Though it was the middle of a work week (when we rarely dine out), we secured a table at Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas for an evening with Master Sommelier Richard Betts. Because the 4th annual Hawaii Food and Wine Festival is in full swing, many of the top winemakers and chefs along with several Master Sommeliers are her in the 50th. And since Richard Betts is good friends with Vino's resident Master Sommelier, Chuck Furuya, he led a small group through a "tour" of his current wine, mezcal and tequila projects.
For starters, Richard passed the rigorous Master Sommelier exam on his first try (only 9 Masters have accomplished this) with the highest score in his class earning him the prestigious Krug Cup. He later teamed with art collector Dennis Scholl to form the Betts and Scholl wine label eventually selling his share about 5 years ago. He current wine labels are "my Essential wine" and St Glinglin roughly translated as "when pigs fly" along with the Astral tequila and Sombra mezcal projects.
I first met Richard when I took the Beginners Class from the Court of Master Sommeliers and our paths would cross at occasional wine functions at Vino. I still have a bottle 2003 William Fevre Grenouilles Chablis in my cellar only because he had that ethereal look while describing an aged version at the Beginner's Class.
Hiroshi's menu looked like this
Fried Kauai Shrimp
House made squid ink linguine,
Kaffie lime butter and shiso
4oz 2013 St Glinglin Sauvignon Blanc
Burrata
stuffed with takana, konbu, ginger,
yamagobo and served with hijiki-sugar snap pea
Sous Vide of Big Island NY Steak
served with Axelrod’s chimichurri, 3
potato gratin, King Alii mushroom katsu
and Frankie’s
peppercorn sauce
4oz 2010 Chateay Glinglin “Carte Vert”
Spare Rib Ramen
with crab meat, Thai basil, cilantro,
Tokyo negi, shiitake mushroom & truffle oil
4oz 2013 my Essential Rose
Green Tea Tiramisu
Along with Richard's wines, I also uncorked a 2013 Domaine Trotereau from Quincy since Chuck provided a bottle from the Domaine's older wines several weeks ago and I HAD to find the wine. It had a little more minerality than the St Glinglin but the Glinglin had a lot more herbal qualities going on.
I also uncorked a 2011 Antoine Arena Biancu Gentile from Corsica - a grape variety that used to be widely planted in Corsica but almost went extinct until it was revived by a handful of dedicated winemakers. And since I had two Masters at our table, I blinded them on the wine. It was a treat listening to Chuck and Richard discussing the wine trying to solve the "riddle". When I finally unblinded the wine, both of them were surprised at what it was. I personally thought it paired nicely with the burrata since it had the richness of an older wine with good body.
And as usual, it was another great wine dinner at Hiroshi. Since the Mrs works this weekend, I'm probably skipping the formal events at this year's Hawaii Food and Wine Festival... though the Chardonnay tasting at the Halekulani sounds interesting especially since they're pouring some Coche-Dury white Burgs...
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