Join me for a 16-course Tasting Menu at Blanca?

Hi Wine Friends,

I just returned from a whirlwind 5 days in New York City, which was in full Spring bloom and a true treat for the senses. Simply roaming the streets soaking in the cherry blossoms and listening to the honking taxi symphony and general hum of the Big Apple energy would have been enough (I went to college in Manhattan, and it’s one of my very favorite places), but I was lucky enough to enjoy some incredible food and wine, too. In case you’re in need of some quick escapism or inspo for your next dinner party, I thought I’d share one of my favorite meals of the trip… down a back alley in Bushwick, at Blanca.

 One wine for 16 courses–yikes!

Blanca was just named as the #2 restaurant in the city by the New York Times and I was able to snag a late-night table and talk an old friend into joining me. Blanca is made up of just eight bar seats in front of an open kitchen, which means you really get to watch Chilean chef Victoria Blamey work her magic. We were treated to 16 ultra-creative dishes featuring lots of seafood, fresh herbs, seaweed and unique ingredients indigenous to the Andes. Some of my favorites were: crab-stuffed empanadas with seaweed salsa, white asparagus with snow crab and a creamy orange vanilla mousse, gouda cappelletti with bea pollen, and the most perfectly simple caviar course with parsnip puree and crème fraîche soft serve.

So what did we drink, you ask? Well, we considered doing the pairings, but the lineup that night also included beer and saké, and your girl wanted to go all wine. So instead we opted for a bottle. And then another bottle (‘cuz when in New York, right?). 

It can be tough to pick a bottle that you hope will pair well with a tasting menu that you’ve never tried before. And, if you don’t know much about the chef and their cuisine, I would either ask the sommelier what to expect from the menu or opt for pairings. 

But my friend and I are both well-versed in wine, and I’ve followed chef Blamey for some time now, so I thought (or hoped) that I had a rough idea of what the menu would consist of. So if you’re going to make an educated bottle guess like we did, then this is where your pairing skills come into play!

I knew Blamey cooked with a lot of seafood, which immediately put me in the category of white wine. My dining partner made a compelling case for red Burgundy but I argued that it was April, and we would surely see a lot of spring herbs and veggies, and that Chilean food often incorporates citrus and spice. So we decided to look for a white with enough acidity to play off dishes like ceviche or aguachile, which contain lime, cilantro and chilis.

See, a wine should always be at least as acidic as the dish it’s paired with. That’s one of the reasons sommeliers love high-acid wines so very much, because they are incredibly versatile. If the dish (or dishes) you’re pairing contains tomatoes or citrus, then you need a wine with equal brightness, or you risk the dish making the wine taste flabby and flat. 

But acidity can do more than match acidic food;  it can also cut through richness to brighten dishes up. So we considered doing a light, crisp white with high acidity, such as Chenin Blanc (the highest acid white grape), Riesling (a close second) or even a cold-climate Sauvignon Blanc (whose green notes would have paired well with fresh herbs and chilis). But the aforementioned varietals are all very aromatic and, if you think back to pairing principle #1 (pair to the sauce first), you’ll remember that you want to match the primary flavor profile of the wine with the primary flavor profile of the dish. And when you don’t know what dishes you’ll be served, and what the sauce and seasoning will be on each one, it can be risky to choose a wine with so much… personality. Chances are -  the aromatics would match up perfectly on at least one dish but potentially clash with others.

So where did that leave us? Well, we knew we wanted a white. We knew we wanted good acidity. We knew we wanted something with enough body to stand up to heavier dishes later in the meal. And we decided we wanted a neutral grape who’s flavor profile would be versatile with lots of different flavors.

Can you guess what we chose? 

That’s right, a Chardonnay. And not just any Chardonnay but a 2018 Puligny Montrachet from Jean Jacques Morel. This is white Burgundy at its finest. It boasts bright acidity thanks to its cool climate, rich texture from its limestone soils and neutral oak fermentation, a savory, mushroomy nose from its 6 years of age, and a subtle briny note from its fossilized seashell soils. It had the high acid we were looking for thanks to its cool growing region, and it had a neutral enough flavor profile that it didn’t clash with the various flavors we tasted throughout the menu. It was rapturous, and I could’ve slurped the whole bottle down by itself but, when paired with Chef Blamey’s cooking, it took the rapture to a whole new level. 

I’m sure it would have been excellent with all 16 courses but we ran into a slight snag: the bottle was empty by course 10 😳 And when they assured us that there wasn’t a leak and we were, in fact, lushes, we decided to own it and order another. But we wanted to change it up. 

And based on how delicate we could now see that the food was, we decided to stick with another white. But here’s the curveball… They served us the wrong wine. And it was perfect.

The Universe had a plan

My friend wanted to surprise me with the next bottle, and he pointed out his choice to our server. I actually still have no idea what that bottle was supposed to be. But the bottle they brought out was not it. And either we didn’t notice fast enough or just decided to trust that the universe had a plan - but we decided to go with it.

And it turns out that the universe did know what it was doing (as usual) and what it sent us was something we never would have ordered: a 2019 Hermitage Blanc from Jean Louis Chave. If you’ve never heard of Hermitage, it’s one of the most prestigious appellations of France’s Northern Rhone Valley, known for growing the world’s best… Syrah. See, the Rhone is red territory! The whites they do grow there (based on Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier) are not nearly as highly regarded.

I’ll be honest:  white Rhônes have never been my favorite. They are full bodied but naturally lower in acid and can taste, as I mentioned above, flabby. But in the hands of a skilled winemaker (like iconic producer Chave), they can be pretty damn wonderful.

The bottle we enjoyed was 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne which, like Chardonnay, are both fairly neutral in their flavor profile. It had subtle aromas of golden apple and white peach, with hints of hazelnut and marzipan, and a full, creamy body with brioch-ey undertones. And the fact that it didn’t have as much acidity as the Burgundy was actually perfect, because the lighter, brighter dishes had given way into richer dishes with heavier sauces.

When paired with white asparagus and snow crab topped with orange vanilla cream, it melded with the sauce perfectly and made the dish taste like a creamsicle. When sipped with the caviar’s parsnip puree and frozen crème fraîche custard, its weight stood up to the rich cream and then popped the subtle sweetness of the caviar. When enjoyed with the fresh bread filled with pork skins and slathered in cultured better, it stood up to the richness and was all umami. And when finished off with the final course of aged sheep cheese, honeycomb and pumpkin seed cookies, it brought out the honeyed note in the wine and nuttiness in the cheese.

Learn more about pairing in this upcoming masterclass 

I hope this was a fun exploration of taste and I hope you go follow Chef Blamey and Blanca on social media or, better yet, go visit for yourself.

If you enjoy nerding out with me on the art of pairing food and wine, I hope you’ll join me for my Food & Wine Pairing Masterclass next month. It’s on Saturday March 18th at 2pm and is open to all Seven Day Sommelier students - past and present. I’ll discuss pairing principles, give some great examples of each and answer any and all questions you have.

And If you’re unfamiliar with Seven Day Sommelier, it’s my fully digital wine course designed to arm you with all the knowledge you need to know to enjoy wine like a pro. If you love wine but want to drink and shop with greater confidence, then this course is for you. I hope I’ll see you there 😉

JOIN SEVEN DAY SOMMELIER

Cheers and see you soon,

Kelsey