Wine, per chance of MEATBALLS

Yes, you read right! Wolf Blass had a masterclass for a group of media members serving meatballs with its Gold Label wines!

The key element that stood out in the taste test was the distinctively different sauces used to coat the meatballs – Taiwanese basil vinaigrette, chu hou (Cantonese beef stew), masala and curry – prepared by chef Gary Anwar from Ember Modern Bistro, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

This was based on four flavours created by Executive Chef Manjunath Mural from Song of India (Singapore), Chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn from Le Du (Thailand), Chef Lam Ming Kin from Longtail (Taiwan) and Chef He Hong Ping from Da San Yuan (Taiwan), who came up with the complementary sauces after tasting the Gold Label Shiraz, Gold Label Cabernet Sauvignon and Gold Label Chardonnay. 

According to Wolf Blass brand ambassador Sam Stephens, Wolf Blass is taking a different lead in its ‘Find your Flavour’ campaign in partnership with Michelin Guide.

This is because dining experiences in Southeast Asia indicate that Wolf Blass wines are more complementary with local cuisines through their sauces, due to differences in preparation methods, ingredients and consumption style, rather than the proteins served. 

With these curated sauces as the basis for wine pairing, Wolf Blass reinvents food and wine pairing rules and challenges consumers to look beyond the usual meat indicator, especially when it comes to Asian food. 

“Experimenting with sauces is very exciting as there is such a diversity of flavours. This brings a new dimension to the traditional food and wine guides. Taste is really open to interpretation so there is no right or wrong way to pair food with wine, it’s about what works for you,” said Stephens.

“For instance, I love the Gold Label Chardonnay with the vinaigrette as it brings out the  fresh green apple flavours and elegant expression of the wine.”

Personally, that was my top choice among the four different pairings too, but there were many varying opinions as well as some loved the complexities of the masala or curry paired with the Shiraz. Chu hou attracted the most diverse reactions as some really liked the sauce with the Cabernet Sauvignon while others felt it didn’t go with any of the wines at all!  

A dedicated microsite (https://wolfblassFYF.com/) was also launched to help consumers explore the different tasting notes of Wolf Blass wines to match regularly consumed sauces. A series of videos featuring the partner chefs and their sauces is available across various digital and social platforms. Through this bespoke content, via multiple touchpoints, Wolf Blass hopes consumers will change their perceptions of wine with Asian food. ‘Find Your Flavour’ will be rolled out in phases from now until June 2020.