mccradysrestaurant.com

McCrady’s and Husk sommelier, Clint Sloan, recently earned the top honor of “Top Sommelier 2011” from Food + Wine Magazine. To be precise, Sloan is actually an “advanced sommelier,” a title held by only 112 people in North America. It represents the third of four stages in becoming a Master Sommelier (he’ll take the final test this summer).

Sloan was selected for his creative wine list for Husk, which the website describes this way: “At HUSK our wine list is grouped by terroir and soil type, rather than the traditional classifications of political geography or grape varietal. This further connects the concepts of Husk’s wine offerings to the mission of the restaurant.”  Wines are grouped into five categories — limestone, gravel, slate, clay and volcanic. Each includes a brief description, like Volcanic: “Two types of volcanic soils are found; vent based & lava based. Volcanic influenced soils are found to have some of the most nutrient rich soils for vine growth.”

Q&A from the Post & Courier story:

Q: What do you need to keep in mind when trying to pair wine with food?

A: There’s not a blueprint. But No. 1, higher alcohol wines are going to overpower certain dishes. I’m not saying you can’t have a 17 percent Zinfandel and enjoy it with a steak, but for me, alcohol is body.

Oak should be used for accenting, not dominating flavors. When I pair wine with food, I look at it as an extension of the dish. You have to be careful about overpowering that dish.

The second thing is, get out of the idea that all red wine must go with red meat, and all white wine must go with fish. That’s totally false. We have triggerfish on the menu that has a smoked chicken jus. That’s the most powerful flavor on the dish. That’s like Pinot Noir. You have to look at each individual dish or what you’re cooking, and what is the predominant flavor of that dish.

To read the full Q&A session with Sloan, click here.