Syrah Wines with Patrick Cappiello at Gilt

Divya Gugnani: Hi, I’m Divya Gugnani and welcome to Gild at the Palace Hotel, sitting pretty on Madison Avenue. Gild serves with style and elegance. Coming in for a drink for modern American meal either will be unforgettable. So let’s go behind the burner and meet the wine director. Hi, I’m here with Patrick Capiello. Patrick, tell us about you favorite grape varietal. Patrick Capiello: Syrah, definitely. It’s one that I love and really unique because it’s a varietal that seem to cut on all the across the world. It actually comes from the Northern Roman Valley, two very famous hills in that area, Hermitage and Cote Rotie. We’ve seen Syrah move over the course of time to many different regions in the world, Australia although they call it Shiraz there, the same varietal. We’ve seen it moved to Chile now and they’re having some good luck with it there and in California. And actually in California for quite a long period of time and we’re seeing kind of a different ideal where we have almost like a two camps facing off. There are the cool climates, the camp and the warmer climate and that’s when you're going to get wines that are really rich and jamming in full body. In France it’s a cool climate, so they tend to be wines that have a little more acidity but more in a balance weight by all means a light body wine. It’s still a full bodied wine. Divya Gugnani: What’s your best tip for drinking Syrah? Patrick Capiello: Well, I think finding small producers that make cool climate Syrah in areas outside of France is kind of a really cool thing because I think you can get all that power, all that intensity from the Roman Valley but would not misrule the huge price tag. And once sitting like a lot of Pax who have really done a great job of sourcing small full kind of vineyards throughout California to produce a line of wines. Divya Gugnani: And how do you like to open your bottle of wine, I'm curious to know. Patrick Capiello: Well, Pax is kind of an interesting one. They’ve already put a wax capsule on it. What I was recommending doing is just going reading with the wine keys. Divya Gugnani: So what kind of glass. Patrick Capiello: In some ways, tend to feel that the wines are better and bigger, more Burgundy style, like a more balloon style glass but I tend to use a little finer, a little smaller because I think the aromatics with the wine they can just be pretty intense and giving the wine too much surface area in the glass can be maybe a little overpowering. Divya Gugnani: And what do you like to pair it with? Patrick Capiello: With this wine I think you had to have dish that has some density to it and probably some fat because you do have that tannin there that I think it can help melt away like a revue would be great or any sort of gamy meat, too. Divya Gugnani: And give us your best tip for tasting wine. Patrick Capiello: One of the things that people do in smelling wine is that they smell it too hard. I mean, you smell wine like you we’re smelling a rose. I always start reading as I’m working into the glass. Divya Gugnani: What temperature do you like your Syrah at? Patrick Capiello: I mean red wines are on 50 degrees not only for storage but I think to serve them. I mean that’s what were having here by decade a wine your almost emulating what happens as you aged a wine by giving it that immediate exposure to oxygen. You’re helping the molecules to soften and break down a little bit. So, as a result you’re seeing how the wine would be if it would be further down on its life. Divya Gugnani: And this world is really wet to incorporate air into the glass. Patrick Capiello: Definitely, air is a good thing for wine. It not only helps it to become more explosively aromatic but it gives the wine softness. It helps to smooth the wine out. Divya Gugnani: You kind of swirl it all through your mouth, I saw that going from here to there to here. Patrick Capiello: And then also breathing in through the wine, spreading the wine out all around those areas. You’re going to definitely sense more what the wine has to offer. So, this is Pax’s Kobler Family vineyard. It’s a little more like softer and more feminine style. Well, this wine is actually not entirely made of Syrah. It’s blended in with the small percentage of white grape called the viognier. Divya Gugnani: Oh, that’s so interesting to have white and red blend together. Patrick Capiello: An average is considered to be four glasses. Before approximately seven ounce glasses and on average most restaurants you're going to get about seven ounce pour at home. I would say I usually tend to open up a bottle with more than four people. So you know, it’s accordingly much less. Divya Gugnani: Thanks, Patrick so much for having us and telling us all about your favorite Pax’s Syrah. When I think Syrah, I think France. That’s what I would do. I don’t bother. We’re trying to take the outside off and it goes straight in. That delicate aroma, you take that in first and smell that all fruit flavor. You swirl it a little around, feel the fruit flavor that comes forward except berry flavor of the black pepper finished and a little bit of the organic. On behind the burner, you can enjoy this exclusive opportunity to purchase Pax wines. Stay tune to behind the burner where we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on fire.