Beef Osso Buco and an Exploration of Merlot Wine

Fall apart, tender, wine-braised Beef Osso Buco pairs perfectly with a juicy and robust Merlot wine, making for a comforting and elegant dinner recipe.

October is a month to celebrate Merlot wine, so today the Wine Pairing Weekend crew is teaming up with #MerlotMe to bring you a lavish celebration of Merlot. We paired our Merlot tasting with a beef version of classic Italian comfort food recipe for one incredible meal!

Merlot Wine

Merlot is a darkly colored wine grape whose names comes from the French word merle, meaning blackbird. The grape originates from the Bordeaux region of France, but its popularity has spread throughout the world. Merlot styles can vary widely, but it is characteristically slightly dry with a soft tannin and a medium to full body that is heavy on the dark berry flavors.

While we love Merlot, we've never done a side-by-side tasting to really get a feel for what makes a Merlot tick and the subtle variances that make each Merlot unique. So, we were incredibly excited to receive bottles from three different American wineries to taste for Merlot Month.

L'Ecole No 41 is a French-inspired winery in Lowden, Washington. This family-owned winery was founded in 1983, and is the third oldest winery in the Walla Walla Valley. They are recognized as one of Washington State's top producers of Merlot. We received their 2012 Columbia Valley Merlot 2012, a blend of 80% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. We found the wine to be drier on the front end with a nice acidity and a smooth finish. It is an incredibly complex wine that boasts robust, black cherry flavors.

Duckhorn Vineyards is a Napa Valley winery founded in 1976 by Dan and Margaret Duckhorn. When they started, they had one focus, to create exceptional Merlot wine. They appreciate the soft qualities of Merlot and its ability to pair with many different foods. We received their 2012 Napa Valley Merlot which is a blend of 88% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec Cooperage. We found this wine to be a wonderfully smooth and subdued with hints of plum and vanilla flavors that linger on your tongue. While some Merlot are better when paired with food (in our opinion), we would have been content sipping on this one all night long.

Whitehall Lane Winery and Vineyards is a small Napa Valley winery just down the road from Duckhorn. It was founded in 1979 and was purchased by the Leonardini family in 1993 and ever since has been producing chart-topping wines. We received their 2013 Napa Valley Merlot which is a blend of 80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Syrah. We found this wine to have beautiful blackberry notes on the nose that carry through in the wine's flavor. You really get the burst of juiciness and spiciness that the Syrah adds to the blend. It finished off the driest of the three wines we tasted, leaving you with lingering hints of tannin and oak.

Pairing food with Merlot wine

When pairing food with Merlot, look for dishes full of deep, caramelized flavors, like roasted veggies and hearty, beefy dishes. A more medium-bodied Merlot pairs well with creamy sauces, think cheesy dishes or a butter sauce over steak. Merlot is also a wonderful wine to use in cooking, where it becomes the perfect complement to tomato sauces and casseroles.

For our pairing dinner, we decided to go with a beefy spin on a classic braised Italian dish: Osso Buco.

What is Osso Buco?

Osso Buco (pronounced OH-so-BU-ko) literally translates from Italian to "bones with holes" or "hollow bones". It is a traditional dish from Milan in the north of Italy that is most commonly made with veal shanks. You will find the dish made in one of two ways: bianco, or white, with white wine, cinnamon, bay leaves, and a parsley-lemon gremolata, is more traditional, while the more modern version is deeper in color because it includes tomatoes and more vegetables.

Our Beef Osso Buco recipe

We're taking a spin on the modern version today and using beef shanks, a more economical and easily found cut. The shank is the cut of meat at the top of the leg of the animal. Since it is a much-used muscle, it tends to be tough, which is why braising, or wet cooking, like we are doing in this Beef Osso Buco recipe is the perfect treatment to make it fall-apart tender.

You can typically find beef shanks in the meat section of your grocery store, look for thick slabs of meat with a cross-section of bone in the middle. These marrow-filled bones give the dish an incredibly robust, meaty richness, while the wine, tomato paste, and a touch of vinegar that we add to the braising liquid act to balance and complete the flavors of the comforting Beef Osso Buco.

Osso Buco is traditionally served with risotto, polenta or mashed potatoes. We served our Beef Osso Buco with polenta, seasoned only with a little salt and Parmesan cheese. It was the perfect, simple complement to such a deeply savory and full-flavored dish.

Merlot and Beef Osso Buco Wine Pairing

We thought the caramelized, flavors of the Beef Osso Buco would be a perfect match for the tannin and full-mouth flavor of Merlot, and we were right! All three wines paired incredibly well with the dish, but they all paired in a different way, making for an incredibly interesting dinner experiment.

The berry notes of the L'Ecole 41 Merlot became incredibly pronounced when paired with the dish, as did the oak. The dish seemed to smooth the edges of tannin in the wine, creating an incredibly flavorful and complete complement.

While the L'Ecole's fruit notes were highlighted by the dish, the Whitehall Lane Merlot seemed to lose it's fruity sweetness when paired with the dish, becoming very dry and silky. That dryness cut the fat and richeness of the Beef Osso Buco perfectly, creating a contrasting pairing that left you ready for another bite.

The Duckhorn Merlot's acidity also acted to cut the richness of the dish, and while the pairing worked with the meat, we found that where it really belonged was paired alone with the cheesy polenta or the creamy dressing of the salad we served along side our meal. The creamy elements complemented the Duckhorn Merlot's smooth flavors, creating a perfect balance.

It all goes to show that even different wines of the same 'type' can take on different flavor profiles and will stand out in different ways when paired with food.

 

Do you have a favorite Merlot or dish to pair with your Merlot? We'd love to hear about it in the comments below!

 

DISCLOSURE: We received samples of the Merlot that we featured in this post. We were not compensated for our time. As always, all opinions are our own.

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Celebrate Merlot Month with the #WinePW crew! Pop the cork on a bottle of Merlot, and explore the wines and pairings the rest of the group cooked up this month! 

• Jeff at foodwineclick with #MerlotMe Confession with Duckhorn and Pork Chops
• Martin at Enofylz with An Exploration Of Merlot's Food Pairing Versatility With Ethnic Fare
• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla with Fungi, Fun Guy, & Two Napa Valley Merlots
• Christy at Confessions of a Culinary Diva with Return to the Magic of Merlot
• Cindy at Grape Experiences with #MerlotMe with Duckhorn and J.Lohr paired with Duck Breasts Provençale
• Jennifer at VinoTravels with Merlot pairings with Polenta and Sausage

David of Cooking Chat started this event in June of 2014, and every month since then this group of wine and food lovers have had a great time! For more background, check out the original post announcing Wine Pairing Weekend. You can see the full list of past and upcoming #winePW events here.