My interview with Examiner.com's Roberta Rinaldi

Wine chat with sommelier Jonathan Mitchell

Sunday, the first annual Los Angeles Times Celebration of Food and Wine, was held at Paramount Studios. Judging by crowd size alone, it was a smash hit.  Of special interest to oenophiles, were the Wine Chats; one of which featured the charming, affable Johnathan Mitchell, (sommelier and assistant general manager for Palm Restaurant), who generously granted an interview.

RR: "What was the first "aha" moment when you realized food and wine really did something for each other?"
JM:  "Probably the first time I had a great bottle of Chinon, a Cabernet Franc from France; and I said to myself, 'I'm not sure I understand this wine.  It's angular, or something.  I know it's a great bottle of wine. Everyone raves about it, but I'm not getting it.'  I was in a restaurant, and no food had come out, and was ready to get a whole different bottle.  Then I ordered eggplant parmesan, and there was a garlic component, and a cheese component.  Now I took a bite, and then I took a sip of the wine and I said, 'Oh my God!'"
"When you taste it together, it creates this thing, a gestalt, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and you GET it, because what one lacks the other has.  It formed this partnership where all of a sudden the proteins in the food brought out the subtleties in the wine.  Where there was no sweetness in the wine before, now the inherent sweetness in the garlic gave basis to the wine, so the spice nuance and the fruit that was there kind of jumped out.  That's when you realize you cannot judge a wine by itself, and if you're a real oenophile, you almost don't want to judge a food by itself.  If you love wine, and view it as a part of the meal, like I do; you want to find a great wine for the food, and enjoy them together just to see what the possibilities are."
"The relationship is symbiotic.  It's really critical that you play with it, and don't worry too much about what other people tell you works.  I don't care if people say a big, buttery, rich Chardonnay goes with lobster.  Try it!  But also try a crisp, light, unoaked Chardonnay, with no malolactic fermentation. Try them both."
"The most important thing I tell my guests is to take notes.  When you drink, it's very easy to just enjoy it and forget.  If it worked well for you, and you really loved it, write it down.  You'll be so grateful that you did."