San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
The rules governing wine and food pairings have lightened up lately. But sometimes lines need to be drawn. Recently, as I was bustling my way through Whole Foods, picking up a few final ingredients for the evening meal, I snatched a bottle of wine and tossed it into my basket without really taking a look at what I was picking up. turned out it was a 2009 Andes Crossing Malbec from Argentina.
I dig a nice Malbec, and this was just $8.99, but long story short, it was one of those really hot evenings, so we opted for white wine instead. Several days later, with my wife out of town and my kid asleep, I cracked open the Andes Crossing on my own.
The first few sips felt thin and reedy, and the wine didn’t explode in my mouth the way I had hoped. I put down my glass and walked away, giving it time to breathe, and when I came back, it had opened up considerably but still tasted more earthy than what I was looking for. What it needed was some food. I headed to the kitchen, threw a combination of leftovers into a hot pan and added a generous dollop of Ring of Fire hot sauce (made in El Cajon, dontcha know).
That did it. The heat finally brought out the wine’s fruit, allowing it to blossom. It also cut down the heat—an almost perfect pairing. Would I buy it again? Sure, but only if I knew I was going to open it with something spicy.
