What To Serve With Thai?

By Kathy Ward

Tasting Card • Racha

Having Thai for dinner tonight and don’t know what wine to try? Sample the solution in Domaine Marcel Deiss wines of Alsace, France, matched to the flavors of Racha Noodles and Thai Cuisine.

Alsace wines bring out the flavors of Thai food, explains Racha general manager Plutthiphong “Sprite” Srigrarom. Complex in flavors, Thai can be spicy or sweet or salty, sometimes all in one dish, and this makes the wines more flavorful as well, he says.

Chad Zimmerman, West Coast regional manager for Deiss wines distributor New Castle Imports, says Alsace wines are food-friendly in general, adding, “With Thai foods, the balance of acid and residual sugar cools the spice.”

Dieter Klippstein, owner of the import and distribution company Triage Wines Inc. in Seattle, reinforces that spice elements are important in matching up foods and wines, adding that there is a great definition of varietal flavor and purity in Alsace wines. He attributes this to non-interventionist winemakers who allow the wines to express natural fruit and vineyard flavors.

Alsace wines do have substantial fruit acid levels that complement a wide variety of dishes. Eighty-five percent are bone dry. If you’ve tasted Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris, you’re familiar with the top three Alsace grapes.

For Alsace wine flavors, think of the spiciness of Gewürztraminer (Gewurz means spice). Combine this with the fruit acidity of Riesling and you have Pinot Gris, the choice wine of many food and wine lovers. And Muscat, low in alcohol and acidity, is like biting into the grape itself.

A recent Wine Enthusiast chart gives 1997 Alsace wines a 96 rating, highest of any region in the world for that vintage. Take note, for in great vintages, Alsace wines are some of the most age-worthy whites anywhere.

Alsace is E-Z
So where and what is Alsace? First, say it with a “z” sound as al-zass. It’s a 75-mile long, narrow region sheltered by the Vosges Mountains, bordered by the Rhine River. Located east of Champagne, north of Burgundy, Alsace is a cultural blend of French and German in language, architecture, cuisine and wines.

Romans conquered this swath of land, then planted winegrapes along the choice acquisition. During the Middle Ages monks and nuns assumed winemaking chores, and Alsace wines became the most highly prized in Europe. Several wars that yanked Alsace between France and German rule, as well as destructive phylloxera, conspired against success, but farmers and vintages continuously re-emerged. The land remained indomitably destined for winegrowing.

What continues to be a tug-of-war in Alsace is quantity versus quality in wine production. Jean-Michel Deiss, a historian with Swiss origins, studied viticulture practices of the Renaissance period when vineyard sites were mapped according to specific growing conditions and enclosed by walls to form clos. Deiss (pronounced like “dice”) prunes severely to produce fewer bunches of grapes, producing less than one bottle per vine, a yield that is two-and-a-half times smaller than average in Alsace. Yield for his Grand Cru and Premier Cru is even less.

Some Deiss vines are 60 years old, and some roots grow 90 feet into the soil. Alsace is a mosaic of geological formations. Saint-Hippolyte is light decomposed granite; Beblenheim, a former seashore with sandy soils. Bergheim has slightly chalky limestone rock with clay deposits. Chad says the taste of these different locales is evident and recognizable in Deiss wines, noting that “the soil shines through.”

Dieter says Deiss is moving away from “the tyranny of varietals,” preferring place over variety. He favors vineyard expression (terroir) and co-plants several varietals within the same parcel. He believes that a combination of grapes growing in one vineyard produces a synergy that ripens all varieties at the same time. Thought radical in the region, Deiss has been employing this revolutionary method for 10 years.

Guest speaker for the program, Dieter walks us through this and other unique Deiss vineyard practices. Also by way of wine education, there will be a lesson on Deiss Alphabet Wines. We’ll learn about the AOC recognized Grand Cru and Premier Cru of Alsace as well. And he will talk about classic winemaking in the vineyards where “the duty is to just not screw it up.”

For example, Deiss harvests over a two-week period, gently pressing grapes so the juice aspirates without crushing skins or seeds. Wines are fermented in stainless steel tanks, and Deiss also uses 50-year-old foudres, which are large oak tanks that allow the wine to breathe but does not add a wood flavor component to the wine. Chad points out that Deiss makes only 6,000 cases a year so he can afford this TLC.

Label Language
Alsace wines come in tall, slender bottles, a shape many associate with a German Riesling or Gewürztraminer. But the flute d’Alsace is a style reserved to designate this French region. Law also dictates that Alsace wines must be bottled only in the region where they are produced.

Alsace labels are among the easiest to understand, with wines named for the grape variety, not the region as in Burgundy and Bordeaux. Dieter, who developed an appreciation for the Germanic culture of Alsace on his travels through the area, attributes the varietal labeling to a German categorist mentality and a mindset prone to classify all things. Deiss also includes communes as regional designations on his labels.

Deiss grows his Premier Crus in the Bergheim area. Those on the tasting card are Burlenberg, a Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris blend, and the Englegarten, which is 70 percent Riesling with small amounts of Pinot Gris and Pinot Auxerois.

Racha is King
The king of noodles — and food fit for a king — is the essence of Racha. The founders’ vision for this lower Queen Anne restaurant is to offer an authentic dining experience of Thailand. Sprite says they chose not to Americanize or alter recipes, and they use local ingredients as comparable as possible. By way of ambiance, you’ll find fresh orchids on the tables.

First Thai restaurant ventures of the owners were The King & I and River Kwai in Bellevue. Royal Orchid in Renton, Lanna Thai in Everett, and Racha Noodles in Woodinville followed. Newly arrived at the First and Mercer flagship location is Buppha Boonma, better known as Chef Daeng.

Learning her craft at the family restaurant in Thailand, Chef Daeng in the 1970s became executive chef of the Imperial Hotel Group in Bangkok where she learned Japanese and Italian culinary skills. She spent 1987-95 in France opening a chain of Thai restaurants and also mastered French, Vietnamese and Italian cooking. She returned to Thailand, opened another restaurant, and won first place in a citywide culinary contest.

Chicken in the Jungle is an exciting new menu item Chef Daeng introduced. The traditional Pandan leaf wrapped around marinated chicken adds aroma and flavor but is not meant to be eaten. Unwrapping the morsel adds gleeful ceremony to the dish. Her new Savory Lamb Satay is also on our tasting card. Curry sauce and spicy sweet dipping sauce are staples of Thai cuisine; the cucumber sauce and pickled vegetables are savory side accompaniments.

We’ll also sample wide, flat rice noodles with the Ocean Wrap Curry. Vermicelli, mung bean and thin egg noodles also are served in more than 23 Racha dishes featuring meat, seafood and vegetarian accompaniments. This noodle variety, notes Sprite, is a Thai specialty.

Chef Daeng’s stated mission is to make everyday food look and taste fit for a royal table.

We’ll e-mail updates on future Enological Society program events. To get in our address book, send a message to EnoSocMsg@aol.com.

Click here to see a list of past Seattle Programs