Wine fusion, Italian wine and oriental cuisine. The case of Roero

Miso, koji, kombu, kombutcha... until a few decades ago, these were mysterious words for Italians who today say they appreciate oriental cooking and even take pleasure in preparing it at home. And what about wine? It does not stay behind and becomes glocal. 

Italian wine learns oriental languages. And it is not only doing so in order to open up to new and expanding markets: it is also doing so in order to relaunch itself in a far-sighted way at home, meeting the needs of a changing cuisine, in restaurants as well as in the homes of Italians. If, until a few decades ago, tofu, seaweed and soy sauces were considered avant-garde stuff, today it's easy to find miso and kombutcha in our fridges instead of stock cube and iced tea. A 2018 Nielsen study showed just such a growing trend of Italians passionate about at least one of the main ethnic cuisines (56%), with Eastern ones in pole position (Chinese 23% and Japanese 21%), while as many as 20.7 million people even claimed to cook ethnic at home. Numbers, in all likelihood, shot even higher following the pandemic and lockdown. The consumer, increasingly projected into a fluid and glocal context, is looking for new experiences and products, while keeping a firm grip on the clichés of Italian tradition. The result? Contamination, both on the table and in food and wine pairings.

Amarone has been riding this trend for years, having found in Chinese cuisine, especially if spicy, a partner that fully appreciates its qualities of smoothness and alcoholic content; as well as Gewürztraminer and Riesling, examples of successful pairing with Japanese cuisine. But for some time now, some "unsuspected" wines have also been entering the field of food-wine fusion pairing. The latest example: Roero Docg, both white and red. A wine of rigorous and ancient pimontese tradition, as well as a wine glass far from the caloric pulpiness of Amarone, on the contrary: essentially fresh, sapid and also rather tannic, even if much less than its brothers Barolo and Barbaresco.

A gamble? We were able to witness the comparison at the lunch organized by the Consorzio del Roero (https://www.consorziodelroero.it/ ) at the AAlto restaurant in Milan to present the next Roero Days 2022, scheduled for May 22 and 23 at the Reggia di Venaria Reale (TO). Of topical interest is the choice of the restaurant, creative rib with 1 Michelin star of IYO, the only starred Japanese restaurant in Italy. The "free cuisine without boundaries", as AAlto defines itself, born from the encounter between the vision of Claudio Liu and chef Takeshi Iwai, proposed a four-course menu, which was paired with glasses of Roero both white and red, in both basic and reserve versions. 

An immediately convincing debut for the two wines tried with the entrée Stracciatella di trippa con kefir e olio di koji. If on the one hand the Roero Arneis Sarun 2020 Stefanino Costa, with its herbaceous freshness and taut taste, perfectly highlighted the subtle fatness of the dish, on the other hand the incredible Roero Arneis 7 years 2013 Angelo Negro (steel and 7 years in bottle) with its smoky aromaticity of gunpowder and toasted hazelnut, exalted the cereal sensations of koji (koji is a fermented beverage, often made of rice, obtained from a mushroom, and it is the base for the preparation of miso, sake and soy sauce).

Second outing with the Roero Arneis Riserva Vigna Renesio 2017 Monchiero Carbone which met instead the starter Cuttlefish, marrow and caviar, a delicious and balanced dish, with the delicacy of the raw cuttlefish tagliatelle, the "sweet" and enveloping salinity of the caviar and the toasty and buttery taste of the marrow broth. A dish with a sweet and slightly smoky tendency, which found its ideal match in the round glass of sweet spices, candied citrus and toasted sensations, "plump" but with the right degreasing acidity. 

The journey continued with a wine born literally by chance, the Roero Arneis Giuan da pas 2012 Pace, a magnum of a wine designed to be ready to drink (it makes only steel), but forgotten in the cellar, with surprising results. Bread crust, sourdough, cedar and lime are the olfactory notes, combined with a taut, supple and dry mouthfeel of licorice, but with great depth and breadth on the finish. At the opposite corner, a course of remarkable complexity, the sour risotto with kombu seaweed ice cream, oyster, lovage oil and sakura flowers. Acidity, herbaceous sensations, thermal contrasts and savoriness all at once did not frighten the wine, which supported the dish even contributing to lighten its organoleptic bulk.

