Spring brings crisp cool temperatures in Napa Valley and throughout much of the United States.  Senses continue to liven as floral scents drift past the nose from camellias, daffodils, nemesia and other spring flowers.   The palate shakes off the slumber of winter, heavy dishes and tannic red wines to search for something brighter, cleaner and livelier:   enter, “L’Ingenue”.

L’Ingenue is a blend of white wine grapes made by Elyse Winery in Napa Valley.   Before anyone yawns and envisions “chardonnay”, “sauvignon blanc” or other standard white wine grapes, reel back any predisposition to judge for the four varietals used in this blend are native to the Rhone Valley of France.    Instead of the white wine usual suspects, L’Ingenue offers 36% Roussanne, 35% Viognier, 20% Marsanne and 9% Grenache Blanc.  If you are looking for something ingeniously unique to serve at a spring dinner this month, L’Ingenue gracefully meets this criterion.

Considering the varietal make-up of the 2008 L’Ingenue, it is readily understandable why this wine will be highly aromatic.  Both Roussanne and Viognier are highly aromatic grapes.   Pouring the wine into the glass, it is a lovely pale straw color.   Delightfully aromatic, the nose is enchanted by nuances of orange citrus blossom, camellia flowers, honeysuckle, peaches and apple blossom.  In the mouth, a playful acidity dances across the palate, revealing bright spring flavors of citrus, tropical fruit (such as pineapple), apricot, graced with a bit of crème fraiche and finishing with notes of fuji apple.  Full fruit flavors akin to a impromptu fruit salad made with seasonal neighborhood harvested backyard fruit.   Over the palate, fruit flavors, body and acidity wash back like taking a bite of tree-ripened fruit yet surprising the flavor profile with sudden pleasantly bursts of citrus flavors.  The wine is not as heavily bodied as a chardonnay but is present enough in the mouth to diversify its food pairing capabilities.

The acidity in the wine quickly speaks to seafood pairings such as scallops or the quintessential crabcake.   Yet being mindful of the wine’s substantial weight in the mouth, a carefully crafted pasta dish can pair well, too.   This week’s menu holds:

1)      Seared Scallops in Rangpur Lime Juice; and

2)     Spring Pea, Carrot, Green Onion stuffed Pasta Shells with a Sweetened White Sauce.

Given the body and acidity of the 2008 L’Ingenue, scallops have a well-suited texture and when seared in olive oil, butter and rangpur lime, these scallops soulfully pair with this wine.

Simple ricotta fillings for pasta are pleasant enough, but if some creativity is put into such filling, the wine that is paired with the dish will explode with varied flavors as it crosses the palate.   Here, creating a filling of ricotta, carrot, green onion, lemon thyme, peas, parmesan and garlic brings this wine to its full potential, as L’Ingenue flaunts all of its very best attributes with a cornucopia of vivid bright fruit.   Tasting a wine is one thing, but pairing it with the right food flavors takes it from a “good” wine to a “wow” wine.

Any time that I feature a wine from Elyse Winery, I am compelled to carefully contemplate the ingredients in the pairing.  Elyse Winery’s wines are wonderfully enjoyable on their own or with much gourmet fare (hence why they probably appear on restaurant wine lists across the country).  Yet knowing Ray and Nancy Coursen’s ties to and history with the restaurant world, it is like knowing that if you can unlock the culinary code, one of their wines has the potential to knock the socks off your taste buds.

In this week’s featured food pairing, the plate beckons spring forth with the suggestive crook of its culinary finger.   Wine happily skips forward to the front of the palate with a playful somersault of fruit flavors mid-palate and finishes with a flirtatious wink of citrus and lingering remembrance of fuji apple.   Decorate your table with a few aromatic spring flowers so that your nose can prime your taste buds and light some candles to slow the dining process down to allow the palate to search and savor all that the dish and paired wine has to offer.  If you don’t have spring fever yet, grab a bottle of L’Ingenue and let your taste buds fantasize.