From Fine Arts to Culinary Arts
Blue Hill at Stone Barns wine director Thomas Carter found his calling in a bottle of Beaucastel
Thomas Carter's path to a career in wine began while studying ancient art and architecture in southern France for a fine arts degree at Columbia College. A birthday dinner and bottle of Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin Grande Cuvée 1989 at Alain Ducasse's Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo inspired him to enroll at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, N.Y. After graduating, a stint as a sommelier at Mario Batali's Otto Enoteca and Pizzeria, a Best of Award of Excellence-winner, led to posts at Le Bernardin, the now-closed Alain Ducasse at the Essex House and now, the renowned farm-to-table restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where first lady Michelle Obama hosted a luncheon for spouses of world leaders in 2010. Carter spoke with Wine Spectator about how he approaches wine pairings to match chef Dan Barber's Greenmarket-inspired food and about his choice pours for each season.
Wine Spectator: What do you find to be the key to successful food and wine pairings?
Thomas Carter: It depends where you are philosophy-wise. For me, for everyday eating and in a restaurant, I think the food should lead the dance, unless it's a wine dinner, of course. You don't want to mask the food, you want to bring out its nuances and highlight it with wine.
WS: What are your favorite wines to pair with Dan Barber's cuisine?
TC: I'm an acidity nut, so for me, good wine structure has a base of minerality and acidity and everything else just mantles off of that, and I think the chef's food is very much like that. I love dry Rieslings with just a hint of sweetness.
WS: What wine-pairing tips can you give someone who frequents farmers markets and uses fresh, seasonal ingredients?
TC: Farmers markets not only highlight where things are from, but also the intensity [of the ingredients]. You go there to get the best ingredients possible and I think you want to do the same with wine. You don't have to go on a "whole" or "natural" wine kick and find some überbiodynamic guy. There are plenty of producers out there that farm sustainably. They don't look at the vineyard as a farm but as an organism. They're highlighting the fruit, treating it with respect, so there's not a lot of dancing around in the cellar, not a lot of oak treatment, not a lot of masking the flavors, just purity.
WS: Can you recommend a wine to serve during each of the four seasons?
TC: Riesling for all seasons [laughs]. It goes really well with food. But also for spring and into summer, I like dry Vouvray. Barbera and Pinot Noir for fall. And wines from Piedmont and the Rhône Valley go really well with root vegetables in the winter.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns Wine List Highlights
Strengths: France (especially Burgundy), California, Italy
Sentimental Nod: Five vintages of Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape back to 1988 ($375); Hommage à Jacques Perrin Grande Cuvée 2001 ($725)
Longest Vertical: Six vintages of Château Palmer back to 1978
Getting Geeky: Non-vintage Champagne cuvées listed with disgorgement dates
For Acidity Nuts: S.A. Huët Vouvray Sec Le Mont 2007 ($85); Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Alsace Turckheim 2004 ($85)
630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills, N.Y.; (914) 366-9600; www.bluehillfarm.com