Last glass, a champion: the Roero Superiore Trinità 2001 Malvirà, served in Jéroboam format. Aromas of red and black fruit, cocoa, rhubarb and pepper, and a deep, warm and enveloping mouthfeel, with tapered tannins and acidity on show, make this a wine that still has great promise. It had to compete with the apparently harmless barbecued beef and scorzonera, characterized by some really tough elements, such as the external burn of the meat, the strong sapidity of the elderberry treated as a caper and the umami of the koji pesto, diluted by the hazelnut butter and the sweetness of the root. A combination that was indeed not convincing in every mouthful (vegetable sensations tended to emerge from the encounter with the elderberry in particular), but which certainly did not defeat this great version of Roero.

So, Roero and oriental fusion cuisine, can it be done? It is a yes without hesitation for the white, especially for the more aged versions, regardless of the passage in wood, where the wine brings out those intriguing hydrocarbon sensations of sulfur matrix that can remind, with due distance, the notes of burnt and toasted cereal typical of certain sake used in more conventional combinations. Some reservations about the red wine, for which the tannins must always be carefully evaluated, which are certainly "gentler" than those of the Nebbiolos of Barolo and Barbaresco, but in any case in relation to the hardness of an acidic-savory matrix that is always very present.

I vini degustati:

Stefanino Costa
Roero Arneis Sarun 2020

87/100 - € 12

100% Arneis. Affinamento in acciaio. Paglierino. Impatto decisamente erbaceo, di elicriso, foglia di fico e salvia, poi agrumi gialli e mandorla, su uno sfondo gessoso. Al palato ha buon corpo, acidità decisa e tesa, gusto salino e finale asciutto di liquirizia. 

Angelo Negro
Roero Arneis 7 anni 2013

96/100 - € 43

100% Arneis. Affinamento in acciaio sui lieviti e 7 anni in bottiglia. Oro con bagliori verdolini. Olfatto complesso e intrigante di polvere pirica, nocciola tostata, sbuffi solfurei e gessosi, quindi più fragranti note di mela e agrumi canditi. Bocca di buona pienezza, sapida e dal giusto saldo acido. Finale appagante e rotondo, al gusto di liquirizia e dai lunghi echi fumé.

Monchiero Carbone
Roero Arneis Riserva Vigna Renesio 2017

89/100 - € 30

100% Arneis. Maturazione tra legno e acciaio. Oro. Combina al naso immediate note di idrocarburi e sensazioni dolci di spezie (vaniglia), caramello, frutta tropicale e agrumi canditi. Sorso rispondente, rotondo, strutturato e morbido, seppur mai privo di calibrata freschezza. Eco precisa e vanigliata, di buona persistenza. 

Pace
Roero Arneis Giuan da pas 2012

90/100 - € n.d.

100% Arneis. Acciaio e bottiglia. Oro alla vista. Olfatto inizialmente contratto e ridotto, si apre progressivamente a fragranze di crosta di pane, lievito madre, fiori di tiglio e cedro. Sorso contratto ed energico, fresco e appena asciutto, con finale di lunga persistenza al gusto di liquirizia.

Cascina Ca’ Rossa
Roero Valmaggiore Vigna Audinaggio 2019

93/100 - € 25

100% Nebbiolo. Fermentazione in barrique, affina poi in acciaio e bottiglia. Rubino splendente. Ciliegia, lampone e violetta emergono immediati, seguiti da lievi note balsamiche di resina di pino. Tannini precisi e setosi all’assaggio, di vibrante acidità. Finale perlopiù speziato e fruttato, appena caldo e di lunga succulenza indotta.

Michele Taliano
Roero Riserva Roche dra Bossora 2013

90/100 - € 20 -

100% Nebbiolo. Matura 24 mesi in legno. Rubino con unghia granata. Impatto olfattivo “dolce” di frutta e spezie, con lampone in confettura, sciroppo di cassis, rosa appassita, arancia rossa, pepe nero e cacao. Bocca distesa, con tannini integrati ma ancora viva freschezza; congedo nitido e armonico di rosa e lampone.

Malvirà
Roero Superiore Trinità 2001

92/100 - € n.d. -

100% Nebbiolo. Due anni tra botti e tonneau. Rosso granata ancora compatto. Al naso regala note di confettura di lampone, visciole sciroppate, quindi rabarbaro, cacao e pepe nero. Di piacevole profondità l’assaggio, caldo e avvolgente, con tannini copiosi ma affusolati e ben disciolti. Acidità ancora tonica e sapidità decisa, che induce lunga succulenza nel finale di bocca.  

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