not. Bottles begin to collect, some pushed aside, others returned to, and over the course of it, certain bottles remain in front of you. There is a rhythm that develops almost without thinking - taste, adjust, return - and with a very real time constraint to get the pairings right before service, the decisions are made quickly, though not carelessly; if anything, the lack of time sharpens the outcome, when the sommelier skills become almost athletic, instinctive in the moment, leaving less room for hesitation and more reliance on what is actually happening on the plate.

This was especially apparent with a butter-poached salmon and agnolotti, set with a fava bean purée, a dish that leaves very little margin. The softness of the fish, the presence of butter, and the added weight of the pasta are tempered by the fava, which brings a green, slightly sweet, faintly bitter counterpoint, shifting the balance just enough that the wine has to account for both texture and freshness at once; wines with more pronounced acidity begin to pull the dish apart, while others settle too heavily into it, and what remains is not always the most expressive wine on its own, but the one that continues to sit naturally with the plate across several bites. A wine may show well in isolation, but that becomes secondary here; what matters is how it behaves once the dish enters the conversation, and whether it continues to hold its place as each element reveals itself. With the salmon, a softer style of Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley paired with the delicate preparation of the fish, dancing with the agnolotti and allowing the freshness of the fava bean purée to come forward. A richer style of Chardonnay, also from Willamette Valley, moved in a different direction, tapping into the butter and drawing out the deeper textures of the dish. One plate, two wines, and two distinct outcomes - a Choose Your Own Adventure.

During this speed pairing exercise, I found myself thinking how easily this kind of tasting could exist outside of the restaurant, and how enjoyable it would be to recreate with a group of friends. A table set with a few dishes, something seasonal and composed with intention, and a group of wines opened alongside them, each one considered in relation to the plate rather than on its own. There is no need to define it too precisely, as part of what makes it compelling is the variation - in palate, in perspective, in what each person notices - and the way those differences shape the experience over the course of a meal, where some combinations feel immediate, others fall away, and some shift gradually into place. A pairing that seems unlikely may begin to make sense, while another that felt obvious may not hold in the same way.

Turning this into a bit of a game feels like a natural extension, favorite pairings sussed out by voting - the victors revealed over the course of the meal. It becomes a fascinating exercise, seeing how different wines bring out different aspects of the same dish, some emphasizing brightness and lift, others drawing out texture and depth, and how those shifts are read differently across the table. There is also the excitement of sharing the pairing process, and the reasoning behind those choices, with guests - particularly when the pairing lands somewhere unexpected.

At the end of it, the table would likely look much the same - a few bottles left where they were, others pushed aside, and the remains of dishes that were the starting point of everyone's adeventures.