How to pair wild mushrooms with wine
"Mushrooms are in autumn, so Burgundy..." ...that's about the kind of thing I end up saying.
But that only appeals to sommeliers, chefs, geeks, and foodies. So the shop owner decided to think about it from a more fundamental perspective.
First conclusion
It's not the "aroma" that connects wild mushrooms and wine.
The essence is "decomposition" .
Wild mushrooms are decomposers of the forest.
Mushrooms are not plants.
It's a fungus.
In the forest
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Trees reaching the end of their lifespan
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Fallen tree
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fallen leaves
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dead branch
An organism that breaks down waste and converts it into nutrients. In other words, it's a creature that helps the forest cycle. That's why it also has a scent.
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damp soil
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fallen leaves
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tree
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moss
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humus
It will become.
The same is true for wine.
Grapes are fruit. But when they ferment, the fruitiness is not the only thing that remains.
When it matures
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fallen leaves
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forest
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mushroom
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black tea
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fallen leaves
It changes. In other words, young wine is fruit, and aged wine is the forest.
The common thread is "the scent of returning to the forest."
Wild mushrooms are born in the forest. Aged wine returns to the forest over time. So perhaps wild mushrooms and aged wine don't just have similar aromas, but rather they've progressed in the same direction .
From a scientific perspective
Wild mushrooms are rich not only in glutamic acid but also in guanylic acid.
Heating it enhances the flavor.
On the other hand, in aged wines, the fruit-derived aromas decrease.
The third aroma increases. In other words, in terms of taste, it becomes umami.
In terms of aroma, it has a mature scent. Both contribute to a "quiet complexity."
But hundreds of years ago, hunters and farmers didn't think about wine and food pairings in theory. When autumn came, they would go into the mountains and gather mushrooms.
They hunt deer and wild boars. Grapes are harvested in nearby fields, and wine is made. All of these things originated in the same season and on the same land. That's why they ended up on the table. The idea of "pairing" didn't exist from the beginning.
Life came first, and theory emerged much later.
The forest created a single dining table.
Wild mushrooms grow in the forest. Game meat also comes from the forest. And many vineyards are spread across slopes adjacent to forests. In Europe, people have traditionally obtained food from the forest, made wine from the vineyards, and consumed both at the same table.
In other words,
The wine wasn't paired with the food; rather, the land itself connected everything. That's how it should be.
Why did it remain?
Of course, if it doesn't suit the taste, it won't survive as a cultural phenomenon. The fact that it has been eaten repeatedly for generations is...
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The iron and umami of game meat
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The complex aroma of wild mushrooms
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The refined flavor of aged wine
Because these things came into harmony naturally.
However, that harmony wasn't designed by anyone.
It was the "answer" that had been refined over hundreds of years as people lived in harmony with nature.
The term "pairing" has become commonplace these days.
Pairing is a word that describes culture.
Nowadays, pairings are often described as "this wine goes with this dish."
That's not wrong. It's just a theory that was refined at the end of a long history. The essence is much simpler.
What was harvested in that land, ripened in that season, and what people continued to eat, turned out to be a good match.
That's why it became a part of the culture.
Things I want to convey
The reason we serve wild mushrooms, game meat, and wine together at Morinonaka isn't just "to let you enjoy the pairing."
What we want to offer is an experience of savoring things grown in the mountains as part of mountain culture .
Wine is neither a supporting player nor the main character. The same goes for wild mushrooms and game meat. The main characters are the land and season in which they were grown.
Therefore, eating a dish and drinking a beverage is more than just enjoying the combination of flavors; it's also about connecting with the history and way of life that has been built up in that place.
Considering this, "pairing" is not an end in itself, but merely a name given to a phenomenon that has been inevitably derived from a long history. This is the philosophy of wine and food that we want to convey at Morinonaka.