Sunday School for Wine Lovers

Going to school on Sunday is a real drag--unless the class you are attending is a wine appreciation seminar at San Antonio Winery in downtown Los Angeles.

It took a large room to hold the enthusiastic students taking Wine 103, the class that I attended. This was the third in a series that started with Wine 101, “An Introduction to Wine,” in January, and Wine 102, “How to Get the Wine You Want,” in  March.

Wine 103’s topic was “A Match Made in Heaven,” or how to pair wine and cheese. The assignment was to taste eight wines and match these with samples of Boucheron, Parmigiano Reggiano, Brie, Gorgonzola Dolce, Pecorino Toscano and Emmental cheeses.

Our guidelines were to pair red wines with harder cheeses and white wines with softer cheeses, taking into account that semi-dry and sweet wines are more versatile with cheeses than dry wines.

Still more pointers:

Soft and/or mild cheeses such as fresh goat cheese marry well with light crisp wines such as Pouilly-Fume or Sancerre.

Assertive, strong flavored cheeses such as Provolone call for young robust red wines such as Chianti Classico or Shiraz.

Aged mellow cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano and Gouda go well with an older robust wine such as a Bordeaux or California Cabernet Sauvignon.

But the class assignment was to eat as well as taste. So while we nibbled the cheeses and sipped Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2007 from New Zealand and Comte Lafond Sancerre 2005, we ate a jumbo-sized blue lump crab cake with spicy remoulade.

Then we matched Claiborne & Churchill Dry Riesling 2006 and Domaines Schlumberger Gewurtraminer “Fleur” 2005 with a smoked chicken breast and fruit salad with a mint yogurt vinaigrette.

Moving on to red wines, we drank Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2003, San Simeon Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 and Penfolds 389 Cabernet/Shiraz 2004 with roasted pork loin stuffed with Spanish chorizo accompanied by nappa cabbage, coriander mashed potatoes and fresh fava beans in shiitake au jus.

The lesson ended with Grans-Fassian Riesling Eiswein 2001 and a pear and mascarpone charlotte with sour cherry jubilee.

San Antonio Winery's next series of three seminars and lunches will focus on wines of the world. They are “A Day in Tuscany” April 26; “The Wines of Germany and Alsace” May 18, and “Wines from Down Under,” June 21.

The seminars are $75 each or $200 for a package of three.  To enroll, call (323) 223-1401. Ask for Michael Papalia at ext. 8771. Or email to wineshop@sanantoniowinery.com.  The winery is located at 737 Lamar Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031.