By Leigh O’Connor.
A UK-born wine professional with more than 17 years’ fine dining experience, Gavin Wraith has met his fair share of celebrities, including an interesting interaction with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axel Rose.
While working in a bar in the UK, Axel came in and ordered a strawberry-based Basil Grande cocktail, a Belgian strawberry beer and strawberry juice – all at the same time.
"I lined them up, he drank them quite swiftly and told me it was the best Basil Grande he ever had, offered me tickets to his gig that night and went back to his room,” Gavin tells AGFG. "It was a very surreal experience!”
Having worked for the Hotel du Vin chain in the UK, Gavin was tutored by Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn and went on to gain his Wine and Spirit Education Trust Advanced Certificate, before travelling around South American wine regions and arriving in Melbourne to start work at the legendary Melbourne Supper Club.
These days he is a wine merchant for liquor giant Dan Murphy’s on the Sunshine Coast and WSET State trainer for Queensland, responsible for educating leadership teams.
Gavin says there is certainly a skill to the perfect food and wine pairing – but there’s no shame in getting it wrong. Like most things, it is trial and error, so don’t be afraid to get it wrong and try again – some of the best pairings come from experimentation.
Here are his top five tips for the best food and wine pairings:
•It’s important to match the intensity of flavour; pairing a wine with a light intensity will get lost on a rich, intense dish.
•Don’t be afraid to alter the dish to match the wine; a dish that calls for a good amount of citrus can throw the balance of a wine out very easily – let the wine be the acidity the dish needs.
•What grows, goes. Look to some of Europe’s most famous wine regions for inspiration; what are they drinking with the local cuisine?
•Don’t be scared to switch between white and red; if the dish demands a white and the last pairing was a red, so be it!
•Serve the wines at the correct temperature, a full-bodied Chardonnay, for example, will seem leaner when chilled. Let it warm a little and show its true potential; it is very valuable to the pairing.
Gavin says the only definite no-no in wine pairing is not having fun!
"Do a bit of research, but don’t get bogged down in the details; there are so many variables. Wines can vary so much from vintage to vintage and ingredients can also vary dramatically – pairings come a lot easier with practice.”
One of his favourite recommendations is a rich, full-bodied, oaky, buttery Chardonnay with steak tartare.
"I love how this pairing single-handedly blows the ‘white with fish, red with meat’ saying out of the water. The weight of these wines can stand up perfectly to the intensity of the raw steak while adding a great mouthfeel to the dish.
"It’s a winning combination and one of my all-time favourites.”
As for the worst pairing, be prepared to be blown away – wine and cheese!
"Okay, hear me out. It’s such a broad pairing and quite often fails,” Gavin explains. "There’s not one wine that would work seamlessly with an entire cheese board. I keep wine and cheese pairings simple, one great wine and cheese is more than enough.
"Sauvignon Blanc works wonders with goats’ cheese, but will seldom have the intensity to stand up to a salty, bold, blue cheese.”
Working with Sunshine Coast Private Chef, Alan Dawes has thrown up some interesting challenges and Gavin says his perfect degustation pairing has been Alan’s ‘Land and Sea’ dish of crab, kohlrabi and oyster mayo.
"It was imperative to find a wine with good acid to cut through the creaminess of the mayo and have great minerality and freshness to complement the crab.”
He chose ‘Jim’s Garden’ Riesling from the Clare Valley vineyard of Jim Barry.
"The lemon and lime characteristics of the Riesling paired wonderfully with the kohlrabi too, almost acting like a dressing to this earthy cabbage-like vegetable. I’m a huge fan of Australian Riesling and I love seeing it work with amazing dishes like this.”
