Top Pair: Endive Salad and Silvaner

by Lisa Elbert, Tastemaker in Residence from starchefs.com

Endive-Radicchio Salad, Grapefruit, and Fourme d’Ambert paired with 2008 Odinstal '350 N.N.' Silvaner

Rarely does a sommelier find a wine that fully accentuates salad, but Sommelier Colleen Hein-Holden makes salad the star with a holistic Silvaner pairing at Boston's Eastern Standard.

Topped with grapefruit and funky Fourme d'Ambert blue cheese, Chef Matt Garland's acid-forward, bitter endive and radicchio salad calls for a weighty wine to stand up to such powerful flavor. Hein-Holden accomplishes this with a 2008 Odinstal '350 N.N.' Silvaner from the Pfalz region of Germany. “Silvaner is a white variety grown in Germany, Alsace, and Austria, and it can take on different forms. I typically enjoy lighter, drier expression, but this is a different animal. It has weight and spiciness on the palate,” says Hein-Holden.

The aromas of orange and petrol on the nose complement the grapefruit, while the medium acidity cuts through the funk of the Fourme d'Ambert. The wine also plays up the spice in the greens with its slightly bitter finish. “Chef was excited about the paring because all the flavor profiles come through in the Silvaner—citrus with a bitter finish on the end.”