What To Pair With a Salad

So here I was in a little of a conundrum last week. I was at a planning meeting for the annual ‘Parade of Chefs’. It is a charity event held every year for the last five years to benefit the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. A number of area chefs get together and each prepares a different course for the meal paired with a wine from an Ontario Winery. In the past we have done the desserts and soup so this year we were given the salad course. To make it challenging and give the event a different twist, every course to be served that night s going to be a different color. Ian and I thought green would be too easy, so instead we decided on a purple salad. It will consist of purple kale, purple romaine, garnished with beets and a blueberry beetroot vinaigrette. Now the challenge is what wine to serve with it. I got thinking and imagining the flavors and I really couldn’t see a white wine pairing well, and a red… well I have to be careful. First, we can’t make the vinaigrette too acidic or no wine will stand up to it (which shouldn’t be a problem as the beetroot and the blueberries combine well enough that we shouldn’t have to use much vinegar), Second the red has to be full bodied enough to match the vinaigrette but not tannic—so I pretty much had to stay away from Cabernets and Merlots. Baco Noir? No too smokey and acidic. Pinot Noir? Maybe, but not enough oomph. Then while I was brainstorming with Mary Jane from Smith & Wilson Mary Jane brought up their Chambourcin. They still have the 2005 on their shelf that has really developed into a beautiful wine. It has a nice round body with sweet round blueberry and strawberry aromas. The tannins are very much in check and just a hint of pepperyness that it will marry well with the salad. Or at least I think it will. I would encourage you to get your tickets to the April 10th event early and taste the combination for yourself. For more information visit www.foundationckha.com or call (519) 336-2538 for tickets.