Organic wine match of the day: Sky Saddle & Ceago Chardonnays with mushroom soups

March 2, 7:43 PMDenver Wine ExaminerRandy Caparoso

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Not all Chardonnays are alike, and certainly not all biodynamically grown Chardonnays.  Let’s talk about two of the latter, and their correspondingly different culinary usages.

The 2006 Sky Saddle Harms Vineyard Napa Valley Chardonnay (about $30) comes from a small, boutique style winery located in Santa Rosa, the wines handcrafted by Matthew and Kate Wilson.  The Wilsons are 100% committed to either certified organic or biodynamically grown wines.  “Why?” asks Matthew Wilson.  “Because they taste better,” and because the terroir expressed by naturally grown grapes “captures that sense of place in the flavor profile, in the aromas, mouth-feel, etc.”

Fair enough, but because the vineyard source, Harms Vineyard and Lavender Fields, is located in a part of Napa Valley (the Oak Knoll District AVA) enjoying a distinctly warm Mediterranean climate, the grape expresses itself pretty much in a classic Napa Valley fashion in the ’06 Sky Saddle:  a fairly big, fat, sweet butterball of a wine, teeming with honeyed apples, smoky white oak, and a drop of apricot in the nose; the body, full scaled and viscous, creamy textured, muscular in feel, finishing in a cacophony of sweet apples, vanillin/toasted oak. 

The 2007 Ceàgo del Lago Clear Lake Chardonnay (about $22), on the other hand, expresses such a different side of Chardonnay, you‘d almost think it was a different grape.  Where the Sky Saddle is chubby with deeply aromatic, honeyed apple fruitiness, the Ceàgo is flowery in the nose, tossing out scents of orange blossoms, wildflowers, and lemon.  Whereas the Sky Saddle is full bodied and fleshy on the palate, the Ceàgo comes across as markedly crisper and lighter in body; mildly tart, lilting sensations covering a spectrum of perfumed fruit flavors, from sweet pear and apple to peach and apricot. 

 Yet like the Sky Saddle’s Harms Vineyard source, the Ceàgo is laboriously grown according to self-sustaining biodynamic measures such as composting, herbal tea sprays, and a farm-style biodiversity of gardens, orchards and animal life.  The difference, of course, is in the terroir:  the Ceàgo Vinegarden planted by Jim Fetzer along the shores of Clear Lake in Lake County; where the grape growing climate, moderated by the largest body of freshwater in the state, is markedly cooler than that of mid-Napa Valley (hence the crisper, lighter, more feminine style of Ceàgo Chardonnay).

 Which is the “better” Chardonnay?  What a silly question, and that’s why I absolutely deplore the x/100 scoring systems employed by most wine critics… how can you say one rates a “91” and the other an “89 or “90,” when the difference is a matter of terroir, not quality or Chardonnay-ishness? 

The difference, of course, is also in the way you match with food, especially taking into account the factors of similarity and contrast in the sensations.  Quite frankly, to most people the fuller, creamier textured Sky Saddle Chardonnay would probably taste better with dishes employing significant touches of cream and butter than would the Ceàgo; whereas the zestier, lighter Ceàgo would probably taste better with dishes employing either purer, unadorned ingredients or light touches of olive oil and vinegars for most people.

 However, the common factor is the fact that both are Chardonnay based, dry white wines; and almost all Chardonnays respond deliciously to the pungent taste of mushrooms, which always seem to bring out an organic flavor, and fleshier texture, in such wines.  My adjustments?  For the Sky Saddle, you may find no better match than this classic recipe, originally from Julia Child, for this pure, cleansing, quiet but effective cream of mushroom soup.  Butterball Napa Valley Chardonnays like Sky Saddle’s are almost gloriously elevated in this creamy context.

The airy fresh, multi-scented style of Chardonnay like Ceàgo’s, on the other hand, responds even more favorably with a mix of wild mushrooms couched in thyme and leek flavored chicken stock, as in this recipe, originally from New York’s Tavern on the Green, for wild mushroom soup.  There is unsalted butter involved in this potage, which will bring out a silkiness in the Ceàgo without bringing the wine’s acidity to an excessively sharp edge (which cream often does); and the final touch of a drop of black truffle oil… most essential to bringing an earthy dimension to this flowery style of Chardonnay, and to your pure gastronomic pleasure!

 WINE BASICS #39:  Matching Chardonnay and food

 Some basic guidelines: 

• Look for fleshier white meats (from deep sea fish and lobster to game birds, pork, veal and sweetbreads); and if the meat isn’t replete with its own natural fats and juices, prepare it with sensations of similarity with the use of butters, oils (ever try it with truffled popcorn?), creams or mild aiolis.
• It’s also a good idea to balance these meats with moderate use of contrasting ingredients such as lemon (acidity), mustards, garlic, and all varieties of mushroom (earth tones), and fresh vegetables (like corn and carrot), fruit (peach and apple), or caramelized onions (touches of sweetness) and perhaps smoked white sausages or bacon
• Play up the smoky qualities of richly oaked Chardonnays by wood grilling, smoking or slow roasting, and use of toasted nuts (like pistachio, sesame seeds and pine nuts) is not such a bad idea.
• Accent Chardonnay fruitiness with flatteringly scented herbs (especially chives, sweet basil, parsley, and more moderately, dill, sage, tarragon and rosemary) also does the trick.
• Moderately soft, milky cheeses like Havarti, Gouda, most Mozzarellas, and Bricks are delicious with the biggest, fattiest, oakiest Chardonnays; and so incorporating such ingredients into dishes is another crafty thing to do.