Wine & Spirits
Pairing Wines with Montrachet's Roast Chicken and Garlic Sauce
Fall 2003
Chicken is one of the most versatile foods to match with wine. Since the flavor of the meat is modest and there is relatively little fat to absorb substantial tannins, big, blockbuster reds are beyond its means. But any number of wines in a more moderate scale will do; use the elements of the dish and the demands of other dishes at the table to narrow your choice. In the case of Montrachet's classic roast chicken with buttery potato puree, fresh peas and garlic sauce, you'll find the butter and garlic also play a significant role in what works best.
Montrachet's chicken has been on the menu in one version or another since Deborah Ponzak was chef here in the eighties. And no matter how it's reinvented, Bernie Sun notes that the dish has consistently been designed with Burgundy in mind: "The dish isn't a heavy one, and that plays a big role--it puts me on the plane of the wine. This isn't a steak, where you're looking for a big wine. Chicken is versatile, but with mashed potatoes done the French way, with 60 percent butter, you need a red wine to clear the oil.
"I recommend a Burgundy, because this is Montrachet, and if there's any place on the planet to try Burgundy, to drink Burgundy, this would be it. We have 600 Burgundies on our list--40 Puligny, 40-odd Chassagne, a whole page of Le Montrachet, a page of Chambolle...
"We also have a whole bunch of off-the-beaten-path villages, most around $40 or $50 or less--St-Aubin rouge, Chassagne rouge, Maranges, Marsannay, and I'm looking at a few Fixin. The Fixins are tough, because they're usually either flat or dull, but you keep trying. Somebody's got to be making a good one somewhere. That's the thing with Burgundy, you just have to find it," Sun says.
Jadot's Pernand-Vergelesses rouge is the most popular wine ordered with the roast chicken at Montrachet. "I have the '97 on the list for $45," Sun says. "As a Burgundy, it's a great find. It's a premier cru from a lesser-known village, a very good quality wine at a good price." For an alternative, he recommends the Roumier Chambolle-Musigny, "to show another price range. This would be on the list for $80 co $90, and it shows different things. The Pernand shows the earthy quality, the rustic character of both the wine and the dish. The Chambolle is clean, brighter raspberry fruit; it brightens up the dish."
Our casting panel found the Jadot Pernand-Vergelesses robust and dark in tone, the char of the grape skin and firm acidity creating a rustic Burgundian funk. The fat in the dish softened the tannins and acidity, leaving a lasting impression of fruit and earth--a country dinner in Burgundy.
The Roumier Chambolle was cleaner and fresher, with lovely red cherry fruit lasting through a complex finish. The wine's elegance set up a more delicate combination with the dish, allowing the various components to hold their detail: the cream, the fresh peas, the gentle persistence of the wine itself.
We experimented further afield with two wines from Cote de Provence. A rose from Domaine Ott's Chateau de Selle was light and spicy on its own, though in fact its smooth weight tended to dominate the dish, emphasizing the creaminess and the mellow garlic flavor. A more rustic red, Jean-Luc Colombo's Le Moulin de la Dame Cote Blue was simple and grapey tasted alone, with soft blue fruit, but with the food, the richness of the potatoes cut down the high tones of the wine, leaving it less blunt. It was a great example of a match between food and wine enhancing the wine, in this case turning it lively as a good French country red, its weight balanced with the light meatiness of the chicken.
As Sun noted, weight is a major issue in this match. When we poured a ripe, more powerful Crozes-Hermitage, Jaboulet's Domaine de Thalabert, its firm cherry fruit would have made a great foil for red meat or duck, but for simple roast chicken it was a bit too dominant. Though the wine itself tasted delicious, its volume overwhelmed the flavors of the dish.
Curious about whites with the chicken, we tried a classic California chardonnay, Sonoma-Cutrer's Russian River Ranches, with its ripe pineapple sweetness cut by the coast of oak. It proved a robust match, the alcohol of the chardonnay bringing warmth while the buttery potatoes cut the sweetness of the fruit, making the wine taste smokier, more like roasted corn than pineapple.
But again, we found that Burgundy worked better: Drouhin Meursault offered a sophisticated and seamless match. On its own, the young wine seemed oaky, its fruit savory and soft, its acidity lingering on an edge of minerals. Here the rich fat of the potatoes and garlic sauce ate up all the oak, and the flavors in combination lasted with a brightness, the smoky meatiness of the chicken, the garlic and the wine echoing back and forth. The mineral acidity kept all the flavors fresh, making you want another bite.
If money were no object, Sun himself would stick with red Burgundy: "Something from Vosne-Romanee, a grand cru. I like the earthiness of Richebourg, and if you can afford it, Romanee-Conti is always good. But with this chicken, that would be like renting a Rolls-Royce at Hertz."
Roast chicken offers a wide range of choices when it comes to workable wines. Pinor noir and chardonnay make the most natural accompaniments--especially in a dish like this one, with the simplicity of the chicken bolstered by the richness of the potatoes and garlic--but any earthy, relatively dry wine is likely to work. Go lighter if your friends are ordering fish, or head to a richer red if steaks are on their way to the table.