Grape and Gourmet

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a sushi and wine pairing dinner. The food pictures are a marker. When I get home tonight, I will tell you all about the wines that matched up with these. The location was Nikko Japanese Restaurant on Robson Street, Chef Omura being our gracious host.

The first course is described as an Albacore Tuna Poke; the tuna, raw was ever so slightly spicy sweet. The cucumber roll was very refreshing but the highlight for me was the seaweed salad in the small cucumber bowl. The Smoking Loon Viogner actually seem to pair best with this part of the plate, bringing out a smooth, slightly spicy note (in my opinion; I know nothing about wine tasting).

The next course was actually a course in two parts; Chef Omura's Maki Creations and...

Assorted Nigiri Sushi. The wine pairing with this was Hugel and Fils "Gentil", a Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Muscat and Sylvaner Blend from Alsace. For me, the wine was too sweet and sharp UNTIL I tried it with the sushi. Suddenly, I liked this wine, it went so well with the slight vinegar of the rice, creamy avocado, wasabi and salty sweet fish.

Japanese Robata was our next course; Scallop and Bacon and Chicken Yakitori, paired with Carmen Chardonnay from Maipo Valley California. My memory of this wine is almost non-existent. I don't know if this was due to the generous pours or talking tooo much or perhaps it was a boring wine?
Next please!

Our final savoury course was a Prawn and Vegetable Tempura. Again, foggy memory on this one. It was tempura...The wine, I remember. Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz, it was the first time I ever tasted a sparkling red. I was completely enthralled and I keep mulling potential pairings in my head (I think it would absolutely rock paired with salmon).

The meal was finished with a small scoop of Green Tea Ice Cream paired with Taylor Fladgate White Fine Port. Okay, I managed to fall in love twice in one meal; I have never tasted WHITE port before, but I could see myself adding that to our repetoire. (I drank two LARGE glasses of it!!)
Our hosts were wonderful and I just want to plug the website. It hasn't been updated in a while, but you can contact the organisers through the link on the site.
Grape and Gourmet