I was asked to serve as the judge for a special event celebrating Caymus’ Conundrum, which was paired with a range of take-out cuisine in search of the best match. This wine is a “proprietarily secretive blend of California white grapes”, drawing from Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Canelli, Chardonnay and Viognier, and a combination of stainless steel and barrel fermentation that results in an unusual, but wonderful wine.

Pamela Wittman, owner of Millissime PR & Marketing Services, graciously opened up her home to a group of wine and food journalists, inviting them to each bring a dish of ethnic food, which they felt would pair well with the Conundrum wine. The stakes? A jeroboam of Conundrum.

Guests arrived, bearing their dishes, which Pamela and her team (Patricia, Erin and Matthew) plated, carefully protecting each person’s the identity until the big reveal later in the evening. After everyone had settled in, Pamela offered a brief welcome and explained the origin of the evening’s event. When she first tasted this wine, she felt strongly that it would pair well with a variety of foods and thus, she sought to confirm her suspicions that night. Guests were then invited to dig into the wonderful array of food.

Having been asked to serve as the arbiter for the evening, I took my job seriously and made sure to take a bite of each dish and taste it alongside the wine, keeping careful notes of my impressions. I tasted the food on its own and then took some wine into my mouth, while the food was still in it, to further probe the pairing. It was a fun, but challenging task, as I sought to rank my preferences from 1 (favorite pairing) to 11 (least favorite). Certainly, it was not a scientific experiment, but I did come to some conclusions and submitted my ranking to the Millissime team.

My first choice was a Chicken Tagine with Apricots, prepared by Jamal Rayyis (technically he cheated as it wasn’t take-out, but he did take it out of his kitchen and it was quite tasty, so there were no arguments). I found the dish to be full-flavored and well-spiced with its fruit flavors — fruity, but not sweet — matching nicely with the fruit in the wine. My second favorite selection was Chicken Tikka Masala, the flavors and creamy texture serving as a nice foil for the wine. Sweeter dishes such as General Tso’s Chicken were less preferred by me as their sweetness dimmed the fruit in the wine and made it appear overly dry. Dishes with excessive heat overpowered the wine and were similarly less successful. I also have to mention the Grand Marnier Shrimp, brought by my friend, Lisa Carley, which thankfully made it into my Top 5, otherwise she claimed that she would have had to stop speaking to me.

A popular vote was also taken, and, while there wasn’t perfect consensus, the #1 and #11 spots were the same — Jamal taking home the prize for the evening and my dear husband, Jared, falling short on both lists (and confirming my impartiality as judge). Actually, everyone really enjoyed the Thai pasta dish he had selected, but its heat (and mind you, he ordered it as medium, not hot) would be better suited to a beer or lassi.

So, that was our Conundrum for the evening, easily solved with great wine, great food and great company. What’s yours?

All images courtesy of Pamela Wittman.