News

Ürziger Underground
Issue 2

by Mark Huebner, November 2002

Food pairings with the wines from Pfeffingen estate

Within a variety of vinification styles and ripeness levels, the wines of Pfeffingen seem to answer the call from many kitchen experiments with regularity. From very dry to medium-dry to sweeter, I have returned to this estate for culinary buttresses repeatedly over the last two years.

The readers may recall an anchovy sauced pasta recipe a few months back suggesting a trocken or dry-vinified wine for foil. The Pfeffingen Estate Riesling dry is my normal choice for this tangy, briny dish that requires a broad, spicy minerality that the deep, red soils of Ungstein can provide.

For much the same reason, my first revelation regarding Riesling paired with oysters on the half-shell came from a battle being fiercely waged on the kitchen counter after reinforcements were flown in from Maine. I had hand-carried a box of fresh Glidden Point oysters on the plane back from the Brown Trading Company, a fish-shipping Mecca in Portland. The minute I got home I dropped my bags and went straight to the kitchen for an oyster knife and a corkscrew (the same thing in some households).
I lined up the contestants, green and brown bottles, and began slurping oyster then wine, back and forth. Several bottles I had imagined correct enlistees for the mission were dead in the water. The wine shining through the entire ordeal was a 1999 Pfeffingen Spätlese dry (Ungsteiner Herrenberg).

The wine's weight was right for the mouth-filling, musky bivalves and the sea-briny liquor in their tub was a perfect hitch for the tangy minerality of the Herrenberg vineyard.
Normally a wine of higher alcohol (or less acidity) is paired with half-shells. And given the choices by the glass in most restaurants I often resort to beer (or bubbly, perhaps) as
a respectful compromise. The food clearly needed a trocken or dry wine, but more specifically a wine from the Pfalz (or perhaps the Rheinland). The green bottles I tried (Saar and Ruwer selections) and the medium-dry wines just didn't cut it, either in weight or response to the saltiness. While the dry-style wines are often too dry to work with
many foods with either natural sweetness or added spiciness, here it is the absolute lack of sweetness (and the brininess of the ocean) that makes such a pairing work. Of course, we should account for the many varieties of oysters and consider a Kumomoto's sweet, gooey meat could handle a lighter and slightly fruitier wine just as well. Obviously, it is the same with any food and wine dance…know how sweet the food actually is, be it oyster or carrot.

Because I've become more aware of how much natural, hidden sweetness there is in most of the foods we eat I've come to drink more fruity spatleses with dinner than I ever considered just a few years ago. I was absolutely sure that the Pfeffingen 'Pfeffo' Kabinett medium-dry was going to be fine with a dish of mussels in a spicy tomato, fennel and corn broth. Again, the earthy weight of a Pfalz wine seemed necessary for the recipe, yet I had underestimated the need for residual sweetness. Opening a bottle of Pfeffingen Riesling Spätlese was the life raft needed to paddle out of this soup. Just this September the Spätlese was used in a wonderful wine dinner at Mu Du Noodles in Santa Fe in connection with the yearly Wine and Chile Festival. Aside form being one of the very best wine dinners I've had the privilege of working on, the match was a perfect example of when to use a wine with apparent sweetness. Mu's crispy duck roll was like a succulent little fried sandwich with a delicately crunchy outside and morsels of gamy duck and mushrooms inside. The Spatlese had the weight and the earthiness to answer to the stuffing, and the sweetness to counter the spicy orange chili sauce. The two contestants crossed the finish line at exactly the same time, a seamless exhibition. And the bright acidity of the wine swept up the track enough to tease spectators to another (and another and another) mouthful.

But it is probably the 'Pfeffo' Kabinett medium-dry that I find the most flexible with food on a daily basis. In fact, my motivation to focus on Pfeffingen for the newsletter came after a blissful moment of appreciation when a simple dish of pasta with a carbonara sauce seemed to answer all that is right about an uncomplicated pairing.

The wine has moderate enough fruitiness to parallel the subtle sweetness of the sautéed onions. Once again, that marvelous spicy Ungsteiner earthiness puts a headlock on the pungent black pepper (carbonara calls for plenty) while taking the fatty pancetta (or bacon) to the mat with a full body-slam of aerobic acidity. The richness of the raw egg and Parmesan cheese mixture (added to the hot noodles at the last moment) requires the mouth-filling weight of a brown bottle (Pfalz or Rhein selection) The declassified Spatlese weight, becoming a Kabinett in this case, has the balance of this dish on the ropes.

This recipe exemplifies why the 'Pfeffo' can be so ambidextrous. It's there when a hint a fruit is needed to answer a touch of spice or natural sweetness of the ingredients as much as the earthy weight and tangy acids are present when fat needs to be girdled.

Think about replacing Sauvignon Blanc (usually higher in alcohol) or Pinot Grigio (missing the acid) when working with a variety of fish, pork or Mediterranean dishes.
I don't grill salmon without 'Pfeffo' on board. Smoked chicken or grilled pork chops beg for a little disciple from the Pfalz. And nearly every (non red-sauced) pasta dish I whip up gets about with this medium-dry Kabinett. When in doubt with the menu, make it a "True and Pfalz" question.

You'd never assume the historic connection as you pull into Doris Eymael's humble estate in Ungstein. Although fairly new (in an Old World sense) compared with other estates in our portfolio, you still step out of the car amidst an odd collection of Roman artifacts scattered casually around the driveway like any normal home punctuated with planters and concrete yard ornaments. Here the link is deeper than what Walmart or Home Depot can provide-these pieces are nearly two thousand years old. In fact, Doris has found coins from Augustus' time in the vineyard, but making any metallic connection to terroir is probably a stretch. Two thousand years ago the Romans recognized this area near Ungstein as prime grape growing area. The founder of the village of Pfeffingen was a Senator named Pfeffo, paid tribute with Doris' medium-dry Kabinett. Rudi often jokes he wasn't much of a city planner since the town of Pfeffingen still isn't on the map today while the recognized town of Ungstein lays just a few miles to the north.

We all wonder why such great wines continue, unfortunately, to be such great secrets. In addition to making super wines at affordable prices, Doris has made strides in simplifying labels for the American consumer. All of her wines, right down to the Estate Riesling dry, could be vineyard designated. Doris was one of our first growers to switch over to dry and medium-dry as opposed to trocken and halbtrocken. What would assist the retailer (and consumer) more than labeling Unsteiner Honigsäckel Kabinett halbtrocken simply Riesling Kabinett medium-dry or just 'Pfeffo'? Also, be on the watch for a beautiful new, eye-catching package for the Pfeffo, which will hopefully draw more deserved attention to this lovely wine.

Surprisingly, Doris even labels her single vineyard Spätleses with just the varietal and Prädikat level with the rest is on the back: Gewürztraminer Spätlese (Ungsteiner Honigsäckel) and the stunning Riesling Spätlese and Scheurebe Spätlese (both Ungsteiner Herrenberg). Any of these selections would be a great trophy for the Thanksgiving table this month…sweet potatoes soon to be mashed are already dreaming of the possibilities.

But you'll want the BA version to go with the pie.

Rudi Wiest Selections
by Cellars International, Inc.
phone 760.566.0499 - info@germanwine.net - fax 760.566.0533

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Click to view video of Doris Fuhrmann-Eymael about the 2001 vintage