When Charlotte Wine & Food Weekend rolls around on April 24, a star-studded roster of wine professionals will come to town along with the festival. The wine celeb we’re most excited about is DLynn Proctor, one of the stars of the original Somm film and a master sommelier. He’s hosting a dinner at The Fig Tree with the wine label he represents, Fantesca. Guests will get to try the newest releases from the winery, including a 2017 chardonnay and the 2015 release of red blend All Great Things.

“We’re going to have a blast,” Proctor says of the dinner on April 25. “We’re going to have an absolute blast.”

This isn’t Proctor’s first time to Charlotte; he was most recently in the city for a preview Charlotte Wine & Food dinner. He’s been impressed from what he’s seen so far in the city.

“Charlotte is trending more toward what Austin has finally become which is great dining, great food, great cocktails, great wine lists,” he says.
We caught up with Proctor to ask for his advice on pairing some Southern classics. See his recommendations below. —Kristen Wile

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BISCUITS AND GRAVY

DLynn’s pairing: Brunello di Montalcino
“I’d probably do something Italian, and I’d probably do something from Tuscany, whether it’s a nice, somewhat approachable glass of Brunello di Montalcino, made from Sangiovese, the Sangiovese Grosso grape variety. The thing about the brunello, it’s going to have a bit of oak for weight, it’s going to have great acidity and great tannin, and a younger vintage of Brunello, whether it’s ’12 or ’13 or ’14 or anything like that, it’s going to have enough fruit to act as a vehicle, it’ll help cut through the gravy. Because there is this tartness that you get from the Sangiovese Grosso grape variety but at the same time there’s a ripeness of fruit coming from Tuscany.”

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EASTERN-STYLE BARBECUE

DLynn’s pairing: Sonoma Coast chardonnay or northern Rhone syrah
“Even though I grew up in Texas, I do love the vinegar-based style Southern barbecue. I think the first thing that’s really important when you’re approaching any of these styles is acid. Acid lifts dishes, acid lifts liquids, acid is key to life especially in food and cuisine. So if we’re thinking of a pulled pork, vinegar-based sandwich or straight pulled pork, the first thing you need to do is fine a white wine with acid. I’d probably start with something like a Sonoma Coast chardonnay. And the reason I want Sonoma Coast chardonnay from the New World is it’s going to have a bit more fruit, there’s going to be a touch more weight just because of the style and climate. But it still will have those old-world sensibilities, because it does come from the coast right off the Pacific Ocean. When you are dealing with any type of barbecue, there is some weight and texture that is needed.”

“For red wine, I actually would like to go to the Old World on this one. I think syrahs from areas like Saint-Joseph and Côte-Rôtie are wonderful because they do have those wonderful spicy, peppery, earthy, nuanced characteristics. They’ve got what we’ve call capsicum, or that bell pepper characteristic, they’ve got some weight to them, they’ve got some texture, they’ve got fruit, but at the same some tannin for the vinegar sauce. It’s got enough acid to cut through the fattiness of the pulled pork, so a great Old World Northern Rhone syrah from Saint-Joseph or Côte-Rôtie will suffice well because I actually had that over the weekend. It was perfect.”

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WESTERN-STYLE BARBECUE

DLynn’s pairing: Sancerre, white Bordeaux, or California zinfandel
“For more of a Western-style barbecue, which is heavier, I actually will look for an Old World white wine, something that will perfectly cut through the acidity and the weight and the texture of a Western-style sauce. You can look for great wines from Sancerre, made from sauvignon blanc in the Loire Valley, and if you need something with a little more texture and weight without going to the New World, try the great wines from Bordeaux, but they will be white Bordeaux, based on sauvignon blanc and sémillon, because they will give you a bit more weight and a pinch of new oak for some texture and that tactile sensation, while still having great acidity to go with the Western-style.

I know it’s classic, people kind of beat the dead horse, but there is something about zinfandel from California — but zinfandel in particular that has a little age on it. The reason I like to pick zins with age on it is simply because those secondary characteristics and those tertiary characteristics start to come out, the wines open up a bit more. Zinfandel, when it does show age, it shows this wonderful kind of sour, almost kirsch note, if you will. Great zinfandels from legendary producers do have great acidity, they’ve got great fruit, and they’ve got great tannin at the same time. And they give you this kind of umami sense of feel when it comes to red fruits, blue fruits, and black fruits all at the same time. I think a great New World zinfandel from California, from the Dry Creek area, will go perfectly well with that Western-style barbecue.”

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SHRIMP AND GRITS

DLynn’s pairing: Vouvray
“You’re going to need a white wine with acidity, because you do have that coarse — not coarse in a negative way, but coarse, starchy — characteristic from the grits, and it usually does have a little salinity in there. So I think the beautiful thing to do with that, try an Old World Vouvray from the Loire Valley. It’s made from a grape variety called chenin blanc. It’s got some residual sugar, not sweet – don’t think sweet wine – but it’s got some residual sugar in the glass and the bottle, that’s going to add some sweetness layers to that spice from the shrimp and grits and that salinity from the shrimp and grits, but at the same time it’s got acidity, it’s got fruit, it’s got stone fruit, big ripe peach, ripe apricot, it’s got some grapefruit as well, light banana, and I think that’s a perfect pairing. So shrimp and grits and a nice glass of Vouvray from Loire Valley made from chenin blanc, a match made in heaven.”

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TROUT

DLynn’s pairing: Beaujolais
“When I eat trout I like to have Beaujolais. So let’s go Beaujolais from the great village of Morgon. And that is the gamay grape variety from the Beaujolais region of France in Burgundy, of course. It’s got great fruit, it’s got great acid, it’s got this wonderful smokey kind of granitic characteristic to it, raspberries and cherries, and tart plums and I love that with trout. Honestly, I love it with trout, I love it with cod, I love it with snapper, but with trout it’s fantastic.”

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RAMPS

DLynn’s pairing: Albarino
“We need to go old world, because there’s a certain minerality that’s found in the Old World that you can’t find in the new world, and you need to be coastal. I would say something like albarino, from the Rías Baixas region of Northeastern Spain, that has this great kind of peach soda, fuzzy navel, high acid — almost spritzy, but I don’t want you to think sparkling wine, it’s got got this wonderful spritz to it. Albarino has got great aromatics and great acidity.”

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CHICKEN AND WAFFLES

DLynn’s pairing: Bourbon
“Last but certainly not least, chicken and waffles. So usually when I have chicken and waffles I drink bourbon, it’s just the thing that I do, so it’s really not a food and wine pairing for me, I had some chicken and waffles a couple weeks ago and I had Weller bourbon. Let’s just keep it easy.”

 

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