Making do: when there's no choice

A few Sundays ago I found myself at The Lemon Drop in Avalon, New Jersey (my mother’s house, one block from the Atlantic Ocean) around 8 p.m. on a Sunday night, ready to cook up some chicken thighs with rice and asparagus. I like thighs browned, then poached in red wine, with cloves and rosemary and some garlic, with the extra sauce spooned over the rice.

On hand wine-wise was a bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz, which somebody must have brought, Lord knows I wouldn’t buy Australia’s alcoholic answer to Pepsi and I am surely not going to let its obvious vanilla flavors ruin my chicken. Hmm, there’s also a bottle of Domaine Ste.-Michelle Brut from Washington State, an unchilled bottle of 2005 Vin de Pays Rose that really should be drunk up, and my vins de garde I keep in Avalon, which are not being touched for this.

Well, off to the Avalon liquor store, Fred's Avalon Liquors, open until 10 on Sundays and blessed with a very good wine selection. I’m thinking a Chinon or Cotes du Rhone … uh-oh. Fred's is closed, staff crisis. And there’s no other store easily accessible.

Back at the house, quandary. The rose would be acceptable to drink but not, I think, to cook in and it's not chilled anyway. I won't touch the Shiraz. That leaves the Washington State sparkler.

It's not ideal. It's not what I wanted. But if I want wine with dinner, and I do, it's the best choice. Besides, I always proselytize for sparkling wine with food, and here's a chance.

So a change of plans on the preparation, now it will be thighs in an olive oil- onion-garlic-vermouth-parsley sauce finished with butter. I always keep dry and sweet vermouth around, and Martini & Rossi dry (other acceptable brands: Noilly Prat, Cinzano, Stock) makes a lovely light sauce.

The chicken came out delightfully flavored and the sauce sparkled with flavor. The wine, well, the tasting note is below; it was refreshing and a decent quaff.

The point here is don't let a non-perfect wine/food match set you back. Take what you have and improvise -- don't deny yourself pleasure because it's not textbook. Wine's more versatile than you might think – it can compliment almost anything. Just be prepared to take another path.

NV Domaine Ste. Michelle (Washington State) Brut
Fabulous, effervescent mousse, positively fizzy, tickles the nose, crisp lemony taste and then … nothing. It goes poof. Disappears on the tongue. Amazingly bland. Not much finish, if at all. No body or structure. Weird. Refreshing enough with my vermouth/onion chicken thighs, the fizz made it enjoyable, but just not much to this. Even in this price range ($10) you can do a lot better. It did make a good base for Kir Royales as a digestif to follow, I must say, with G.E. Massenez’s mouth-puckeringly and lusciously tart Crème de Cassis from Dijon. Give Massenez ****, the wine *1/2.