JEJU — James Suckling, American wine critic with a rock star-like following, visited Korea for the ninth Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF) this week. The critic, fondly given the Korean name Jae-suck by his fans here, came to the island off the southern coast of the country to meet Korean wine aficionados and present six specially selected wines to pair with dishes using Jeju’s exceptional local ingredients.Coming to Korea with his Korean wife Marie Kim-Suckling, vice president of JamesSuckling.com and owner of James Suckling Wine Central in Hong Kong, the 65-year-old critic amusingly says he has been eating Korean food almost every day since his marriage to Kim in 2013.“For me, there’s nothing better than kimchi fried rice with a fried egg on top. And it goes well with wine too. Not like heavier, but with like Beausoleil or Pinot noir
and (is) just fresh and so good,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times at Bonte Museum in Seogwipo, Jeju, Tuesday.Suckling says food-wine pairings are not about science, but rather, thay are like deciding who to invite to a dinner party.“It’s like I have a great group coming together, and I’m looking for people who would fit them well. (In pairing) I really believe in texture, freshness. You could serve red wines with fish. The old Western rule about wine and food pairing isn’t necessarily there. We have to actually think about textures and freshness,” he said.“And then there’s little hacks as well. Like you serve red wines, cooler — at 17 or 18 degree centigrade — and then things like Pinot noir or a Syrah start acting like white wines. So that’s what I saw today 카지노사이트 with Korean food in particular.”